How To Create Fresh Christmas Decorations Without Buying Anything New

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Here’s how to create fresh Christmas vignettes around your home without buying anything new!

One of the quickest ways to decorate around your home for Christmas is with the use of vignettes. Once you know the easy basics, they can literally be put together in just a few minutes!

Christmas vignette with lantern, mini snowman, wire basket with orbs and faux greenery

There’s no limit to how much you can spend giving your Christmas decor a fresh look each year – am I right??? These tips will walk you through examining your existing decor to create a vignette with a whole new look without spending a dime.

If you haven’t already, I recommend reading my 7 tips for creating a vignette blog post to help you get started.

We’re going to use Christmas vignettes that I’ve created in multiple areas of my house over several years as examples.

FORGET ABOUT WHAT YOU DID LAST YEAR

The whole idea here is to create something “new”, even though it may be located in the same spot that you add decor to every Christmas.

So throw out the notion that you’re just going to do a repeat of last year’s (or previous year’s) decor!

hot cocoa station vignette in a basket with mugs, mini tree and hot cocoa fixings

EVERY VIGNETTE NEEDS A BASE

I believe that every successful vignette should start with a base of some kind. Corralling items together on a base gives them importance and draws attention to the display much better that just placing things close together in a group.

Taking into consideration how large you want your vignette to be, look through your stash for these items to use as a base:

  • trays, crates or baskets – metal, wood, wicker, round, square or rectangular
  • risers – something to elevate part or all of the vignette
  • bowls, dough bowls
  • tiered trays
  • dining table runners or placemats
  • layer of artificial greenery

vignette with red and white runner on coffee table with white candles, red tree ornaments and faux greenery

WHERE WILL IT BE LOCATED?

The only requirement for creating a vignette, is that you need a surface to place it on. I know that may seem a little over simplified, but you do need to take that into consideration.

The size and location of your surface will have a direct impact on the size and shape of your vignette – right? The direction the vignette will be viewed from also dictates how you arrange the vignette on your base.

My favorite vignette locations are:

  • coffee table
  • sofa table
  • buffet or sideboard
  • end table
  • bathroom vanity
  • kitchen counter
  • fireplace hearth

lantern with candle and mini Christmas tree in a wicker tray lined with a plaid scarf

ITEMS TO INCLUDE IN A CHRISTMAS VIGNETTE

The list here is pretty endless, but below are a few of my go-to items for my Christmas vignettes. But be careful – a vignette consisting of too many different items can look messy, so I recommend keeping the number to a 3 – 5, depending upon the size of the vignette.

  • candles
  • artificial greenery
  • Christmas ornaments
  • lanterns
  • mini Christmas trees
  • artificial berries
  • wood bead garlands
  • fairy lights

Christmas vignette with glass canister, mini tree, mini house on a cake pedestal

What’s your favorite idea for free Christmas decorating?

graphic that says pin it

graphic for Pinterest

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5 Comments

  1. Where do you buy your small trees!

    1. Hi Nancy. Apologies for the late reply – we’re still in Christmas vacay mode over here. I buy all of my small trees wherever I see them for a good price. 🙂 I mostly shop for those types of things at Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Target, Joann’s, TJ Maxx and Marshall’s. I found some one year at Dollar General for only $5, but I realized what horrible quality they were once I got them home and fluffed them. 🙁

  2. I love all your ideas. Your blog is one of my favorites. I wanted to pin these ideas for later but I couldn’t find a way to pin them!! Thanks for all your wonderful ideas!

    1. Thank you so much, Anita! Apologies for the late reply – we’re still in Christmas vacay mode over here. 🙂 I’m not sure what might be going on with your inability to pin. Were you trying on mobile or on a desktop/laptop/tablet?

  3. I was reading this and thinking how right you are! Making a vignette on a base totally takes decorating to the next level! This is such a game changer! Thanks you and I love all of the example photos you shared!