Fall Decorating on a Budget

Fall is here!!!  During September you start seeing all the Fall decorations go up for sale in the stores. I am a summer girl it usually takes me until the middle or end of September to get in the mood for Autumn.  The weather start’s getting cooler, it starts getting darker earlier and then I am ready to embrace all things pumpkin spice and put up my Fall decorations. 

You can watch me share about 'DIY Fall Decor' on Studio 40 Live here: http://bit.ly/2fA0MFE

When you see all the cute decorations for sale at the stores it is easy to forget about your budget and want to buy everything.  There are a lot of ways to stretch your dollar and use many of the DIY projects on Pinterest to help you decorate without spending a lot of money.

These are some of my favorite ways to easily decorate for Fall on a budget.

Visit your store bulk section.

You can use popcorn kernels, green lentils, red beans and candy corn to add the colors of Fall to vases and other table centerpieces.  This is a very easy inexpensive way to decorate.    You could also use corn husks and other non-perishable Fall inspired food items you find to decorate.  You will spend less in the bulk foods section than buying the pre-packaged items.

Make your own Fall Banner.

What you need: Twine Rope, Burlap, and a sharpie.  Optional: Hot glue gun, Fall-inspired scrapbook paper, fabric paint, and faux fall leaves.

You probably have most of these items lying around somewhere especially if you have school-age children or do crafts.  If you don’t these items are very inexpensive and you can re-purpose.

Cut the burlap to your desired size square, you can shape them as triangles if you like, an easy way to have pretty font is to print out the letters you need on paper.  Place the paper under the burlap and use the sharpie marker to print your letters.  I used “Fall” on my banner but you could do a whatever you like “Give Thanks”, “Autumn”, “Welcome Fall”, etc.              

Using a Sharpie marker is an easy way to create your banner, but you could use fabric paint, stencils or a Cricut cutting machine if you have it.

Go outdoors.

Bring the outdoors in with pinecones, acorns and small branches and twigs.  You can take it up a notch by painting them.  This is a FREE way to decorate.  I’ve used smaller pinecones and acorns in vases, you can use larger pinecones hot glued to ribbon as a door hanging decoration and save those pinecones you can re-purpose them for Christmas decorations.

You could use branches in a vase to make a “Thankful Tree”, this is a fun activity to do all month long with the family and use as a beautiful centerpiece or mantle decoration. 

I traced and cut out leaves on Fall colored cardstock, punched a hole in the leaves, you then write what you are thankful for on each leaf and use twine rope, yarn, raffia, ribbon or whatever you have to hang them on the tree.

Visit the Dollar Store.

There are many vases, wreath starters, ribbon, and ready to go Fall decorations at the Dollar Store.  You can also spruce up a decoration that maybe isn’t exactly what you had in mind.  The Dollar Store is a great resource to stay on budget. 

Use what you have.

Look around your home and see what you already have that you can use, add some Fall foliage and turn it into a beautiful Autumn decoration.  Think outside the box and use things like a tin can from a canned food item you have used, clean and use hot glue sticks to glue twigs/branches to the outside of the can and it makes a great Fall candle decoration.  You can reuse glass items, mason jars, coffee drink jars, and so much more.  Remove the labels, clean, and decorate.

I spent $10 at the Dollar Store and $10 at my local craft store and I was able to create:

2 Fall inspired banners

A vase “Thankful Tree”

2 Twig/Branch candle holders using a recycled tin can.

2 tabletop candle decorations’

4 other vase decorations

2 mason jar Mod Podge leaf candlelight’s, and a wreath for my front door.  

If I spent $20 on already made decorations, I could have only purchased 2 decorations. With that same $20 I was able to make 14 Fall-inspired decorations. 

I still have a ton of burlap, Mod Podge, Twine Rope, and misc. items left over to repurpose and use with other craft projects.  I looked at my local Ross store and one small vase with pinecones and acorns was $9.99.  Wreath’s varied in price from $24.99-$50 and higher.  A similar twig themed candle holder was $9.99, I used a left-over tin can from my cupboard, twigs from outside and my hot glue gun to make an inexpensive DIY inspired one.

I hope you are inspired to try your hand at some DIY Fall Decorations.  It really is fun and gratifying to see something you “made” rather than something purchased.  It is also very therapeutic, to listen to your favorite music and craft.  It would be fun to have a girl’s night and craft together.  Get your kids involved, my boys loved helping me find the perfect twig, branch, and pinecone I was searching for. 

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Here is the Studio 40 Live Segment.