Thursday, October 11, 2012

How to Save Money on Your Winter Wonderland

This is a guest post.

Decorating your home for the Christmas season can hurt your wallet. However, creating your own winter wonderland does not have to use up your entire Christmas budget. If you can shop smart and use your own creative abilities, you can decorate for the holidays and still have money left for gifts and other holiday fun.

Shop Early If you wait until a day or two before Christmas to buy your decorations, you may find steep prices at every store you visit. In addition, you will probably find a limited selection of Christmas decorations at these stores. If you've been browsing a store's inventory of artificial Christmas trees and found a favorite, don't delay your purchase. Your favorite tree might be gone the next time you come back.

You can also save money by trying to shop at multiple stores. Many stores carry similar products and offer different discounts. Although it will take you more time to shop around, you may walk out of a store with an excellent deal in hand.


Thrift stores can also offer you good deals before the Christmas season arrives. As the season draws near, more and more stores will highlight their Christmas inventory. If you have the patience to keep checking your favorite thrift stores, you can find plenty of excellent deals on quality Christmas decorations.

Make Your Own Decorations Creating your own decorations is a great way to save money and have fun at the same time. Encourage your children to join you as you make your own delightful decorations. If you and your children enjoy sewing, create your own tree ornaments by sewing felt pieces together. With felt, you can create ornaments in a variety of fun holiday shapes, including snowflakes and Christmas trees.

Your local craft store carries a few items that can help you decorate your walls, including ribbons, plain wreaths and craft paper. With the ribbon, make a series of giant and festive bows for your home. You can easily dress up a wreath with a collection of ribbons and pine cones. Finally, let your children create some holiday-inspired artwork with paper to complete your holiday decorations.

Transforming your house into holiday splendor should not cost your entire budget. If you remember to plan ahead early and try your hand at making your own decorations, you can save money to spend on your other Christmas plans.

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