As the summer season wraps up and fall approaches, there are many holidays to start preparing for!

Holiday décor on a budget can look like anything from reusing old cloth and pillow stuffing to make ghosts, buying twinkle lights that can change colors based on the season, and more.

If you’re looking for a few quick and easy ideas of how to decorate your home without breaking the bank, you’re in the right place.

Halloween DĂ©cor Made Easy

Looking for a fun way to add some spooky spirit to your yard? Hang some homemade ghosts in the tree!

You can make your ghosts by using any sort of white fabric you may have laying around. This could be an old white bedsheet, cheesecloth, a pillowcase, or even a white hand towel that you no longer use.

Grab some stuffing. An easy route is cotton or polyester- normally what goes into pillows and stuffed animals.Ěý Alternatively, you could use old newspaper or tissue paper.

Add the stuffing to the inside of your square pieces of cloth, smoosh it to the center, grab some twine, and tie up the top half. Finally, draw some eyes or scary faces onto your ghost and boom! Spooky, on a budget.

Preparation for Thanksgiving

Whether you are based in the United States or Canada, Thanksgiving is a popular holiday and a great time to share meals and make memories.

Grab some fallen leaves and put them into a glass vase with some pinecones. Maybe you’ll sit some candles or tea lights around the vase (but not inside, we don’t want to create a fire hazard).

Shop for little pumpkins and gourds at farmer’s markets and local grocery stores.  If you live in the US, pumpkins often go on sale after Halloween. Use small pumpkins and gourds to create a cornucopia centerpiece for your table. Dried corn is another easy addition.  It also looks great hanging on doors or walls!

Christmas Spirit, Simplified

Another example of easy holiday décor is string lights. If you happened to have some twinkling lights, or the kind where there are plastic shapes over the top of string lights, you can repurpose these for any season.

If you can find the kind of string lights that have toppers like leaves, snowflakes, flowers, and little suns, you’ll be set for a year of festive lighting!

Now, these are great, but not always the easiest option to find. So, you can opt for string lights or LED strips that change color. That way, you can use orange for the fall holidays, red, green, or blue, in the winter, and any colors you’d like for the spring and summer months.

Lights are a great way to keep it festive, bright, and fun…all at once!

DĂ©cor to Last All Season

It’s great to have some ideas of what decorations you might be able to use for specific holidays, but what if you want seasonal décor that can be left alone all fall?

Pumpkins Aren’t Just for Pie

Pumpkin carving is a popular tradition, but the open pumpkin will rot much faster than one that has been left alone.

If you are looking for an easy way to make decorations stay fresh, buy a pumpkin in October but don’t carve it. You can paint a spooky face on one side, and then flip it to the other side for Thanksgiving, so you have décor that is both seasonal and Halloween-specific.

Trees All Winter Long

The debate over Christmas trees- when you should put them up and take them down- is a common one.

You can utilize beyond a Christmas tree.

Maybe you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, or another holiday. Perhaps you like being festive in the winter but don’t necessarily gravitate toward any of the winter holidays. Trees and plants, especially evergreens, can be representative of winter without having to be specifically tied to a holiday. Look for inexpensive, indoor options to add some winter spirit to your home.

Bring in the Kids!

One economical and fun way to decorate for the holidays involves kids and crafts.

When Halloween is approaching, take some scissors and construction paper and cut out spiders, pumpkins, and anything else you like.

Spend a different day cutting out different colored leaves, making hand-shaped turkeys, and baking pies with the kids. Thanksgiving, here you come!

For Christmas, you can cut out snowflakes, trees, ornaments, and more. Again, all you need is some paper and scissors!

Get Creative

There are many ways that you can utilize what is already around you to level up your fall and holiday décor. Additionally, there are ways to add to your holiday décor while sticking to a budget!

The more creative you can get, the better. When it comes to your home, any decorations go. So, make it as festive as you’d like, but remember that the holidays are about the experience and community.

Make a day of decorating and create some memories along the way!

The post Holiday Decor on a Budget appeared first on Blog | »ĘąÚĚĺÓýapp.

Love is in the air and with that comes Valentine’s Day! 

Unlike Christmas or Halloween, Valentine’s Day isn’t a holiday many people spend weeks leading up to with shopping and decorations. It’s a short lived holiday. Some people may not want to spend money on decor that they’ll keep up for one or two weeks in February.Ěý

Although Valentine’s Day may not be the biggest holiday on the calendar, that doesn’t mean it’s a holiday you can’t decorate for at all. There are plenty of Valentine’s Day decor items that can be kept up well into the spring, especially if you choose your decor items wisely.Ěý 

Wreaths and Door Decorations

It’s not uncommon for people to keep wreaths or another type of decoration on their door up year round. There are wreaths and other door decorations for every occasion and season – Christmas, winter, spring, Easter, summer and more. This includes Valentine’s Day.Ěý

When a person thinks of a Valentine’s Day wreath or door sign, it’s likely they envision something full of hearts, but that’s not always the case. There are plenty of different options that don’t include hearts or something specific to love day. A great option is to decorate your door with a wreath that has a combination of any of the three colors: pink, white or red.Ěý

Pink, or pink and white together, will not only be a great Valentine’s Day decor item, but is great to keep up into the spring, because they are both spring colors as well.Ěý

Flower Arrangements 

While real flowers won’t live long enough to stay up throughout the spring, fake flower arrangements make great decor.Ěý

Craft stores offer a wide variety of flowers and you can easily make your own Valentine’s Day arrangement or buy pre-arranged ones. Again, any pink, white or red arrangements are perfect for Valentine’s Day.Ěý

The great thing about flower arrangements is that they can be easily altered. Maybe you have a pink and white flower arrangement for Valentine’s Day.- simply add some yellow (or any other spring color) flowers and the arrangement is now fit to stay up through the season.Ěý

Throw Pillows

Throw pillows are another great item to use as Valentine’s Day decor.

Many Valentine’s Day pillows will have words on them such as, “love,” “kisses,” or “hugs,” all of which don’t necessarily have to do with Valentine’s Day. Pillows like these that have a subtle hint to Valentine’s Day are excellent to keep up through spring, or even year round.Ěý

Other throw pillows might have pink hearts on them but have no words on them, which can also be kept up in the spring. Pillows like these are especially excellent if they match your room’s theme or color scheme.Ěý

Wall Art 

Lastly, there are plenty of different Valentine’s Day wall art that can be kept up after the holiday to give your home a touch of love.Ěý

Much like throw pillows, simple paintings or signs that have one word on them or maybe a short phrase make great decorations. The wall art might have a solid or patterned background and say things like “love,” “love birds” or “hugs and kisses,” all which make an excellent accent piece for your walls. The wall art could also be a painting of hearts or a heart, a collage or something else that doesn’t specify that it’s for Valentine’s Day.Ěý

No matter what you decide on, most Valentine’s Day items will make great decor well into the springtime and give your home just the right amount of love.Ěý

The post Valentine’s Day Decor You Can Keep Up Through the Spring appeared first on Blog | »ĘąÚĚĺÓýapp.

With the autumn season in full force and Thanksgiving approaching, you may want your home to feel cozy and fall-themed. Here are nine Thanksgiving DIY projects to celebrate the Thanksgiving season this year.

A chalkboard menu is a versatile creation because it doubles as a functional item and as decor that can be used in your home in every season. You can use a frame you already own or purchase a vintage one from an antique or thrift store. Purchase a thin piece of wood that will fit inside the frame and paint it with black chalkboard paint. Voila! You have a lovely framed piece of chalkboard to use for your Thanksgiving menu and beyond. To add some autumnal flair, decorate the corners of the frame with faux leaves or gold glitter:

Centerpieces can completely transform the look of your dining table. You can DIY a centerpiece for your autumn tablescape by simply arranging fall-colored flowers in a mason jar, placing candles on a piece of wood from the craft store, or even painting pumpkins. Whatever centerpiece you choose to DIY, it will take minimal effort to create something beautiful.

If you’re hosting a Thanksgiving dinner at your home, place settings are a great way to add some noticeable decorations without completely cluttering your dinner table. Take a miniature pumpkin or gourd and tie your favorite cloth ribbon or twine around it. Write or print each guest’s name onto a card and attach this to the pumpkin. These place settings are decorative and functional, and each guest can take theirs home as a souvenir, too.

The holidays bring the season of giving, and what is better to give than gratitude? You can practice gratitude throughout the Thanksgiving season by doing “thankful for” activities by yourself or with your family. Create a “Thanksgiving tree” by hanging paper leaves with notes of thankfulness on dry sticks or a shrub in your home. Make a thankfulness jar by submitting a note of what you and your family are thankful for each day leading up to Thanksgiving and read the notes on Thanksgiving Day. Or you can keep a gratitude journal during this season and challenge yourself to write in it each day.

Carving pumpkins is a great Halloween tradition, but pumpkin decorations can last through the fall season, too. This year, decorate pumpkins (either faux or real) with paint, glitter, or ribbon and use them as Thanksgiving decorations throughout your home.

Your home may smell delicious when you’re cooking on Thanksgiving Day, but what about throughout the rest of the month? You can easily spread lovely fall scents throughout your home by simmering some spices and citrus peels in a pot of water over your stove or dropping some essential oils on pinecones and placing them around your home.

Dried corn husks make for great DIY supplies, and you can dry these yourself or order some on Amazon. Keep the corn husks their natural color or paint them a color of your choosing, then arrange them in the shape of a wreath to hang behind a chair at your table or on a door in your home. This is a great project that you can reuse year after year.

Pinecones make great decorations throughout fall and winter, from the start of Halloween through the end of the Christmas season, but they are especially lovely during Thanksgiving. You can decorate your house with dry pinecones by arrange them as a table centerpiece, setting them atop your counter with candles, or even stacking them in a glass jar with some white lights and faux leaves. Pinecones are versatile and affordable decorations, so no matter how you arrange them, they are sure to spruce up any home.

You can make a fall garland out of anything, but using paintable items is a great way to put your own spin on a timeless decoration. Purchase some fall leaves at an affordable price and decorate them using white paint and gold glitter. Arrange them in a pattern with some lightweight faux acorns and even pinecones, and you have the perfect Thanksgiving decoration to match the atmosphere of your home. There are many ways to DIY a garland, so put your own spin on it to achieve a look that you love.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

This post is intended for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional advice. The point of view and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of »ĘąÚĚĺÓýapp International. This post was written by Bailee Abell.ĚýBailee Abell is a writer born and raised in California. A graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara, she loves reading classic literature, sipping warm beverages, and visiting theme parks every chance she gets. Find her at .Ěý

The post Nine Thanksgiving DIY Projects appeared first on Blog | »ĘąÚĚĺÓýapp.