I’m a (recovering) Pinterest addict. I say recovering, only because I don’t spend every waking moment glued to my Pinterest feed anymore. However, when I drop by the site, which I still do a few times a week, I’ll often end up “accidentally” spending hours upon hours pinning.
Usually, I’m looking at recipes, home-related décor, or DIY crafts, so when I saw 20sb.net was hosting a holiday Pinterest party, I got excited… especially when I realized they wanted us to share our holiday related, Pinterest-inspired things.
Considering I already had two Pinterest-inspired holiday creations done (centrepiece, check, cupcakes for a work party, check) and a third planned (with materials already purchased!) this post was a no-brainer.
#1: Holiday Centrepiece
I always have some sort of centerpiece on my kitchen table. During October, I had mini pumpkins and a pumpkin candle. In September, it was just a simple candle on a tray.
Of course, I knew I wanted a festive centrepiece in December, and when I saw this one on Pinterest I knew it had to happen.
Believe it or not, sticks have been hard to come by. Well, “hard” in the sense that I haven’t conveniently been somewhere that sells them but I also haven’t bothered to look. In the end, I actually really like the glittery white berries and fake Poinsetta, so it all worked out.
- Milk Jug: $12.99, Ikea
- Glass dish: $16.99, Ikea
- Candle: $2, Ikea
- Berries: $1.50, Dollerama
- Square glass vase: $4.99, Ikea
- Ornaments: $1/pack, 3 packs, Dollerama
- Fake flowers: ~$2/stem, 3 stems, Dollerama
TOTAL COST: ~$48
This one was by far the most expensive decoration I put together, but I’ve wanted a milk-jug type vase for awhile; and the glass dish, milk jug, and square vase are all things I’ll re-use throughout the year.
#2: Christmas Cupcakes
I made these for my company Christmas party: they’re my “signature” Christmas cupcakes, aka mint chocolate chip cupcakes filled with white chocolate candy cane ganache and topped with vanilla buttercream. I totally cheated on these, though – I used a gluten-free box mix (shhhh) and doctored it. Actually, I usually do that with this recipe – there’s so many other good things going on, you can’t even tell it’s a box mix.
Yum.
My berries ended up a bit more pink then red, but damn does it take a LOT of red dye to actually get a red-red. That’s probably why so many “holly” cupcakes I’ve seen involve smarties or another red candy.
- Candy Canes: $1, Dollerama
- Heavy Cream: $3.99, Loblaws Superstore
- White Chocolate Chips: $2.99, Loblaws Superstore
- Mint Chocolate Chips: $2.99, Loblaws Superstore
- Gluten-free cake mix: $5.99, Loblaws Superstore
- “Supplies” cost: $20 (cupcake liners, meringue powder, shortening, icing sugar, flavouring, sprinkles, etc. – these are things I already own, but use regularly when baking. It’s probably way less than this, but this is typically my generic charge if I ever do an engagement cake, wedding, etc., give or take a bit, so I just went with it.)
TOTAL COST: ~$37 ($1.76 per cupcake)
And yes, they were totally delicious. Even 2.5 days later, on Monday morning in the office with a coffee. Actually, especially then, even if the icing was a tad crunchy.
#3: Winter Door Ornament
Last but not least, my winter door ornament. This was the least expensive, but most annoying, to make. I may or may not have gotten glitter e v e r y w h e r e. Seriously, it looks like a glitter fairy threw up in my apartment.
For this project, I already owned loose glitter, glitter paint, twine, and the blue/brown ribbon I attached to the pine cones, so my costs stayed really low. I guess that’s how the Etsy seller charges $14.99 per! Actually, with costs this low – I had leftover everything – she must make a decent amount on her decorations.
I always think I need to open an Etsy store… but then I remember how much effort making crafts (and vacuuming loose glitter up) is, and I quickly purge that crazy scheme from my mind.
- Pinecone ornaments: $1.50, Dollerama
- Snowflake ornaments: $1, Dollerama
-Mirror snowflake decals: $1.50, Dollerama
- White ribbon: $1 for a 4-pack with various colours, Dollerama
TOTAL COST: $4.50
See, what did I tell you? Totally cheap.
Even if you had to buy the other parts, you’d still be spending a minimal amount: the ribbon was originally $1.50 at Michaels, the hemp twine is $2 for a giant ball at Dollerama, and the glitter is about $2.99 also at Michaels. That’s an additional $6.50 – not too shabby for a pretty door decoration. And you can make more than one with these supplies if you wanted (front door and back door? gift for a family member or friend?), so it’s not like that’s the cost per decoration.
