I love to use florals and natural materials in my holiday decor, but with it already being an expensive season, I try to find ways to create my Christmas floral arrangements on a budget. This year, I’ve homemade a large door wreath, produced a simple mantel fireplace garland and elevated my Christmas table settings with a few inexpensive ideas. To find out what they are, keep reading!

Foraged for my wreath

80% of this door wreath pictured is foraged from hedgerow, my garden and the side of the road. I do live near a forest which helps, but if you can get to any field or rural overgrown area you’ll find materials from which you can make a beautiful door wreath!

My wreath is made from the following items which are abundant in the UK in December:

• Conifer Tree

• Bracken (in December, these fern leaves are a dried brown colour that gives a good contrast to the green)

• Ivy berries

• Olive branches

• Eucalyptus

• Holly berries in red and orange

The main thing is to look for foliage which is coarse, hardy and has a good shape. Build your wreath base with these items and layer more colourful flowers and dried pieces on top. The more decorative items that I purchased to add to this wreath were pink peppercorns, a stem of dried pink pampas grass, some faux berries and dried fruit.

Elevated my inexpensive mantel garland with candles and ribbon

This Christmas fireplace arrangement was created with one faux garland that I hung in a W shape across the mantelpiece. I then added in some leftover conifer from the door wreath and a selection of inexpensive flowers that you can buy at the flower market or supermarket (here, I’ve used Gypsophila, chrysanthemums and wax flowers, along with some faux berries and dried fruit). To elevate the mantel design, I’ve draped blue and tan ribbon under the surround (stuck on with blue-tac) and lined-up dinner candles in holders of various heights across the back of the mantelpiece. To continue this year’s trend of bows, I’ve added a giant gingham fabric bow from Poppy & Honesty to the mantel mirror and tied a ribbon around each candle for visual interest.

To hang the dried fruit, I use floristry wire wrapped around each lime or clementine that’s then secured at the back and onto a garland branch. The fresh flowers in this mantel design are placed into a plastic trough filled with chicken wire to support the stems.

Swap large floral arrangements on the Christmas table for smaller, creative displays

While large garlands draped down the centre of the Christmas dinner table or tall statement centrepieces look amazing, they can be expensive to buy or put together and will often get in the way of serving platters or conversation. Instead, be creative with smaller displays dotted around in bud vases that not only look delicate and beautiful, but can be moved easily as required and won’t block your view of the person sitting opposite.

This Christmas, I created some snow globe place settings using a plain glass tumbler, a dusting of fake snow, some dried pink peppercorns and some small antique-style baubles upon which a name tag was tied. It’s a simple idea that will leave a great first impression on your guests (and they can take home the mini tree decoration as a token of the day!)

As this is my last blog post for 2023, I want to say Merry Christmas to all my readers who celebrate it and a Happy New Year to all.