DIY Cheap Garland Made Glam! -

I am absolutely obsessed with thick, full, gorgeous lit- up garland to frame a porch or mantel around the holidays! It is so pretty and adds such a beautiful touch day and night, inside and outside. It tends to be so expensive though – running an average of $60 for just 9 feet of pre-lit, glammed up garland, which I was not about to pay. With the new house, I had big plans, but I wanted to put my own touch on it and not spend a ton of money, so I came up with a way to turn cheap garland into faux expensive garland, a mini Christmas tree for the porch, and luscious wreaths!

Step one, I headed good old Walmart to pick up a boat load of garland. They had bulk garland, some prelit, some very plain and simple and some more formed – all under $20 a bundle, some of them as low as $2.98. I also bought some holly berries, pinecones, basic string lights, and chalk paint. I will get to this later. I had some ribbon from previous years, as well as some ornaments that I planned on using. I also had a tomato cage – and I will get to this in a bit. I also purchased some of the most basic wreaths that they had. Everything was about to get a makeover!

I wasn’t 100% sure what I was doing, but it seemed simple enough, so I grabbed some coffee, put on some Christmas music, and got to it! I started with the garland for my front porch. I took the 12-foot pre-lit garland that I had bought for $12.98 and two 9-foot packages, one that was $2.98 and one that was $5.98, and started wrapping away, overlapping them and twisting the together to create a thick, beautiful base. I then added a few ornaments, tiny pinecones, and a big bow with some holly berries. Total cost? Under $30 for a full 12 feet of gorgeous, lit, embellished garland. Not a bad start if I do say so myself!

Next up – the tomato cage tree! Okay, so although these are cheap to buy, I had them laying around from our summer garden, so I decided to put it to use! I wanted a cute little Christmas tree for front porch but didn’t want to spend another $40. Cheap garland to the rescue! I grabbed a pipe cleaner and shaped the cage upside down with the prongs facing up into a point. I then began wrapping with the $2.98 garland. It took two 9-foot bundles to create a base. I then took two bundles of the $5.98 garland and overlapped it to give it a more full, realistic layered look. Before decorating, I wrapped in lights and gave it a quick spritz with the chalk paint to create a “snowy” look, then simply added ribbon and ornaments to finish. Total cost, less than $25. Score again!

Last up – the wreaths. I needed 3 of them and I wanted them to be big, lush, with decorations and a bow, and I wanted them to light up. For $30 – $40 a piece I could have just bought them, but nope – to the craft table we went. I bought the basic 24″wreaths at Walmart for $14.95 a piece, made them a bit larger with the $2.98 9-foot garland bundle, wrapped them in lights, added holly, pinecones, and a bow, and bam! They were full, lush, an beautiful and cost just over $20 a piece! Score again! We added some battery operated candles to the windows, Bill lit up the house with more lights, a new door mat and door wreath and bam! What would have cost over $300.00 cost less than half of that, plus, holiday crafts are always a fun way to get into the holiday spirit!