5 Ways to Use FREE Greenery for Winter & Holiday Decor

Christmas garland need not be expensive, and not necessarily just for Christmas…

What’s not to love about the holidays? The hot cocoa, the presents, the gatherings of friends and family, the cookies…I could go on for pages.

What’s NOT to love about the holidays? The Costco parking lot, the lingering taste of envelope glue after licking 200 envelopes ala Susan on that fantastic Seinfeld episode?

More than any of these things, it’s the COST, at least for my family, is the biggest gripe. But, in an ideal world, it wouldn’t be like that, right? The focus of the holidays shouldn’t be the biggest gifts, the brightest decorations ala Clark Griswold.

Although, I have to admit, I love that movie and all it’s ridiculousness, since there’s so much truth in it, really.

So in the spirit of keeping the cost DOWN, and the holiday a little more low-key and au-natural, if you will…lets chat about some EASY, FREE ways to decorate your home for the season.

5 Ways to Decorate with FREE Tree Trimmings or Pine Clippings

1. Dress up a Chandelier

One of the things we do each year is dress a chandelier with greenery. It’s SO simple to make a DIY christmas garland, of sorts. Takes 5-10 minutes.

If you feel like you would have no idea how to accomplish this feat, Miss Mustard Seed recently did a great video tutorial on her site. Check it out HERE.

For ours, I went into our backyard, and clipped branches from two types of pine trees. Then, we simply stuck them into the chandelier here and there until we got the look we wanted.

It’s a bit of trial and error.

The most important aspect of this though is safety…when the branches get dry, REMOVE them, and put in fresh.

We don’t use this light much at all, but if you are going to use a light with greenery in it, make sure the branches are as far away from the heat source as possible, and consider changing the bulbs to a lower wattage.

Check the temperature with the lights on to make sure things don’t feel too hot. If they do, this may not work for your particular fixture.

2. Make an Easy, Rustic Garland with Pine Sprigs and Jute or Twine

I need to brag on my 7-year-old daughter here. She came up with this idea. And I LOVE it! She found a scrap piece of twine in the garage and asked me if she could have it.

10 minutes later, she walks back into the house with this ADORABLE strand of DIY-garland! Isn’t is precious?

She’s made a couple of these now, and we’ve draped them a number of places. They are rustic and natural. All you need to make these is…

Some twine, scissors and pine trimmings.

She snipped away choice pieces with her cute little safety scissors.

Then she simply wrapped the trimmings around the twine.

3. Perform a Tree Augmentation

Do you have a fake tree? We do, and it’s a little sad looking, really. So, we give the ol’ gal a bit of a new lease on life with a minor surgery. A branch augmentation.

We talked about this in an earlier post this season, if you want more details, head over there for video, etc.

4. Mason Jar Greens

Not much could be simpler or more pretty than a little sprig of greens stuck into a mason jar mixed with some other seasonal fare such as cinnamon sticks or candy canes.

Or try a battery operated tea candle and some faux snow perhaps. Easy, inexpensive, delightful.

5. Bucket of Greens

Is it odd to love rusty old buckets? Perhaps, but I do, so I work with it. At any time of year, you’ll find them here and there around our home.

But at Christmas, they are usually holding loose, devil-may-care, caution-to-the-wind “bouquets” of cut greenery.

It’s the ultimate in inexpensive, but I love the look of the metal paired with the pine. Scrumptious.

Don’t have any pine trees in your yard, or outside your condo? No problem!

Check in with your local tree lot! Chances are, they will be more than happy to part with some scraps for free! We do that every year!

Then go and get your Edward Scissorhands on and do some pine clipping, friends!

There are so many lovely, inexpensive decorations to be made!

Happiest of holidays to one and all!

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