The holiday season is upon us! No holiday season is complete without the proper decorations. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, decorations are what make the holiday season come alive. Making those yourself, or with your friends and family, just adds to the experience. Making holiday crafts with your family can be a great way to spend chilly days too. We’ve compiled a list of DIY centerpieces that ooze holiday spirit, for a visual feast while you enjoy your favorite holiday meals with your loved ones.
Thanksgiving
DIY Paper Leaf Thanksgiving Table Runners
This fun table runner can be done while your guest are arriving and/or waiting for Thanksgiving dinner to begin. Each guest can write what they are thankful for this year on a leaf and then add it to the table runner. This centerpiece can create great memories for children as they can assist in cutting out the leaf shapes and gluing the shapes to the leaf runner. Over dinner, guests can take turns reading what each leaf says and play games guessing whose leaf belongs to who.
Items Needed:
Colorful pads of paper (lined or unlined)
Scissors
Glue dots
Writing utensils
Roll of craft paper, 12 inches in width
Instructions:
Step 1: Start by drawing leaf shapes onto the pads of paper. You can always print out a leaf shape as a stencil.
Step 2: Stack several pieces of paper and cut leaf shapes. Depending on the length of your table runner you will need about 150 to 300 leaves that are about 4 inches in length.
Step 3: Have family members share what they are thankful for on some of the leaves.
Step 4. Fold the leaves in half, length-wise, leaving an inch or more at the top unfolded. This gives the leaves dimension.
Step 5: Attach the leaves to the craft paper using the glue dots. There is not right or wrong way to do it as long as the craft paper is covered and the table runner looks full.
Hanukkah
Items Needed:
Printer
Paper
Wine bottles
Instructions:
From the link above, find pattern paper you like! Print it, wrap around your bottle and either glue or tape it in place. Add a custom wine label, available at the same link, with your own holiday message printed on it. Voila! You’ve created one-of-a-kind gifts for every wine lover in your life.
Items Needed:
Empty and cleaned tin cans
Spray paint for metal
A small nail
A hammer
Rags or kitchen towels
Tealights
Instructions:
Step 1: Plan your design using the lines on the can.
Step 2: Using towels create a bed that will keep the tin can steady.
Step3: Placing the can firmly in place, put a nail on the can and hammer the nail softly until it makes a mark. Once there is an indent, hit the nail hard enough for it to go through. Be careful not to widen the whole when removing the nail.
Step 4: When the design is complete spray paint the can the color of your choice in an open area.
Christmas:
These DIY Christmas Tree Confetti Cones are not your traditional Christmas decoration, but they can add a modern touch and a pop of color. Not only is this project fun, but it makes for easy set up and take down as well!
Items Needed:
Clear cones in different sizes: size 1, size 2, size 3
Clear stencil adhesives
Confetti
Spray Paint and spray snow for the caps (optional)
Instructions:
Step 1: Lightly spray some adhesive very lightly.
Step 2: Rotate the cone while sprinkling in some confetti so the cone falls evenly.
Step 3: Spray the tops of the cone any color you’d like. To top it off you can even add a bit of fake snow for additional wintery effects.
Kwanzaa
Celebrated from December 26 to January 1, Kwanzaa is a way for African Americans to celebrate their cultural heritage and traditional values. The holiday’s décor is known for its bright colors, especially green and red. Here we have a DIY Kinara, a structure with seven candles lit on each night representing the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
Items Needed:
Six 5” dowels
One 6” dowel
A thin scrap of wood to use as the base
Hot glue
Wire
Orange and yellow paper
Instructions:
Step 1: Paint three of the 5” dowels green, the other three red and the 6” dowel black.
Step 2: Add color to the piece of scrap metal.
Step 3: Hot glue the dowels to the scrap piece, three green on the left, black in the center, three red on the right.
Step 4: Create flame shapes with the orange and yellow paper. Glue the flames to pieces of wire and then glue the opposite end of the wire to each dowel.
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve is often associated with glitter and sparkles. This New Year’s centerpiece has all of that while maintaining a very classy centerpiece look.
New Year Centerpiece
Items Needed:
Krylon spray paint in almond
Krylon spray paint in ivory
Mod podge
Glitter
Masking tape
Fairy Lights
Glittery flowers
Instructions:
Step 1: Place mason jars upside down on newspaper.
Step 2: Spray paint jars.
Step 3: Once the paint dries put a piece of masking tape over where you’d like the glitter to stop.
Step 4: Mod podge the area and pour glitter in the color of your choice over the area.
Step 5: Decorate with fairy lights and glittery flowers of your choosing.
Decorating during the holidays is what helps ignite the spirit and makes the season enjoyable. All of these projects can be done with family allowing you to create additional holiday memories.
Justina Piedra is the marketing coordinator at FirstService Residential in New Jersey.
