Practical Christmas Decorating

By Vanessa Barrameda

Christmas in the Philippines is the most festive season of all. It usually starts as early as September (the first of the “brrr” months) and can end as late as January. This is that time of the year when it's okay to spend a little beyond our means to make our loved ones happy. Aside from gift giving, one of the highlights of the season are the bright and glitzy Christmas decorations...lots and lots of them!

Decorating a home for Christmas is not only time consuming and expensive, it can also be frustrating especially when you don't know how to start. You certainly don't want your house to look like a distasteful hodgepodge of colourful trash, nor light the whole thing up like it were Las Vegas and spend thousands of pesos on your next electric bill. So with all the trees, lights and lanterns available in stores, how can you create practical yet festive Christmas décors for your home?

Step 1: Plan before you buy

There are several things you need to plan before you start loading your shopping cart with decors, or else you'll end up overspending. Here are some guide questions to help you organize the things you need to start decorating your home:

1. Do you want organic or artificial materials?
   Artificial Christmas decors like wreaths, trees and fruits are said to be more practical and convenient because they last for several years. However, fresh ones always look better, and can be just picked up from your own backyard for free. But if you’re too busy to pick up dried or fallen leaves or replace spoiled fruits with fresh ones, then go plastic!
   
2. What theme do you have in mind?
   Christmas by itself is not a theme! You need to think of a unifying object, event, color or design for your Christmas decorations. It may seem like a daunting task but you can start by thinking of one area you wish to decorate, and then bring the motif to other parts of the house. The most recommended starting point is your Christmas tree. If you like “White Christmas” as a theme, then you’ll have to have lots of artificial snow, sleighs, skis, snowmen, snowflakes and decors made of crystal or artificial ice. If you’d like a “Cartoon Christmas” on the other hand, you can collect printouts of your favourite cartoon characters dressed in Christmas sweaters, Santa Claus hats, mittens, etc.
   

   Here are other great thematic ideas:

   1. Kitchen theme - Collect old unused utensils like egg beaters, pot holders, cookie cutters, ladles, bowls, pepper shakers and spoons. Apply a thin glue coating and dust with gold or silver glitters. You can also add certain foods that don’t rot easily like dried orange peels or popcorn: string popcorn with dental floss so that you can decorate the entire stretch of cabinets. Stale popcorn is easier to string than fresh popcorn.
      
   2. Outdoor theme – Green and brown organic ornaments like fake birds, twigs, abaca fibres, dried leaves, potpourri and raffia can be used to achieve an outdoor theme. Glue some birdseed on a Christmas ball or wrap gift boxes in brown paper for a total look. Hang dried orange and apple slices on your tree using raffia as strings. Red bows will add that perfect accent color.
      
   3. Sports theme – If your family loves sports, why not incorporate your favorite hobby into your Christmas decors? Use fishing lures, basketball jerseys or any accessory you usually use for the sport you love. Use sports key chains or football shaped stress balls as Christmas tree ornaments.
      
   4. Country theme – Use dried fruits and seeds as the central focus of your decor materials. To make dried fruit ornaments, slice oranges or apples crosswise (about ¼” thick) and lay them on a cookie cooling rack. Bake in an oven set to 100-200 °F for 45 minutes or until dry to the touch but not completely dried out. Store in a cool and dry place with silica packets to help control moisture. Use ribbons to hang the slices on your Christmas tree.
      
3. Do you want your decors ready-made
   or do you want to create your own?
   Christmas decorations are readily available in any department store, book store, and hardware or even in tiangges nearest you. You can buy ready-made ones, or make ornaments from scratch. If you do decide to make them, visit your nearest craft store or search the net for some “how to do” articles. You can ask other family members to help you out, especially the kids, and this could be a great bonding activity for your family!
   
4. Think “out of the box”!
   Personalized Christmas decorations are growing in popularity nowadays, and most of the time it also saves you money. Use existing items like family photographs taken during previous Christmases, old toys or scrap Christmas wrappers and ribbons to adorn your tree. If you really want to be original, try creating ornaments from unusual materials like popsicle sticks or bottle caps. Be imaginative and your decor budget can go a longer way.

Step 2: Acquire the decorations or the materials to make them

The more time you invest in canvassing for the best value materials, the more money you can save. Some Christmas trees can cost thousands of pesos, but if you just take a little extra time to decorate a basic inexpensive tree, you can achieve a similar (if not the same) festive look. Choose an ornament that has no pre-existing design or decoration so that there is plenty of room for your own ideas to come out. Either glossy or matte will do but remember: a glossy background will clash with your sparkly decorations.

If you choose to follow a “do-it-yourself” approach, ensure your materials are complete before you start and follow directions completely. If you are a child, or if the process involves using tools you have never used before, ask the help of an older male friend or relative.

Choose the right size of ornaments for your home. You may have a wonderful idea of filling up your Christmas tree with flowers, but if you buy those that are too small or too big for your tree, they won't achieve the effect that you had hoped for. If this is your problem, at least put the large flowers near the bottom of your tree and keep the smaller ones near the tip (except of course for the topper). Your ornaments should be proportionate to the size of the tree, window, door or table you wish to decorate.

Always ensure the safety of your family and your belongings. You don't want to burn down your house or accidentally hurt yourself just because of a Christmas decor. When arranging lights on your Christmas tree, start from the innermost branches and work your way outwards, going from top to bottom. When using a glue gun, never apply hot glue on small parts that are too close to your finger tips. Use work gloves or tongs to hold the small piece of material.

Step 3: Start decorating

Now that you have decided on a theme and gathered all the required ornaments, it's time to install them. Since there are so many areas in the house that can be decorated, let's concentrate on the most basic and iconic Christmas symbol that every home must have – the Christmas tree. Here are some tips to turn a simple tree into an great-looking ornament without hurting your wallet:

• If you take a look at expensive Christmas trees in department stores, the characteristic that sets them apart from cheap ones is the thematic coordination of the decors. Choose ornaments that have different shades of the same color, or different items of the same theme.
  
• Mix your expensive ornaments with cheaper ones to create an impact. Just ensure that the color, texture and size will complement and not outshine your expensive ones.
  
• Emphasize your special ornaments by placing them on tips of boughs. Put the cheaper, less intricate ones inside the branches to add depth to your tree.
  
• If the new Christmas tree you bought looks thin and “bald”, combine it with your old tree. Do this by assembling the two poles and binding them together. Add the branches in such a way that they look like one “full” tree with lots of branches and leaves.
  
• If you can’t buy them, make them! Use sequins, ribbons, beads and paper together to form the ornaments that you want. Prepare a wet rag in case glue gets into an area where it shouldn’t be. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly done, most ornaments aren’t flawless anyway.
  
• Do you receive tons of Christmas cards yearly and don’t know what to do with them? Don’t waste their beautiful artwork by hiding them in your drawer...use them as Christmas tree decors! Arrange them according to color and size. You can place a small piece of double-sided tape on the edge of each card to temporarily keep them closed (don’t seal them totally as you may want to read them again in the future). Place the larger cards at the bottom of the tree and smaller gift cards at the top.

The most important part of all the Christmas decoration fuss is not really the outcome, but the effort you and your family have given in setting them up. This is the time to bond with your family, so make sure that the set-up process is enjoyable for all. If it only stresses you out, to the point when you find yourself scolding a child for an unsatisfactory product, then it’s not worth it - better hire someone to do the job for you!

After Christmas Storage

Want to ensure that you save more money next year? Make the effort to properly store the great work you've done this year. That way, you won't have to buy new ornaments again next Christmas.

You'll need old shoe or gift boxes, tissue paper, tape, glue gun or sewing kit, paintbrush or cloth for dusting. Once you have everything ready, start disassembling your Christmas setup:

1. Slowly take off your ornaments one by one and lay them on your biggest table. Remove the dirt and dust it accumulated using a paint brush or cloth. Be very gentle and make sure the ornaments won’t fall apart. If needed, glue gun or sew loose parts to secure them.
   
2. Return those that originally came in their boxes, like your 6-pack Christmas balls or rice lights. If the boxes are torn or falling apart, secure them with tape. A sturdy box will protect its contents in storage for a long time.
   
3. Sort the remaining ornaments by size, weight and fragility. Wood or plastic ones may be placed in one large box with no need of extra care.
   
4. Fragile decors like glass balls or paper mache figurines should be wrapped individually in tissue paper and stored in a marked box. Label this box properly so that you’ll know in the end which ones need extra care.
   
5. Some food decors like dough ornaments and popcorn strings will naturally fall apart and disintegrate no matter how much care you put in storing them. These also attract unwanted pests like rats and cockroaches, so it’s best to just let these go and make new ones next year. If you really, really, really can’t throw them out (like if it was a gift or made by a special someone), store them individually to avoid the crumbs from messing up your other decors. You can actually preserve them better if you dehydrate them and apply a thin varnish coating.
   
6. Wind strands of Christmas lights, ribbons and beads neatly. You don’t want to have a hard time untangling them next year, right? Best to have slots made on a strip of cardboard so that you can wind these strands uniformly. Store them in durable boxes so that the small light bulbs won’t break in storage.
   
7. Tape the boxes closed to avoid dust, label them and store in a cool, dry area. Make sure that pets or young children will not have access to them. Keep decorations away from moist areas like bathroom closets or outdoor sheds. A little moisture will cause your ornaments to rot.

When it's time to bring them out again, make sure that it's a family affair to remind each other of how last Christmas was prepared for. Reminisce past events, like when dad accidentally glued mom's hair on the angel or how baby bit off the toy soldier's hat. Decorating the home for Christmas is truly an exciting family activity that creates precious memories... and no amount of money can replace that!

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SOURCES:

http://christmas-gifts.indiangiftsportal.com/decorate-christmas-tree.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_9023_decorate-christmas-table.html
http://www.hometraditions.com/tips-for-decorating-christmas.shtml
http://www.howtodothings.com/family-and-relationships/a4052-how-to-decorate-christmas-ornaments.html
http://www.amazing-christmas-ideas.com/decorating-with-christmas-cards.html