Decorating your yard for Christmas can get expensive and time consuming. You can’t just not decorate for Christmas this year, though! Why not cut out the hard work and big price tags and use one of these simple outdoor Christmas decoration ideas instead?
Mason Jar Lighting
Recycling mason jars to use in your holiday decor is super simple and cuts out the price of buying fancy lights. One thing you can start out with is simply stuffing the jars with strings of Christmas lights and setting them up along your porch or walkway. ChristmasLightsEtc.com shares a super helpful infographic that details how to do this lighting trick, along with other ones. Using mason jars doesn’t stop there, though. If you’re ambitious and have the right materials, a holiday-inspired mason jar chandelier can brighten up your porch this Christmas season.
Image via Flickr by Chiot’s Run
Backlit Cutouts
If you don’t have a lot of money this year to spend on decorations, then taking on this simple DIY project could be just the thing for you. Simply use a jigsaw to cut out your shape, such as a snowman, Christmas tree, or Santa Claus, on a piece of plywood. Prop up the plywood in your yard in front of a light to create a backlit effect. Need more detailed instructions? Check out this guide to building your own Christmas backlit cutout.
Glowing Holiday Globes
One of the biggest contributions to your holiday decor will be the lighting you place in your front yard. Attaching string lights to your home can be a hassle, but glowing holiday globes make lighting your outdoors simple. Pick up these glowing frosted globes from nearly anywhere selling Christmas decor. Then place them around your porch or lawn to get an easy and festive effect.
You don’t want your décor to look completely random, though. Consider grouping these globes together in a bird bath or setting them up along your walkway. You can even hang them from your porch if you have the time. You can also find floating lighted globes that you can place in your pond or swimming pool to keep things bright and interesting this holiday season.
Dressed Up Door
If you don’t have the time to do anything else this year, at least put up decorations near your front door. Since that’s more or less the centerpiece of your home, it will be the first thing people notice. Start by adding a wreath to the front door, which you can easily make yourself out of twigs, evergreen branches, pinecones, and other things you might find around the house. You can also buy an inexpensive wreath from any store selling Christmas decorations.
Next, add a string of garland or lights around the perimeter of your door. For a final touch, add something simple next to the door, like a planter filled with fake candy canes or even a small Christmas tree.
Winter Evergreens
For a super simple Christmas decoration, simply put out small Christmas trees in your yard or on your porch. Just make sure to place them strategically so that they’re aesthetically pleasing. Use real or fake trees, and put them in planters to keep them upright. If you have the time, add a few strings of lights and maybe even some ornaments to the trees. If you already have an evergreen or two living in your yard, all you need to do is dress it up with some lights and you’ll be good to go.
Holiday Bench Decor
Do you have a bench sitting on your front porch? Chances are no one’s going to be using it during the chilly weather. Why not put that surface to use? All you need for your holiday bench decor is a selection of evergreen branches, pinecones, and ornaments. Arrange these objects on the bench until you’re pleased with the holiday spirit they bring to your front porch. If you want to add an extra touch to the mix, sprinkle a light dusting of snow atop the arrangement.
Which one of these ideas will you use to decorate your yard or porch this holiday season?
Handprint Christmas Tree – This is a wonderful craft to do with younger children. You will need green, brown, and yellow construction paper, pencil, scissors, glue stick, and decorations for your tree. Decorate the tree using glitter, stickers, crayons, paint; small craft store pom-poms would be cute as well. They recommend that you trace your child’s handprint and then cut it out and use it as a template for nine more handprint cutouts. You glue the handprints in an overlapping pattern, four at the bottom, three above that, then two, then one on the top. Fat at the bottom and narrow at the top just like a real tree. The addition of a yellow star on top and a brown trunk on the bottom and there you have it. Now let your child decorate their very own tree! 
Cotton Ball Santa – What fun your children will have making a Santa with a beard of cotton balls! You start with a paper plate and then add some paint, googly eyes, a pink pom-pom from the craft store for the nose, red craft foam for his hat, and cotton balls for his beard and hat tassel. Younger kids may need some help cutting out his hat but other than that it is something that kids of all ages will enjoy and it is also super cute. You could even give them away as gifts to friends and family members. 
Sugar Cone Christmas Trees – Here is a decoration that is really sweet! I imagine there will be a lot of finger licking going on while making this Christmas tree. This is a fun project for younger children. You will need sugar cones (the pointy ice cream cones) and ready-made or homemade icing colored green with food coloring. Start with a paper plate or something to catch the excess decorations and spread the icing on the cones. Have the children decorate with candies of your choice. M&M’s, licorice ropes, sprinkles, gumdrops, and any candy you think will look festive. You can get really creative with it and your kids will have fun eating the decorations too. 
Light Up Christmas Tree – This Christmas Trees lights come on in the sunlight. Cut out a Christmas tree from green construction paper and use a hole punch to punch out a hole everywhere you want a light to show up on your tree. You will need a multiple color pack of tissue paper which you can easily get at the dollar store. Have some kid safe scissors on hand for your children to cut out small squares of tissue in all colors and then using a glue stick, glue them on the back of the tree over the holes you punched. After it dries you can hang it in the window and let the sun come shining through and watch your Christmas lights glow! 
Homemade Christmas Ball Ornaments – This is an easy decoration for a child of just about any age with a little supervision. According to this site you can purchase clear glass or plastic ball ornaments from craft stores. They recommend watering down your glue to make it thinner. Taking the top off of the ornament you can then pour the glue into the ornament and swirl it around to coat it and then pour excess glue back into the cup. Then do the same thing with glitter, pour into ornament, swirl, and then dump it out. After letting the ornament dry fully place the top back on and use a pipe cleaner for a child safe hook. This could be used as a gift for grandma and grandpa! 
Pom-pom Christmas Tree – What a sweet, soft little Christmas tree this is. What a great decoration for the little ones to make. This tree is made using a cardboard Christmas tree cut out of a cereal box or other light weight cardboard. You will need some Elmer’s type glue and different colors and sizes of pom-poms. You can make your tree the traditional green adding the other colors of pom-poms for the lights or make a not so traditional tree. Or maybe your children are like mine and love the pink, purple, or silver artificial trees they see at the stores and they want to duplicate. They will have fun making these trees no matter what they choose. 
