Christmas Decorations on a Budget



 Hey Owlets,

I can't explain to you how excited I am for Christmas this year. I'm not sure why this year is different to many others, but for some reason I've been ready for the festive season since September. But do you know what wasn't ready? My bank balance. 

So, with that in mind I'm going to show you some ways to get your house super festive when you don't have much money. Just a tip, it involved the pound shop and A LOT of fairy lights.


For this year's decorations the pound shops have been AMAZING. They've really stepped up their game so are a great option when you're short on cash, and if you think about it creatively you can come up with something really unique.

I bought these icicle shapes made out of foam, a pack of warm white fairy lights and the "Santa's Washing Line" bunting from Poundland. I put the icicle foam on first, with the idea of putting the washing line on top, but then decided that it would feel more cosy with the lights underneath instead of on top; I just used sticky tape to attach everything to fireplace. In hindsight, it actually worked better putting the icicles on first as you could see where the fairy lights needed to sit so they stayed invisible.

Total Cost: £3



This year I've really turned my hand to DIY decorations, as it makes it so much cheaper. I saw Merry Christmas bunting at Bath Christmas Market but it was about £8, and although I loved it I couldn't justify spending that much. I bought a pack of felt letters from Poundworld and some ribbon, and then proceeded to stab holes in the felt using Adam's house key (we were in Costa, if you're wondering why I took the barbaric approach), then threaded this onto the ribbon to create my own garland.

Total Cost: £2


In case  you hadn't noticed, I'm absolutely obsessed with owls. Weirdly, despite being such a popular home decor choice, I couldn't find a single owl tree decoration apart from one in John Lewis for £8 that I didn't like the look of, or a simple felt one on Etsy for £4.50. My first thought when I saw it was "I could make that!" so I challenged myself to do just that.

I bought foam from Poundworld as I thought this would be more sturdy. I decided to buy glitter and normal to make it more interesting but if you wanted to keep it super cheap then just buy the normal pack. I didn't have to buy any ribbon as the red ribbon came with gold too. 

I freehanded half the shape of an owl onto a piece of paper, then folded this in half to cut it out, I then completely free handed the wing shape and eyes, but you can just draw a leaf shape and find something small and circular to draw around. For the beak I just cut the corners off of the yellow felt. Once you've got your template you can draw round it onto felt and cut it out. For a more professional look, cut out two lots of the body shape and glue these together leaving an opening at the top. I then slotted a ribbon loop into the gap, and glued the hole to seal it. Glue everything together then you can draw the eyes on with a biro.

Total Cost: £1




General Tips:

1. Think creatively about what you can find - one of my friends buys all her decorations in charity shops, meaning she gets more expensive decorations for very little money. If you go down the route of the pound shops, think about what you could combine to make something prettier.

2. Be prepared to DIY. If there's something you like but it's out of your price range then look at what it's made of. Is it something you could attempt yourself like the owls? Often you're paying for the seller's time, their rent, their household bills etc which is why simple things seem really expensive. While I like to support small businesses, when you're on a tight budget then just do it yourself.

3. Fairy Lights. Fairy Lights Everywhere. If you're useless at DIY and not at all creative then just go to the poundshop, buy as many fairy lights as you can afford (especially this year, as Poundland have a lot of different shapes on sale) and string them up wherever you have a space. Something about fairy lights screams Christmas and is probably the most simple way to make your home festive.

I hope this post has given you some inspiration to make your own homes festive but budget friendly. If you try anything out, I'd love to see photos so tweet me @theowletblog and if you have any ideas of how else I could make the house Christmas ready with no cash, please let me know in the comments below.


Love and (Festive!) Feathers, 

 The Owlet 💜 

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