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.
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.
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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:
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.
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.
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Each snow flake needs about 3 toilet rolls.
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.
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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.
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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)
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.
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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.
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!
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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?