Frugal Christmas decorating ideas for tight budgets

There have been two instances when I have had to put these frugal Christmas decorating ideas to use. Both times involved basement flooding that ruined the decorations. Both times we realized the extent of the problem only a few weeks before Christmas.

Christmas wreath on a
stained glass window.

My worst time was our first Christmas in northeastern North Carolina. We were broke, in debt from moving there and frustrated. Seeing our beautiful decorations were in shambles was a humbling experience. With few resources I hunted down the frugal Christmas decorating ideas that are reading about now.

We made it through without breaking the budget. The kids and Hubby pitched in on the frugal Christmas decorating. It wasn't a holiday that I would want to repeat but we did end up by having a good time.


Muslin Tablecloth
Muslin is a budget cloth that works well for frugal Christmas decorating. I measured the table and bought a couple of extra yards from Wal-Mart. It's inexpensive, easy to paint or color and lends itself to many uses. It took just a few yards of the material to make our tablecloth. I took the extra and cut the rest into strips for another project.

We didn't own a sewing machine then so I used school glue to go along the edge of the material. This kept it from unraveling. The glue washed out later but the budget tablecloth worked perfectly that Christmas. Later on, I was able to hem it appropriately.

Another frugal Christmas decorating idea were our candy canes and muslin strips.

Candy Canes and muslin strips
I got the kids involved to help with frugal Christmas craft. We used part of the muslin to make the garlands. First, we glued candy canes together to form hearts with hot glue. The hearts were then tied to the strips of muslin using fabric scraps that I already had.

The result was a budget Christmas garland that could be used almost anywhere. Using the scraps that we already owned helped make the project even more frugal.

Holiday fabrics
I was happy to find that the WalMart fabric shop had budget material in Christmas prints. I bought a few yards for only a couple of dollars. At home, I edged the material with white glue. Once it was dry we wrapped it around the base of the tree.

For more frugal decorating, we strategically placed a few large stuffed animals around the skirt that belonged to the girls. I tied fabric scraps to the stuffed animals to make them more festive. Not only did the kids have fun with the frugal decorating touch but they loved seeing their stuffed critters all dressed up for Christmas.

Next, we decorated the Christmas tree itself. (Read more here.)