How often do you replace your Christmas or Holiday decorations? I have some that I bought many years ago that have special significance to me, and I will probably always keep. Others, though, are simply more trendy filler type decorations that weren't expensive, and may not have held up well over the years, so I will discard them and replace them with a few new ones. I go through some of my decorations each year, and if I have ones that are still in good shape that I no longer want, I will donate them via Freecycle / TrashNothing groups, or to local Purple Heart or other Veteran organizations. I often see others donating theirs as well, so if you're looking to obtain free decorations, unused wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, etc., try joining your local Freecycle / TrashNothing (or similar) groups, and request these types of items.
I would use the same old decorations each year but I can't because I always have some guests stay here for the holidays and it's them who usually decorate. I don't spend a penny but when the time does come when the guests no longer are interested in buying Christmas decorations, I'll grab everything I've "hoarding" for years now and use them. p.s Now that you mention freecyle I know what to do with the Christmas decorations that I don't intend to keep.
My Christmas decorations are all very meaningful to me. I've been collecting them since I first left home and many were passed on to me once my grandparents passed on.. they're the decorations I grew up seeing on the tree, so they'll always be on mine. I also have decorations my children and I made and I usually get one every year for Christmas from my husband and boys. I don't do the trendy thing, I guess I stick to sentimental.. it makes it ok to be a hoarder lol.
@JosieP Haha, there's nothing wrong with being sentimental. I've had some of my decorations for years, too. I haven't inherited many, but hopefully someday I will inherit at least a few, because there are many that I grew up seeing that I know will trigger memories when I see them. I have a variety of new and old, some more expensive and some less expensive, but some of the ones I treasure most are the homemade ones that bring up happy memories. @Denis Hard I like decorating with friends when they visit, but I don't mind decorating alone, because I love the process. I wouldn't mind at all having some help taking down the decorations, though, because that's something I dread. I love the holidays, and am always sad when they end.
I'm afraid to say that I'm a right miseryguts when it comes to Christmas and if I had my way, we wouldn't bother with decorations at all. I don't find Christmas very easy you see and if I had the money, I'd love to go somewhere sunny and Islamic for the entire duration. @JosieP your decorations sound lovely though. Tradition and sentiment is exactly what's needed at that time of year, not the stress of shopping and overspending.
Most of our household's Christmas decorations are hand-made. My mother has five children, and over the years we all made christmas decorations at school, and won a few in the school fairs, so we mostly just just use them, and then we will put up a few other purchased decorations, as well as the tree.
I’ve gone pretty minimal with my holiday decor, so I can use the same things every year and they don’t get too worn out. Occasionally I’ll add something new in, but I’ve learned over the years that I’m not the type who enjoys going all-out on the decorations. Some of it I enjoy, but it’s always the process of taking it all down and putting it away that’s the worst. So generally I just like to keep it to a minimum overall and save myself the hassle.
We just stick with what we use every year. I know to some it can seem like it gets tiring, but none of us actually notice since it takes a whole year before we see it again. By the time we put up the old decorations it looks new to us again. I think it's also partly because we usually spend the whole week of holidays in different houses every year too so we don't really get too sick of the decorations that easily. I think we probably haven't bought new decorations in a decade at this point.
We actually just use the same decorations every year. We just replace them when they're worn out or destroyed already. The good thing about Christmas decorations is that they are not easily ruined. They can go for years as long as they are properly taken care of. I can attest to that as we have been using the same decorations since I was in high school. Imagine! I have a son now so that's how long it is. The Christmas lights are another story. These are the ones we kept on replacing. Probably because we buy the cheaper ones. But they do last probably for two years at the most which is still good. We just buy the cheaper non branded ones. We just make sure they're safe and approved by authorities.
I have a box of ornaments that I use every year for the sentimental value and then some that I donate and replace every few years. I would like to buy one set that I can use every year and will not get dated. It is better to buy some nice ones than to buy cheap ones that break or no longer look good.
What a splendid idea and I was going to suggest recycling them for donation. I keep my old decorations from year to year. Now that I'm older not much is to be decorated. We lost our party giver for the holidays and we just stay home now. I miss getting together for the holidays. The tragedies of getting old I suppose. Thanks for the tip too! Happy Holidays too, though early.
I was just looking for my Fall window clings (and the Christmas ones for after that), and have no idea where they are. While I was looking for those, though, I ran across one of my small tabletop Christmas trees. I have several, because I used to decorate a lot more than I do now. One thing I would change if I could, is to have outside electric plugs. I have a few in the backyard, but not in places that are convenient. I also have one up on the balcony, but that's on the back of the house, where no one can see decorations. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get a small real tree this year, but if not, I'll probably put up that one and maybe one more, as well as my 'mantle' decorations, which go on the entertainment center, since I only have a wall hanging gel fireplace. Several years back, Kroger stocked some smaller trees that were less expensive than the large ones. I don't have the money or the room for a larger one, and the smaller size they had was perfect, but they haven't had that size for the past several years. I sometimes buy one at the local garden center, but those also tend to be somewhat pricey. I'll be keeping my eyes open to see if anyone has the smaller ones for a good price this year, because the house smells so nice with a real tree.
I haven't replaced my decorations very often. They seem to grow exponentially. I am going to try to market my house this spring though and I need to donate or sell a lot of items. I have yard cart full of Christmas lights that may or may not work and a number of other items that I need to get rid of. I have a humongus wreath, but I think I will keep that. I just really don't have much Christmas spirit anymore....so just keeping a few items would probably be good.
I don't replace my Christmas decorations, rather I just keep adding to my collection. Most of my ornaments are very sentimental so we put them up every year. We try to buy an ornament from every city we holiday in so as we hang the ornaments we reminisce about different holidays we've been on. The kids really enjoy this. We get rid of lights that don't work and broken ornaments but other than that I can't imagine changing our decorations for fashion or fads.
I'm also downsizing with a potential move in the future, and need to go through all of mine. My Christmas closet is behind furniture, under the stairs, so going through the holiday decorations isn't my favorite thing to do. I have to rearrange the entire living room to do it. I discarded a few light sets that didn't work last year, so hopefully this year they all will work fine. I don't like parting with things I'm attached to, but don't mind giving away others that I'm not quite as sentimental about. I'm also less sentimental as I used to be, and don't decorate as much, so could stand to downsize my collection somewhat.
I'm a bit like missbishi because I never go crazy with the decorations. Our decorations have always been minimal, but have become even more so since we move from the UK to Botswana. Over here christmas celebrations are not quite as elaborate and a lot of the focus goes on the family get together on the day, food and drink. Even going through the shopping malls, the decorations are very subdued. I use the same ones over and over, from year to year. If there are any that need replacing, I do that.
We almost never pay full price for Christmas or any holiday decorations. Many of our Christmas decorations have been bought on sale, particularly at the after-Christmas Boxing Day sales, when all of the Christmas merchandise goes on clearance. We bought our Christmas tree for 60% off by purchasing it after Christmas one year. Many of our Christmas ornaments are items from our childhood which our parents allowed us to take for our home, which adds a sentimental touch to some items and of course, they were totally free. If there is a particular Christmas decoration we are looking to purchase one year, such as new Christmas lights for example, we wait until it goes on sale for 50% off or more. The best places to purchase holiday decorations are thrift stores and garage sales. Usually thrift stores have so many holiday decorations that they price them incredibly low to make space. Our local Goodwill stores have one Goodwill store called "A Very Goodwill Christmas," where all of the overflow of Christmas decorations go to be sold. It's a seasonal store, up and running around the holidays. Homemade Christmas decorations are also the way to go in order to save money, especially if they include items you already have on hand!
Most of the things that I have are sentimental, so we use the same things every year. So therefore I don't replace them very much. I will buy one thing each year to add to the tree, and that way there is a story behind everything that goes on there, which is nice. I don't replace everything each year, because it would cost me far too much money to do this.
I was at Walmart yesterday, and the garden supplies have been relegated to a tiny spot outside, while that section is now heaped full of Christmas decor. They even had Christmas tunes playing. I picked up some Christmas decorations by accident while I was at Dollar Tree. I thought they were individual little Acorn Jingle Bells, and I was going to include one in with each package I mailed out during the holiday season, but it turns out they're all attached, and are more of a swag. I thought about cutting them apart and still using them for the intended purpose, but I might just leave them and hang them on my doors.
I was finally able to delve into my Christmas closet yesterday, and pulled out some of the decorations I'll be using this year. I'd forgotten that my main tree, which started out as pre-lit, had failing lights last year. I took the time at the end of the season to pull all of the lights off, and I have no idea where I put the lights that were still working. When I set up my 'mantel' decorations (I don't have an actual mantel, I use my entertainment center for those type of decorations), I noticed that half of those lights are out, as well. I'll pull that apart later, and remove the light strands. I'm going out in a bit to pick up some new lights and a few groceries. I'm sure the traffic will be heavy this weekend, especially over by my Walmart, which is in a tourist area, so I want to get that over with before everyone gets off work and heads that way.
