Christmas Lights And Decorations:
Frugal, Primitive Christmas Decorations To Make

Christmas lights and decorations: Make your own Christmas decorations from recycled glasses, tea lights and natural objects.

The Christmas decorating lights on this page make lovely mantel Christmas decorations & ideas for Christmas house decorations on windowsills, as well as centerpieces for Christmas dinner tables or "Christmas jewelry" on a side table.

How to make Christmas decorations like these (plus similar, natural Christmas decorations, e.g. coastal or retro Christmas decorations, as well as Christmas decorating lights):  Find out below!

1. Primitive Christmas Decorations
& Natural Christmas Decorations

Each 'unit' of the primitive Christmas decorations above is quite small.  But in a long row, or bunched together, Christmas lights and decorations obey the same rule as other small objects - put lots of them together and they will make a BIG statement.

A row of glasses could be filled with all manner of "Christmassy" things:

2. Christmas Light Decorating Ideas:
From Cast-Off To Gorgeous

I seem to remember it was crème caramel that came in these little glasses from the supermarket.

They're perfect for creating Christmas lights and decorations, because ...

... they're just big enough to hold a tea light, and they have this lovely groove around the top. It will hold all manner of ribbon in place, even if you attach heavier objects to it.

So let's turn each of them into a 'prototype' of Christmas light decorating ideas:

2a) Traditional Christmas Lights and Decorations

Well, it doesn't get much more traditional than big-red-bows-and-evergreens.

Wired ribbon works best because you can shape it, and work the bow into a really lush sculpture.

Wind the ribbon round the neck of the glass twice. That way, you make sure that the ribbon looks the same width all round the rim. I made two knots; the second one holds the twig in place over the first.

If you're using many of these Christms decorating lights together, you could vary the display a little. For example,

• try different types of evergreen leaves, e.g. holly, thuja, juniper, cypress, box, or conifers like fir or pine

• include a small pine cone here and there

• add a few nostalgic Christmas tree ornaments to some of the glasses

• use slightly different hues of red for the ribbon (this will look good if you've got a fair number of lights assembled).

2b) Contemporary Christmas Lights and Decorations

This glass has a broad band of colored string around the rim. Starting at the top, wind the string tightly around the glass and then knot the two ends together carefully.

It might help to glue the string down at the start and at the end to keep it in place. (This is the most fiddly bit; the rest's a piece of cake!)

Thread small Christmas tree balls onto one or both ends of the string, and knot the string together. This pulls the balls into a tight bunch.

For variations, particularly if you're using these lights for Christmas table decorating, you could

• add a name tag to each light and use them as 'place cards' on the dinner table

• vary the size/number of balls in the decoration

• tie in a few Christmas balls in odd colors for added punch

• instead of ball ornaments, use other Christmas tree decorations.

2c) "Fruity" Christmas Lights and Decorations

Of the three, these Christmas decorating lights are the easiest to make. Place a tea light in each glass and then fill the sides around it up with fresh cranberries.

At the end, slide a few glitzy bits (stars, little balls...) down the sides so they come to sit right behind the glass and reflect the sparkle from the other Christmas decorating lights.

Make sure the bow is of a generous size; leave one or both ends trailing a little and twist them into graceful wavy shapes. This looks particularly good if you're using several of these lights together.