This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure here.
It’s never too late to decorate for Christmas. Our family loves decorating, and it’s always fun to make some of the decorations ourselves! This is also a great way to keep little hands busy when they are off from school…
Frugal Christmas crafts are a fun way to decorate your home as well as an activity for chilly winter days, either alone or with friends and family.
Frugal Christmas Crafts
No-Sew Ruffled Tree Skirt
This first one takes a bit of time (a few hours), but I think it’s worth it for a beautiful ruffled tree skirt. And you don’t have to haul out your sewing machine and worry about sewing straight lines!
You’ll need some scissors, 4-5 yards of cotton or linen, glue sticks, and a glue gun. The directions also call for canvas drop cloths that you cut into a circle to glue the ruffles on, but I think you can save around $10 more by just gluing the ruffles directly onto a tree skirt that you don’t like anymore. Once you have the base layer of the tree skirt, cut or rip the fabric into strips about 2-3 inches wide. You’ll glue them onto the base layer by laying down a strip of hot glue a few inches at a time, put top of the strip of fabric along the glue and pinch it into ruffles before the glue dries.
Book Christmas Trees
Who knew you could make Christmas trees out of paperback books? Find books at almost any thrift store for around 50¢ if you don’t have any laying around that you want to cut up. You can make it into any shape, whether you want the leaves on the tree to be curved like this, sharp leaves or even just cut straight down to make a cone-like shape. You can use either scissors or an X-acto knife.
My friend made these along with snowflakes made out of old book pages last year and they’re still in good shape to use a few more years. The snowflake ornaments were just your run of the mill snowflake shapes with a twine loop on the top to hang on the tree. Both of the projects go together nicely to create a theme throughout the house.
I-Spy Ornaments
This one is a craft, game, and ornament all wrapped in one tiny clear ball. It’s called an I-Spy Ornament and it’s fun to make and fun for the kids to play with during the Christmas season. If you have any charms or small objects to fit in the ornament, gather up a few of them and make a list of what you have. In a clear ornament (preferably plastic or non-shatter), put all the objects inside and pour some filler beads on top of them. Then hot glue the metal part of the ornament back on. You have not only a beautiful ornament, but something your kids can go to the tree and play with to find all of the items on the list.
Snowball Strands
For this project, all you need are cotton balls, clear fishing line or thread and a needle to make it snow inside your house. Just thread the string through the cotton balls (you can make a knot under each one to keep it in place). Make a lot of different strands and hang them in your kids’ windows so it will look like it’s snowing all winter. You probably already have these materials on hand, which make this project completely free!
Popsicle Stick Crafts
I think this list of different ornaments and crafts you can make with popsicle sticks is amazing. I particularly love the angels and the nativity ornament! Popsicle sticks are super cheap at craft stores, and for many of these you’ll just need some paint.
To get more ideas for DIY Christmas decorations and gifts, follow the Southern Savers Frugal Christmas Crafts Pinterest Board.
What’s your favorite Christmas craft? Let us know in the comments!
