Now is the perfect time to go green and save some green with natural, inexpensive holiday decorations. It's easy to get started with these kid-friendly, eco-friendly ideas:
Bring the outdoors inside
Collect greenery from your own backyard. Evergreen boughs, pinecones, and holly sprigs will all look great scattered throughout your home, and they add a nice holiday scent to the air.
Let nature make the centerpiece
- Fill a decorative glass bowl with shiny, red apples; tie each stem with a festive ribbon if you'd like.
- Have the kids collect pinecones in a pretty basket, tie a ribbon around it and place it at the center of the table.
- Fill a large wooden or glass bowl with fruits, nuts and vegetables that catch your eye at the supermarket.
Create a citrus candleholder
All it takes is a few minutes to transform an ordinary orange into a lovely candleholder. You'll need an orange, a metal tea light, some cloves and a paring knife. Cut a hole in the top of the orange that's a little bit larger than the diameter of the tea light. Create a space for the candle to sit, and place it in. Next press cloves into the orange skin. Light the candle, then sit back and enjoy the delicious spicy-citrus scent.
Make some natural napkin rings
Pinecone napkin rings are a great way to spruce up the holiday table and easy for kids to help create. Have the kids gather pinecones and, if they'd like to, paint the edges with glitter. Then take raffia, or other natural looking ribbon, and tie it around your napkins, leaving a little extra to wrap around the center of the pinecone. Tie with a bow and your holiday napkin rings are complete.