Christmas can be overwhelming, so many relatives and friends to buy gifts for; offices and houses to decorate, and it can be tough if you’re on a budget. Here’s out tips for being creative and keeping Christmas costs under control.

Make Your Own Decorations

Make your own simple decorations out by adapting some everyday objects. We added some sparkle to the OUTinPerth office by decorating some simple plastic cups with ribbons, sequins and a silver pen. We went with pink to match our decor, but you could use a more traditional colour like red. Total cost under $15.oo

Colourful Jars

Grab some simple jars and fill them with water, add a few drops of red and green food colouring and you’ve got instant decorations.

Fill Containers with Bobbles

We grabbed this giant box of silver bobbles from IKEA and filled a giant vase with them, we also made a nice arrangement for a dining room table. The silver candlesticks we picked up at an Op-shop.

Photo Frames and Cushions

Change the soft furnishings and ornaments in your house to create a Christmas vibe, these red cushions were just $5 each from IKEA and we put pictures in these festive red picture frames.

Create a Christmas Tree

Rather than buying an expensive tree, make your own, create one out of books, or find an old tree branch, or get creative with a hat stand.

Simple Gifts

Gather a bunch of great books from your local second hand book store and give a friend a box full of books that’ll keep them occupied for months ahead.

Make the Box the Gift

We found this old pine box in an op-shop, we pulled out the dried flowers and replaced them with Christmas baubles and gave the book a spray with some silver paint.

Bake a gift

Grab some red coloured Chinese Take Away containers, pick up a silver pen and create your own artwork, fill them up with chocolate fudge or Scottish tablet.

This article first appeared in Issue 150 of OUTinPerth December 2013.