7 DIY Recycled Christmas Decorations

diy recycled christmas decorations

Upcycled Christmas Tree Decorations

November, 2022

Love the Christmas period but hate all the plastic and waste?

My family are fairly eco-conscious so there have been many Christmases where we’ve celebrated with upcycled, homemade gifts…I’ve given and received many quirky, memorable creations!

For some alternative ideas on gifts other than buying ‘stuff’ that’s going to end up in landfill for Christmas, check out Lara’s post : 40 Alternatives to ‘New Stuff’ Gift Buying at Christmas.

This year I decided our Christmas tree needed a facelift and I was determined to do it on a budget and recycle as many materials as possible. I looked at a few Christmas decorations in store and can see how the cost of decorating our tree could add up to a costly exercise… Not to mention the amount of plastic that would surely end up in landfill one day.

So… I delved into Pinterest for some DIY recycling inspiration to decorate my Christmas tree in a more eco (and wallet) friendly way.

1. Recycled Paper Book Bauble Decorations

diy recycled christmas decorations

These recycled paper baubles only require a few materials that most people have at home; paper, string and glue.  Instead of cutting up old books you could use left over wrapping paper, newspaper or paper bags. I picked up an encyclopaedia from a thrift store for $2 that was missing the rest of the set.

Materials & Tools:

  • Paper: Old encyclopaedias, music books, newspaper or paper bags
  • Bakers twine or cord
  • Glue stick or craft glue and paint brush
diy recycled christmas decorations
Recycled paper Christmas decoration

DIY Steps:

  1. Fold the paper in half. I used about 10 sheets per bauble and removed them from the book with a box cutter.
    1. Fold twice for large baubles 13cm tall
    2. Three times for medium baubles 9cm tall
    3. Four times for small baubles 6cm tall
  2. Trace your bauble decoration shape onto each piece of folded paper.
  3. Use a small glue stick (for large baubles) or a paint brush and craft glue to glue closed each folded piece of paper in the spots above.
Recycled paper Christmas decoration

4. Take each folded piece and glue with the second glue pattern above, stacking the folded peices as they are glued together.

5. Cut the string to the required length and knot the ends together:

    • 50cm long for a large bauble
    • 40cm for a medium bauble
    • 20cm for a small bauble

6. Glue the string to the spine of the folded paper.

7. Unfold the paper (make sure the glue has completely dried first).

8. Glue the unfolded bauble in place.

2. Recycled Plastic Bottle Bells

Upcycled christmas decorations plastic bottle bells3

For this DIY recycled Christmas decoration, you’ll need a craft knife, plastic bottles, spray paint, string and ribbon. I had a stash of ribbons from gifts and packaging that were perfect for this.

diy recycled christmas decorations

Materials & Tools:

  • Plastic bottles
  • Ribbon saved from gifts & packaging
  • Gold spray paint
  • Hot glue gun
  • String
diy recycled decorations

DIY Steps:

  1. Cutting the bottle: I used a sharpie to mark the cut line, measuring up from the bottom of the bottle. When your cutting remember to cut down and away from yourself! If you have trouble with this and the edge looks a bit jaggered, just glue some ribbon around the edge after painting for a tidier edge.
  2. Cut strips of plastic about 1cm wide from the discarded section of the plastic bottle to make the loop on the top of the bell.
  3. Use the hot glue gun to glue the ends of the plastic strip together and create a loop.
  4. Spray paint in thin coats to prevent dribbles like you can see in my decorations! Let dry for about an hour.
  5. Use the hot glue gun to attach the string to the inside of the bottle top that will become the clapper  (the dangley, inside bit of the bell).
  6. Tie the other end to the plastic loop.
  7. Hot glue gun the loop in place.
  8. Tie a ribbon around the neck of the bell.

3. Toilet Paper Roll Snow Flakes

christmas decoration Toilet paper roll

Materials & Tools :

  • Cardboard rolls from baking paper or toilet rolls
  • Glitter
  • Craft glue
  • String
diy recycled christmas decorations
diy christmas decorations

DIY Steps:

Each snow flake needs about 3 toilet rolls.

  1. Mark a line 1cm from the end of the cardboard roll and cut.
  2. Use this section as a guide to trace 1cm strips along the rest of the roll.
  3. 15 strips are needed for the snow flake pattern above.
  4. Flatten 10 of the pieces the take the last 5 pieces and fold them in half so they form a V shape. These 5 pieces are glued inside 5 of the flattened pieces.
  5. Use a hot glue gun to glue the sections together. You could use a glue stick or craft glue but a hot glue gun sets really quickly which helps stop the sections from popping apart.
  6. Paint the tips roughly with some craft glue and sprinkle with glitter.

4. Upcycled Key Snow Flakes Decorations

As a renovator, when I move into a new (old) house they always seem to come with a bag of random keys that don’t fit any of the door or window locks so this DIY Christmas decoration idea was a good fit for me!

If you want to have a go at making this decoration and don’t have a stash of old keys, head to a nearby salvage yard and they’ll likely have an accumulation of random keys they’ll be happy to see being re-used.

Materials & Tools:

  • Hot glue gun
  • Plastic bottle
  • Old keys
  • String
recycled christmas decorations

DIY Steps:

  1. Cut the bottom of a plastic bottle off using a craft knife or box cutter. This is to use as a base to secure all the keys to.
  2. Cut a hole in the centre of the plastic disk so that it can’t be seen through the centre of the keys. I used scissors for this and just cut through the ring of plastic to get to the centre.
  3. Use the hot glue gun to secure 4 keys to the plastic ring first, then glue another layer of 4 keys on top.
  4. Spray paint.
  5. Knot the ends of the string together and attach with the hot glue gun.
diy recycled christmas decorations

5. Recycled Light Bulb Baubles

diy recycled christmas decorations

There are so many great ideas for recycling old light bulbs. Of course you need to be cautious that these are well secured, but I’m really impressed with the bling that these bring to my tree!

I have a lot of spare, odd shaped light bulbs from changing out light fittings when renovating houses so using these was a good starting point for this recycling project.

Materials & Tools:

  • Old light bulbs
  • Glue
  • Glitter
  • String or twine
Upcycled christmas decorations light bulb
diy recycled christmas decorations

My glue and glitter DIY attempt is pretty basic so I’ve also included some clever creations from other crafters that have much more patience than me!

Below are some other recycled light bulb Christmas decoration ideas from around the web.

Left to right ; Light bulb snowman (SmartSchoolHouse.com) , Light bulb Santa (ConfessionsOfASerialDIYer.com), Light bulb Rudolph (Pintrest)

Light bulb diy christmas decoration

6. Upcycled Painted Christmas Baubles

This DIY Christmas decoration is not strictly using discarded or recycled materials but I thought it was a good idea to include ways to re-use and upcycle old decorations that are collecting dust.

Upcycled DIY christmas decorations

Materials & Tools:

  1. Old Christmas decorations
  2. Paint
  3. Other materials that could be used to re-cover i.e string, tissue paper, fabric scraps etc
upcycled christmas decorations

I’m not exactly sure where my hot pink Christmas decorations came from but my guess is you might have a collection of old decorations that could do with a face lift as well.

Recycled christmas decorations

I used an egg carton to stop baubles and light bulbs from rolling around when painted. I cut a small cross into the top of the egg carton and pushed the top of the decoration in to hold it in place, then you can pick up the egg carton lid rather than the wet painted bauble!

7. Snow Flake Christmas Decorations Made with Recycled Books

recycled christmas decorations

Materials & Tools:

  • Old books
  • PVA glue & hot glue gun
  • Glitter
  • Craft knife or box cutter
  • Ruler
diy recycled Christmas decorations

DIY Steps:

  1. Mark 2cm wide strips in the book.
  2. Cut through several layers of pages at a time with the box cutter.
  3. Take about 4 paper strips and loop the ends together. The snow flake decoration above measures 23cm in diameter using:
    1. 6 loops made from 22cm long strips
    2. 12 loops from 20cm strips
    3. 12 loops from 15cm strips
  4. Use a small strip of paper (about 2 x 2cm) to glue the ends of the loop together and secure in place.
  5. Take one strip of spare paper and wrap it around the end of a pen and secure with craft glue. This makes the centre of the snow flake.
  6. Use a hot glue gun to glue the loops together then glue each bundle of loops to the centre ring of the snow flake.
  7. Brush the tips of the snow flake with glue and sprinkle with glitter.
diy recycled christmas decorations

Hopefully this article has given you some ideas on how materials you have on-hand at home can be used for DIY recycled Christmas decorations.

The only item I bought for this was the old encyclopaedia because I couldn’t bring myself to cut up any of my own books! The spray paint was left over from painting drawer handles for another upcycle project and the rest of the materials were from my stash of craft supplies that I’ve accumulated over the years.

If you have a go at making some DIY recycled Christmas decorations please email us some photos! What will you re-use and recycle into something new?

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