How To Create Fresh Christmas Decorations Without Buying Anything New

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!

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!

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

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

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

What’s your favorite idea for free Christmas decorating?