Decorate Your Home And Spend Time With The Family WIthout Spending A Fortune

Winter is in full swing and with all of the gift buying, house decorating and parties that keep us moving and spending, it is hard to remember to take the time to enjoy the season. It does not matter what holidays you celebrate this month or if you do any at all. Winter is the perfect time to decorate your home, get the kids involved and save money while being festive.

Decorating the yard is something that so many of us are doing right now. The lights are everywhere and they are spectacular. If you have not bought these yet and still want to light up the walkways, trees and your home, head over to . Many of the smaller stores are very limited on selection about now and the light sections are getting picked over, but Home Depot seems to still have the best selection. They also have some very large ornaments and yard art displays that you can get.

Bringing the outdoors in is a very cheap and easy way to decorate your home. Send the kids out to the yard to hunt for twigs, pine cones and holly berries. These are all items that many have to pay for at craft stores and we are lucky enough to have them free in our yards and neighborhoods.

Go to armed with your coupon and buy some spray paint and glitter. If you really want to save money, do two transactions and use two coupons. Spray paint the branches and pine cones to display in your house. You can also roll them in glitter while the paint is wet or lightly paint them with glue and roll them in glitter once they have been painted. Using metallic colors, green, red and other bright colors mixed in the same decorative arrangement will make it look like you spent a lot more than you did on the decor. Place them in a tall vase on the floor, tie them together to make a swag for your wall or cut and shape them to make a wreath with twist ties. You can leave them plain or accent with a ribbon or bow.

Adding small touches like gluing holly berries to pine cones or to the wreathes will add more color to the decorations. Buying these pre-made at craft and home decor stores will cost you several times what it will if you make it yourself and use coupons for your supplies.

, Lowes and all sell birdseed in large bags. This is the time of year when the birds really depend on us to help them in our back yards. If we are going to do it, we may as well decorate with the feeders as well. Mix birdseed with honey or peanut butter into it is the consistency of play-doh and place in silicone shaped ice cube or cake molds sold at . Freeze it overnight and hang from the trees with colored ribbons or string. You can do this in the shapes of gingerbread men, trees and wreathes. Add cranberries or other buts and berries to get some extra color as well.

The kids can cover pine cones in honey or peanut butter and roll it in birdseed  and make simple feeders as well. Make several to hang from the trees and the squirrels and birds will thank you.

With all of these out there offering holiday items, there are bound to be some great deals on Christmas trees and wreathes. Buy them when they are cheap at these sales. Then head over the to and buy the plastic ornament sets that they have for $1. Put the cheap trees and wreathes in the front yard and decorate with plastic. If the wind blows, nothing will get broken. Your investment is minimal but it will look fantastic.

Dollar Tree also has those big red felt bows for $1 each. They look the same as the ones that are over $3 apiece at Target. Buy several and hang them on your mail box, light posts and in the center of the plain wreathes to hang in your windows. Dollar Tree also carries those battery operated candles for windows and sets of battery operated lights for $1. These are much cheaper here than anywhere else that I have seen this season.

When you have the time, be sure to get in the kitchen with the kids and bake. You can freeze  breads and cookies and these make excellent gifts for the neighbors and friends. Starting from scratch is the fool proof way and the cheapest way to bake, although it can be more time consuming. Make a day of it and involve the whole family. Start with ideas

Paper crafts are fun and easy decorations as well. You can buy colored paper at , and . be sure to use the coupons for Jo-Ann and Michaels. Search the web for whatever you need patterns for. Whether it is a countdown to Christmas chain, snowflakes or Christmas Trees, teh ideas and patterns are out there.

This holiday season, decorating your home and spending time with your family is easy and cheap to do if you just take the time to do it. Remember why we love winter. It slows us down, bundles us up and allows us the opportunity to light a fire and relax with the family. Make some memories during this time while making your home festive and beautiful. Of course, saving money while doing so is always a bonus as well.