Christmas Decorating Ideas to Delight You All

We all have our own style when it comes to decking the halls at christmas time and I guess the way you make your home festive is as individual as the people living in it.

Some of us love sparkle and a colour theme, for others 'more is definitely more', and some find keeping change to a minimum, or to certain areas of the house helps soothe children with ASD who might find the sensory overload too much.

I love nothing more than sitting down to create decorations by hand with the help of the children, mugs of hot chocolate at hand, and Mia and Natty really look forward to making precious ornaments that we can keep for years to come.  It's a kind of Christmas tradition for us I suppose, and one that helps us wind down at the end of a hectic school term.

We've tried a new idea to try this year: little Christmas trees made from wallpaper stars. We have a box of various coloured and textured offcuts which we used when refurbishing our house, so the girls can each design a completely unique little tree, small enough to fit in their bedroom. We'll all feel happy knowing they are doing their bit for the environment too.

A firm favourite in our family is to make paper chains using cut up strips made from all the Christmas catalogues that plop through our door. They cost nothing more than the price of a few staples, and help develop hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills as well.  We find we that can get quite a production line going around the kitchen table, as everyone joins in to help and I think they look effortlessly stylish too.

Happy crafting and making.