Cheap ideas to turn back garden into wonderland

[2020hello]

Hi All

I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about what to get to turn the garden in to a little wonderland.

I'm thinking no plan to get much Christmas's stuff done so I've purchased lights to make a little walk way and I'm thinking blow up snowman etc but what could I cheaply add to fill it out a bit? I was thinking snow blankets on the floor but I'm not sure if that would last 2 weeks outside etc.

Any ideas welcome

TIA

+Hang baubles off of string fairy lights
+Fake candy cane ornaments could stick those into plant pots or hang off branches
+led candles and nice candle holders on any garden tables
+wreaths
+paint paper plates to look like lollies, pop them onto bamboo sticks, cellophane and bows over the plates, stick in garden :)
+pop some robin ornaments about the garden, there's usually some ceramic ones out near xmas
+get kids to paint pebbles like sweets/xmas themes and pop them about the garden
+sometimes xmas themed gnomes come out in some shops
+pine cones :) if you see any on travels dot them about or make a feature

Letter balloons spelling out Merry Christmas attached to a fence. Under a fiver on eBay. They are quite robust .

Hope for a white Christmas? I would suggest getting dc to make animals perhaps (plaster of Paris kits) buy white sheeting (old sheets perhaps even wrinkled up?) lights, t lights in jam jars, wireless speaker for carols ...

Thank you for responses fab ideas, I really hope we could have a white Christmas, I'm not sure I can remember ever having Xmas day snow.

@cherryrainbow I'm definitely going to try some of them ideas we have lots of pine cones around here too.

Highly unlikely to have snow. But you could get some Candy cane lights... wrap fairy lights round any trees or hedges you have... get those light up reindeer (studio catalogue often has these quite cheap)... have sparklers one night? Toast marshmallows over a bbq (disposable?) Get the elf to spell out things with fake snowballs? Or with tinsel? Chalk with green and red chalk on the patio?

A couple of years ago we got an outdoor projector box from Amazon - loads of them ours coat around £28. It comes with assorted discs. We actually bought it for Halloween but have used the Christmas ones - Santa's and presents but the snow flakes one is very pretty. Options are to have it static, flashing or moving across the house.

Try having a look at some of the mad ott Christmas bloggers like turtle creek lane. Obviously money is no object but some of the things she uses like expanding foam (snow) and coloured balls (baubles) might get you thinking outside the box. You can stick things to windows with hot glue and they’ll just pop off afterwards without damaging the glass.
You might get lucky and find some pool noodles in discounted summer stock that you can turn into candy canes.

A bubble machine, set up high (on an upper window sill?) so it’s sort of like snow might be fun.

I saw some garden gnomes which look quite fun.

You can get really cute Fairy Doors ( saw them in Home Bargains or B&M) to attach to a tree trunk or fence but I'm sure your could make similar .

Can you "hide" a Teddy Bears Picnic in a corner ?

I once did a TeddyBear on Every Step up the stairs (tiny bears)
I'm sure you could pick up teddies from a charity shop and dress in scarves/hats

Yes to lights

You could make some winter themed icicle bunting to hang around the fences, maybe incorporate with fairy lights. Or use some of those icicle lights that people usually use around the bottom of their roof/guttering.

And you could have other bunting themes too for other areas - winter woodland, North Pole, elves, Xmas trees, red and gold stuff, stockings for the animals etc.

My local grocers does nice wreathes thatare pretty and have loads of seeds and stuff that birds like so they attract the birds and are nice for them so double win!

After Halloween you might find cheap spider web fibre for sale that if you pick the (plastic!) spiders out you can repurpose as snow over an area of the garden.

Just have lots of fun with it and get the kids to help out so they enjoy it too.

Omg @thelegohooverer that link is amazing!

Is there anything in your garden that lends itself to wrapping up in sheets or table cloths to look like a big gift? Or a snow man? I’m just looking at my own garden and thinking that when we cover the chairs and bbq for the winter they could look like giant presents if I added bows. And there are a few plants that might look sort of gnomish if I put hats on them.
Maybe if you put up a picture of your garden we could come up with more specific ideas?

Before my dc went to school and I could abdicate responsibility for arts and crafts to their teachers we used to spend a morning making bird seed ornaments to decorate the tree in our garden.

They have big iridescent curtains (2.4m) in the range which would look Christmassy stuck along the fence

Oo ill look at the curtain ideas

Its basically a 5m x 5m space of garden then there will be a log cabin at the back and a trampoline in the corner. I'm thinking I could put lights all around the trampoline. I don't really have a ything other than grass.

You saying curtain has just reminded me that there are some amazing Christmas shower curtains that would be relatively easy to atring up on the side of a fence or cabin and have the advantage of being waterproof/ok in the rain too.

This link gives you an idea of some on ebay but it’s the sort of thing that you need to have a hunt through eBay, amazon, wish, etc to spot one that fits with your idea of what you need. The ones on this link are £10-15 - and it was jus the first entry I saw with lots on - there are loads once you start to look!

Following

Make your own plastic icicles from plastic bottles .
I made loads one year and hung them from the ceiling . They were really effective .
Here is one tutorial but there are lots out there . I used 2 ltr bottles .
HERE