With Autumn and the crisp season making itself known now with the changing of leaves in the north and cooler temperatures all over, everyone starts to get anxious for the beautiful scenery as well as a chance to freshen their own home. But not everyone can afford a home decorator or landscaper to make their home festive. Now, I personally don’t have any money, but I find good deals and use a little creativity to make my home cheerful and festive. I took some of my own personal decorating on a budget ideas and decided to share them with everyone.
Fall means many things to people. Harvest. Raking up crisp, delicious smelling leaves and even getting set for Halloween in October. The colors of Autumn are often the most inspiring that I can think of, especially when leaves turn a deep, alluring red. This first little decorative tip took me some time to manage and even then I decided it best for a festive occasion centerpiece, definitely not for everyday use as a part of it may not last more than a day, depending on how often it’s touched and by who.
Most craft stores sell cornucopias and plastic fruits for decorating a kitchen. You can sometimes see these in houses for sale, or even in restaurants as a decoration. Sometimes, depending on the dollar stores in your area, you can find these in the craft aisle. Take for example Dollar Tree stores. Generally, year round you can find these decorations there for any occasion. I say Dollar Trees because every item in the store is a dollar, except for some items which are 2 for a dollar. Still, you can’t beat that and it’s definitely better than spending a vast amount of money on an item you may only use a few times a year.
What you do is you pick out what items you desire, then make sure you get a styrofoam cone or cube that can be cut or already fits inside the cornucopia. Mainly this resolves any odd shaped items being stuck inside and breaking if they get jammed against another. Also, it can save you a few dollars. Sometimes the plastic fruits are also styrofoam, yet, still very convincing. With these you can glue toothpicks into the pieces, then stick them into the styrofoam filled cornucopia – that way they don’t fall about and roll. If you decide to use grapes just lay them on the bottom. No need to puncture and stick. When you’ve got the cornucopia set, or at least purchased, you can do one of two things. The first is buy plastic fall leaves on a string and loop them about the cornucopia. This can save you time and can make it usable all the time if you want. The other option is to go gather leaves outside, the pretty ones, that is and scatter them about the centerpiece. A word of advice, though, I wouldn’t use real leaves if you have any pets who might decide it’s snack time on the table. It would be pretty depressing to walk into a setting where the leaves are crushed and drooled on from kitty.
Another fun and sometimes free idea that is often used here is cornstalks. Sure, they can be messy when they dry, but, if you live in a more rural area, sometimes you can ask farmers if you may cut some of the used stalks down to take with you. Generally, farmers are OK with this, but always ask to be sure. You don’t want an angry farmer chasing you down with his pitchfork. Be careful when taking them home as they can crumble easily when pressed together.
If you want to spend the money to buy bales of hay that you can use around plants when it gets closer to winter, you can buy a few of these to add to the decorating. If you have trees in the front lawn, this works best since people driving by (as well as walking by) may see it. What you do is you take rope and group the bottoms of the stalks together, tying them around the tree. It doesn’t matter where you knot it to secure the stalks, since generally nobody sees the backside. When these are secure, if you bought the hay bales, you can drop two in front of the tree and decorate it with gourds and pumpkins if you desire. It’d give you a chance to buy a good pumpkin early and store it un-carved for a while until it’s big day.
My last idea is more of a parent-child funtime activity. Any store that sells construction paper in fall tones will do. This involves a lot of drawing, some cutting with safety scissors and plain, clear tape to tape the creations to the window. You can even use glitter and other fun fall confetti that stores sell to decorate the creations.
Being careful, have your child draw out a few leaves on their choice color paper. If they want, they can attempt to trace a leaf if it isn’t completely dry. Have them draw in ‘vein’ lines to give the drawing a real-look. If the child is old enough to use safety scissors, watch them while they cut out their leaves, but, if you’d rather they not cut them out, you can do it yourself. Once the leaves are drawn out, using gluesticks, have your children decorate the leaves however they want. Let them dry and turning them towards the road, decorate a front window (or even their bedroom window!) with the creations. It not only is cheap and fun, but it provides a great family time activity.
While there are many other ways to decorate a home without costing much money, these three are the ones I use most often when it comes to general autumnal decorating. Feel free to share an idea with me or others in what you do for decorating on a small budget. No matter if you like or dislike these ideas, may they come in handy to someone somewhere. Above all else, Happy Fall, everyone!
