It’s been a tough year both emotionally and financially for many and the thought of spending a fortune decorating your house up to get the FULL Christmas feel is a tiny bit daunting. Well the beauty of reusing, repurposing or reinventing things you already have makes your FESTIVE D.I.Y DECOR a real possibility.

To be fair, not everyone is a “Pinterest Guru” but the beauty of sites like Pinterest is that the skill level varies and I for one can always find at least one thing I can make either by myself or with my kids…and if i’m lucky and have my mum staying with us then we can accomplish “Pinterest Level-EXPERT” which is rather fun.

Plus Christmas has the tendency to be incredibly wasteful and according to a study – around 30% more waste is generated during the festive season – WHAT??? That isn’t including the food waste that is generated – It is solely Rubbish. Think about the wrapping paper, decor, plastic trees and ornaments you don’t always keep. Gift tags and stickers – you name it and we see it briefly and then throw it away. Even though recycling levels are on the rise, most of the festive season waste still ends up in landfills rather than being reused or recycled.

According to Statistics SA more than 78.8% of households support recycling, but 75.8% do not separate waste for recycling.

I remember growing up we kept a garbage bag next to us while we opened presents on Christmas morning {talk about single-use} We only kept the ‘Pretty paper’ or gift bags but as we got older it became a big laugh if we just reused the exact same card too [Sometimes we would go so far as to scratch out the persons name “Love Sam  Dom” ]

As we grew a bit more conscious of our own personal waste we slowly started creating things that were ‘forever’ items. My mum made us gift bags from beautiful fabrics, we repurposed broken Christmas decorations and made our very own gift tags – even using those colour swatches from the paint store as Christmas Tree-cards. Super cute and our friends and family loved the effort that went in.

So this year either ditch the tag or reinvent your own.

Now we aim to have as little as possible thrown away, we are choosing décor we have repurposed, reinvented, life long investments and heirlooms to pass down the generations.

> From our own D.I.Y wreaths [Find our blog here from last year – it was such a HUGE hit]

> To reusable sacks or bags that we pop prezzies inside or pre wrapped boxes that we keep every year but just add a gift inside which also keep the tree looking fabulous.

> By using your old jars you can make super cute candle holders or name places, learn a new napkin fold to reuse your fabric napkins over and over each year. Use leaves and flowers from your garden or in our case – down the street we are lucky enough to have a Penny Gum Tree and it is honestly my Go-To décor spot 😉

If you have some craft paper around, scrap paper, old magazines & books or newspaper you can make some DIY 3D paper trees – a little fidgety but HOW CUTE!!! I just couldn’t resist – Follow this link to watch how to make these – Watch Here

Image by Etsy.com

Another great idea, a less waste, less plastic solution is using fabric to wrap presents. If you need advice or where to find some if you dont have scrap fabric at home take a look at the Conscious Lifestyle Collection Created by Ellen Cooper – Find these gorgeous wraps here

We are always on the look out for fabulous ideas so please tag us in your creations this festive season – @therefillerysa so we can share your skills and try them ourselves.

Some fantastic Local, Woman-Owned, Small businesses that do some fantastic Christmas decor, gifts, bags, tags and much much more that you simply must follow: