We all want our homes to festive for the holiday season but if you are not careful, decorating for the holidays can put you on the naughty list financially if you are not careful.

You don’t need a lot of cash to make you home a virtual Christmas wonderland as long as you stick to quality in your decorating ideas rather than quantity… forget about competing with the neighbor whose house has so many lights it can be seen from space, instead concentrate on elegance and uniqueness to create a festive holiday décor.

Here are a few Christmas decorating ideas that will insure everyone is in the yuletide spirit all the while being easy on your wallet.

Door Wreath. Save-on-Crafts has a step by step guide to making wonderful Christmas wreaths. This easy to make wreath uses items you likely have around your home plus Pine boughs, ivy, eucalyptus sprays, box hedge stems, ferns or any other kind of greenery you can find… all at no cost!

Bottle of Lights. This is another great idea for repurposing items that you already have.  If you usually throw away your empty wine bottles, now is the time to start saving them. This easy to do craft will make a unique and interesting lighting accent to your Christmas decorations. Bottle of Lights

ML Interiors

Deck the Stairs. Garland entwined around the stair banister with ribbons and small ornaments will add a sense of cohesiveness to your holiday decor.

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Gift-wrap Picture Frames. I’m going to bet that you have some leftover Christmas wrapping paper stashed somewhere… now you have a use for it!  Take down your pictures and wrap them like a gift and hang them back on the wall.  There is no need to do this to every picture in your house, just at the front door or maybe on just one wall near the Christmas tree.

Hardback Books and Ribbon. This is a simple but striking decoration that is easy to do and chances are you already have everything you need right at home.

Cotton ball Tree.  You can add a winter wonderland in a corner of your house with a few bags of cotton balls.  Martha Stewart shows us how to use cornstarch, some fishing line a cotton balls to blanket a tree with the snow.

The Christmas Tree. The Christmas tree can be the most expensive part of your Christmas decorations, here are a few tips to getting a great tree without spending a fortune.

• Compare prices.  Most of the big retailers have entered the live Christmas tree game, so instead of driving all over town, call and ask about their prices.  Some places sell trees by the foot while others charge a flat rate, be sure you make sure your comparison takes this into account.
• Cut your own tree. The U.S. Forest Service sells permits for consumers to cut down their own tree in a national forest. The price: as little as $10. The trade-off, of course, is in extra time and effort to saw down the tree and lug it home.  This could be the beginning of a fun, new Christmas tradition.
• Negotiate. If you go to a vendor other than the big retail stores there’s a good chance that you will be able to haggle over the price of your tree… especially the closer to Christmas it gets.
• Charity Sale.  You can save big on a tree by purchasing your live tree through a school or church that is having a Christmas tree sale fundraiser.
• Size does matter.  If you opt for a smaller tree it will of course cost less.  You have to ask yourself if that 12 foot tree is really necessary.
• Fake tree. Our family has one of these fake Christmas trees and we use it for those years that money is really tight.  This tree has been in the family for many years.  If taken care of, they will last for what seems like forever.