Not only are your own self-made decorations more fun and meaningful, they’re a great way to save on money. So read on for some great DIY decoration ideas to get stuck into.

Baubles are a staple of Christmas. They’re great for hanging on a tree, but can be added anywhere – on door handles, on the edge of a computer screen, around staircase bannisters.

The nice thing however is that you can buy blank or white ones and decorate them yourself. Ceramic or wooden are the easiest to paint, though if you find a plastic type that is covered in a paintable layer, then that works too. These can be bought online or in most arts and crafts shops.

Acrylic paint is your best bet, as it is widely available, easily absorbed by ceramic or wood, keeps the colours vibrant and is easy to work with for both adults and children.

You could perhaps make a dark blue ball with snowflakes on it, paint a face onto a Father Christmas figure, or go for a little Christmas tree with red and green. Then a ribbon or twine, widely available in most shops this time of year to help hang them up.

Not only the inside of the house but the outside should be decorated. And although fairy lights are a lovely sight to see on a dark night, a well-made wreath is not any less so.

For this you will need to have a door that allows you to hang the wreath onto it, or somewhere nearby – confirm this before you start.

Secondly, find a location nearby with some woodland so you can get your wreath ingredients.

And lastly, it is recommended that you have some garden twine or wire available at hand, just in case your design will need it to help hold itself together.

Natural wreaths can be made from a variety of plants. You can use dry grapevine, willow branches or various kinds of reads, woven together to make a very thick circle. Alternatively, you can go for a greener base. Cedar, pine, fir and juniper trees all look like variations of the traditional Christmas tree, so their branches, if woven together, give both a festive vibe and a nice lush green look.

The greatest material to work with however is the cedar tree – it’s an evergreen that has soft needles and malleable branches (if small), so are probably the easiest to turn into a weave.

Finally, after you’ve finished your base, a touch of holly stuck in around the circle will finish everything off nicely.

Additionally, if you live somewhere where large pine cones are available, and you’re already out and about looking for wreath ingredients, take some of these as well!

These are great to collect and keep for Christmas and the next Christmas after that. Provided you dry them out, then package them away carefully at the end of the season, they don’t easily rot or fall apart and make for great eco-friendly decorations. 

Some of the most popular forms of DIY Christmas decorations, and the cheapest, are ones made up of paper.

And the medium is certainly very versatile – you can make a lot of different things out of just a stack of multicoloured paper or card.

For example, a round paper fan, red, green, or white, can be hung up around the house or flat, same as an ornament. And cut out paper snowflakes are very traditional, and can also be hung up, or stuck to the fridge or wall.

If you’re feeling daring, you can even go further – origami is a beloved art, but not many people realise it can be a great way to make your DIY Christmas decorations extra special.

For these paper arts, or any handmaking how-to-do’s in fact, YouTube is a great source for tutorials to keep in mind.