CHANNEL THE INNER DECORATOR

At a loose end this weekend? Making homemade Christmas decorations is great fun and you can have a great time with the kids putting the final touches to whatever you make.

PAPER CHAINS

The most basic one to start with is paper chains. I like to take coloured A4 paper and cut it into strips about 1.5cm wide. Then we either alternate red and green for a Christmas theme or have multi-coloured chains that the kids love. An even more frugal option is to use coloured newspaper.

HAND-DECORATED BAUBLE

Hand-decorate a bauble for a family member. All you need is a marker in silver or gold, or even a glitter glue pen. You can then write each member’s name on a bauble and hang it on the tree. This will give everyone their own special decoration and you can even make them for friends and family as gifts.

PAPER SNOWFLAKES

Making paper cut-out snowflakes is great fun for older kids and they look fantastic stuck on the walls. Take a square of Christmas wrapping paper, any size, fold in half and in half again, then two more folds on the diagonal so you end up with a wedge of paper. Proceed to cut out pieces on both sides and then when you open it all up, you will have a snowflake to hang on the wall.

CARDBOARD STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

An oldie but a goodie. Cut Christmas shapes out of black card, like trees, bells, angels, and then fill in the gaps with one or many coloured cellophane pieces.