When I moved to Florida a few months ago, Christmas was not on my mind. I wasn’t sure exactly how much space I’d have in my apartment so I didn’t bring any Christmas decor. I’ve collected a few Christmas ornaments upon my travels and picked up a $5 wreath at a Flea Market, but yesterday I decided I wanted to decorate for Christmas. So follow along below on how I did it with $150 and 3 hours time.
1. Pick a Style
The first thing I did was decide what my Christmas theme/style was. At the Farmhouse in Pennsylvania, I would have done reds and greens and more traditional decor. In my apartment in Florida, I wanted some things I could use outside of the holiday season and wanted something a little bit more contemporary. I settled on colors like green, black, and white. I decided on no red this year.
2. Find What You Already Own
I scrounged the apartment for things I already owned. I found a few baskets, some wooden boxes, a stool, two lanterns, plant stands, pottery, pillows, candles and some wall decor that fit the style I picked. This was a great starting point since I didn’t have to buy everything. I took a picture of them as shown below so I knew what I had to work with when browsing the stores.
3. Set a Budget
If you plan to go out shopping, set a budget. Since I had no decor and no tree, I set mine at $150. If I already had a tree, a stocking, or lights I would have set it lower.
4. Pick Your Stores
Then I decided what stores I’d visit in the area. A few people on Instagram mentioned they loved what was a World Market and another mentioned great deals at Walmart so I picked the stores and then visited in this order: World Market, Kirklands, Walmart, Michaels, Target.
5. Prioritize Your Purchases
I knew I wanted a tree, so I budgeted $30 for it. I also knew I wanted lights so I set aside $5 for those and then $20 for a stocking. Other than that, I had a few things in mind I saw at the dollar spot at Target but nothing specific.
The tree, lights, and garlands and mini trees could be from anywhere. The stocking I didn’t want to look cheap, so I decided to wait on that one until I found exactly what I wanted. Further below is what I ended up buying as well as pricing.
Total Purchases = $146.34
World Market
- Pinecone and Greens Garland – $7.99
Kirklands
- Black & White Buffalo Check Garland $9.92
Walmart
- Snowy Garland for Mantle – $12.97
- T19 Christmas Tree Unlit – $22
- String of 100 Lights – $2.97
Michals
- 2 Aluminum Buckets – $5 Each
- 2 24″ Trees with Burlap – $12 Each
- Black and White Stocking – $9
Target
- Black Bucket – $5
- 12 Silver, White, Grey Ornaments – $1 Each
- Antler Wall Canvas – $13. 49
- Greenery Stems – $9
- Tree – $10
- 2 Small Trees – $5 Each
- White Houses – 2 at $3 Each, 1 at $2