10 Gorgeous Handmade Holiday Decorations

There are so many reasons why creating handmade decorations make the holidays sparkle. For me, the most important reason is to reduce holiday waste. Let’s take a quick look at the holiday statistics (adapted from Recycleworks):

From Thanksgiving to New Years Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. It all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills.

In the U.S., annual trash from gift-wrap and shopping bags totals 4 million tons.

The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.

If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.

Half of the paper America consumes is used to wrap and decorate consumer products.

Each year, 50 million Christmas trees are purchased in the U.S. Of those, about 30 million go to the landfill.

The average American spends $800 on gifts over the holiday season.

Yikes! Making holiday decorations creates meaningful heirlooms, saves money, treads lightly on our precious planet…and with these gorgeous decorations there’s no need to trade style for sustainability!

10 Gorgeous Handmade Holiday Decorations

1. Tree Place Card Holders from Family Chic

2. Chickadee Ornament from Design Sponge

3. Hanukkah Tealight Menorah from Curbly

4. DIY Snow Globes from Econesting

5. Falling Stars Advent Calendar from Design Sponge

6. Chandelier Crystal Twig Tree from HomeShoppingSpy

7. Burlap Stocking from Holly Mathis for HGTV

8. Fabric Chain from CRAFT

9. Music Garland from Eco Craft

10. Holiday Scents from Care2 and me!

Photo: HGTV