30 Minute Holiday Decorations

hands assembling holiday wreath

Holiday decorations can be costly and commercial. The stuff you get from the store kind of all looks the same and doesn’t really reflect you. But in about 30 minutes, you can create your own really cute holiday decoration that's both affordable and personal.

Simple Ornament Wreath

Holiday wreath-making has become a real art form, with people using all sorts of materials and crafting skills to create their own DIY wreaths. You don't have to spend all that time to get something pretty and colorful that can be hung anywhere and get great compliments. Get a wire coat hanger and some inexpensive ball ornaments and you're in business.

Unwrap the wire hanger and unbend it to get it straight, then bend it back into an open circular shape. However, leave the top hook intact. You'll use this later. Next, take your ball ornaments and loop them through the wire. Keep going until you can't add any more ornaments. Close the hanger under the top hook again. Now, you can hang up your pretty wreath anywhere using the hanger hook and you've got an amazing wreath in about 30 minutes.

Adorable Winter Hat Ornament

small knitted pink hat

In 30 minutes or less, you can make a super cute DIY ornament basically using trash. Get yourself a pair of scissors and an empty toilet paper or paper towel cardboard roll, along with some yarn. Cut a couple of dozen strips of yarn to an equal length, about 5 inches. Alternate between two colors if you want or pick just one.

Cut a ring off the cardboard roll that's about three-quarters of an inch tall. Do not cut through the ring. Cover the ring with glue inside and out. Starting on the inside of the ring, place a string of yarn so that the end of the yarn meets the top of the inner ring, then pull the yarn up and over the outside of the ring.

Cover the entire ring until you have a yarn-wrapped ring with strands of yarn coming out from the top. Gather these strings in your hand and make a loop around them with your fingers, about half an inch from the top of the cardboard ring. Tie another piece of yarn here, replacing the loop of your fingers with the yarn. Tie tightly.

Separate one strand of yarn from the rest and pull it over to the side, then cut the remaining strings of yarn about half an inch above the section you just tied off. This will create a cute little fringe and finish off the hat. As for the one long piece you have left, tie the end of it around the gathered section to create a loop. This is how you hang your ornament!

Winter's Basket

Get any basket, preferably a medium-to-large size, and fill it with cones, sticks, and sprigs of evergreen. Tuck tree lights around these items and down in the basket to create a glowing seasonable winter basket that will look amazing and brighten up any dark space. This is a great addition to a fireplace or kitchen area and it takes very little time to put together.

Whimsical Doors

snowman design on garage door

You won't know how you missed this once you do it once. Get some colored paper, scissors, and wall-safe tape or putty stickers, which are safe to use on paint. Using black paper, cut out two large circles about five inches in diameter, then eight smaller black circles about three inches in diameter. Cut out a long triangle in orange paper. You'll need two long strips of red or green paper of equal size, about three inches wide, then two much shorter uneven pieces of the same width.

Do you know what you're making yet? It will become clear soon. Go to your front door, back door, or bathroom door. Take the two large circles and place them near the top of the door, toward the middle, spaced about four inches apart and parallel to each other. Place the orange triangle a few inches below and between them.

Take five of the smaller circles and place them in a semicircle under the triangle, spreading across the entire door. Can you see now how to finish it off? Place the three remaining circles in a vertical line, spaced about an inch and a half apart, several inches below the smile down the center of the door.

Now, take your two long pieces of colored paper and place them horizontally across the door between the smile and the vertical buttons. Take the two short pieces and place them off to one side of the buttons, coming down at an angle in two vertical lines. As you can see, this creates the ends of the scarf. When you're all done, you will have an adorable snowman!

Edible Evergreens

dish of chocolate Hershey's Kisses

Grab some Hershey's kisses, toothpicks, and green cardstock. Cut the cardstock into long triangles and use a hot glue gun to attach them to the toothpicks. Attach the end of the toothpick to the bottom of the triangle, so that the toothpick sticks out from the center bottom of the triangle. Stab the other end of the toothpick into a Hershey kiss and just like that, you have little evergreen trees standing in delicious chocolate treats. Easy!