Decoration Tips For The Holiday Decorations Contest

holidaydecorations

Our holiday decorations contest is in full swing and weโ€™re loving the pictures weโ€™ve received so far! For those you havenโ€™t submitted a picture yet, itโ€™s not too late! The final deadline to submit a picture is December 18 (12am, EST). That leaves you with plenty of time to pretty up your apartment and share it with us.

Some people love decorating their apartment, others not so much. An obstacle for decorating the apartment might be money. First you have to buy Christmas presents, and now you have to spend tons of money on decorating your apartment? Fret not. We came up with simple and cheap solutions that wonโ€™t empty your wallet.

holidaywreath
Photo by John Morgan (CC BY 2.0)

1. Make Your Own Holiday Wreath

Nothing says welcome home like a homemade holiday ornament hanging on your front door. A holiday ornament doesnโ€™t have to be expensive. You can easily make your own! You can either buy a wreath thatโ€™s not decorated, fake or real, or you can make your own by using fresh or fake evergreen leaves/needles and tie it around some old newspapers with a sturdy thread. Then decorated as you wish. Maybe youโ€™re a sucker for pine cones. Or maybe you prefer ribbons. Even stars and snowflakes would look good!

 

 

homemadedecorations
Photo by jacinta lluch valero (CC BY-SA 2.0)

2. Homemade Window/Wall Decorations

Putting decorations up in your windows or walls are an easy way to make any room look a bit more festive. Buy a couple of clear ornaments. Then get your painting on. You could either paint the ornaments in various colors or even make them sparkle. Just put paint or glitter inside of the ornaments while rolling the ornaments adhesive around until the inside of the ornament is completely covered. You can even write on the ornaments after!

 

 

 

tabledecorations
Photo by Bretislav Valek (CC BY-SA 2.0)

3. Creative Table Decorations

Thereโ€™s nothing like a nicely decked out table. Now, we know that when Christmas Eve comes around your table will most likely look better than it does now but you can still give your table that little extra for the time being. You can either buy a nice gold/red/green plate or use a neutral one of your own. Next step, collect some pine cones. You can either use them like they are or spray them with some gold or silver spray. Place the pine cones on the plate with other Christmas ornaments (maybe the ones you made yourself?) and tada you have a nicely decorative place setting.

 

decoratedcandles
Photo by Sarah J. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

4. Your Own Personalized Holiday Candles

You probably knew you could make your own candles. Weโ€™re not saying you have to make your own, you can if you want to of course, but how about decorating some boring candles and making them more festive? Buy some candles in the color of your choice and start making them your own. We suggest putting a nice ribbon around the candle with a cinnamon stick in the middle. Not only does it look good but it smells amazing. You can also substitute the cinnamon stick with small pine cones, paint on the candles, or something else creative.

 

lanterns
Photo by Timo Newton-Syms (CC BY-SA 2.0)

5. Create Your Own Lanterns

With it being December itโ€™s getting dark fast and the days feel short. Something that can light up the apartment, while not necessarily being holiday decorations, are lanterns. Yes, you could either buy simple lanterns and do nothing more with them than putting a candle inside. Or you can take the creative path and paint the lanters! We love seeing lanterns with different festive designs!

 

 

lights
Photo by Heath Cajandig (CC BY 2.0)

6. Lights, Lights, And More Lights

Following up on the decoration tip of creating your own lanterns another suggestion is lights. String decoration lights can easily pretty up an apartment fast. Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, string decoration lights is a good way to decorate your apartment without spending too much money. Hang decoration lights in your windows, on your doors, on your walls. Whatever makes it look nice!

 

 

minichristmastree
Photo by Jan Kalรกb (CC BY-SA 2.0)

7. Your Own Little Christmas Tree

Most of us donโ€™t have too big of a space to decorate. Getting a big tree in your tiny apartment? Forget it. Thereโ€™s a solution to that problem though. A mini Christmas tree! Not only is it practical but itโ€™s also super cheap and super cute. You can easily buy a bulk of holiday ornaments for a small price, or you can purchase some miniature candy canes to hang on your tree! While the price for a real miniature tree can be a bit more than you actually want to spend, fake ones are more affordable! By the way, IKEA has super cute ones.

 

gingerbreadhouse
Photo by Gabriel Millos (CC BY-SA 2.0)

8. Make Your Own Gingerbread Village

Not only is baking fun but you could easily make holiday decorations out of it! What about making your own Christmas gingerbread village? You could either make Santaโ€™s village on the North Pole or what about the street you grew up on? Itโ€™s super easy and decorations can be found in candy and frosting. Also, youโ€™ll have a lot of fun eating it all up after.

Faye Chou
Faye Chou
Faye is the Managing Director of the RentHop Operations team. In her 10 years at RentHop, Faye has written numerous articles on a variety of real estate topics. If you're interested in learning more about the current state of the rental housing market or want Faye's best tips for your apartment search then check out more of her articles.

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