Cranberry and Popcorn Garland

There are lots of blogs with amazing craft ideas and fabulous decorating ideas.

This is not one of those blogs.

I am not big on decorating.  Other than paint on the walls, family photos and a few paintings hanging in frames, and a few decorative items like throw pillows and bookshelves, I don't really have much in the way of decorations.  It's something I just don't have the knack for.  I do crochet, but that is more of a utilitarian craft - I don't do crafts just for their own sake, but to make something I can use.

But when the folks at Jolly Time gave me a suggestion to make Cranberry and Popcorn Garlands as a frugal holiday decorating idea, I had to give it a try.

Before indoor Christmas trees became popular and practical, revelers in Europe and the United States celebrated the winter season by stringing garlands of cranberries and popcorn on evergreen trees outdoors.   They are beautiful and colorful and easy to make!  And, the birds who winter in your area will enjoy them, too!

I definitely recommend using Jolly Time popcorn for this project.  I popped the air-popped corn in my very old but trusty air popper.  All of the kernels popped at about the same time - there weren't those few kernels that took forever to pop.  The popcorn pieces were nice and large and fluffy, and I didn't have to worry about burning them.

Here's what you need:

• 3 quarts popcorn, unsalted and unbuttered
• 2 quarts whole raw cranberries (these were available at Thanksgiving on a buy one, get one free sale AND there were coupons available.  One package only cost 49¢!)
• 1 large spool waxed dental floss (I used Johnson's REACH in berry mint, which is colored red.  I got it for free by combining a sale at the drug stores with coupons.)
• 1 large crewel embroidery needle (if you are working with a child, you can round the point down.)

Leave the cranberries out of the refrigerator overnight so that they can dry up a little.  Also, pop the popcorn the night before, so it will cool completely.

Thread a yard of dental floss on the needle and tie a knot at the end.   Alternately thread cranberries and popcorn onto the dental floss.

Continue threading until you have about 2-3 inches left on the dental floss.  Remove the needle and make another garland.  Tie the ends of completed garlands together to make a longer garland that will go around a tree.  Tie the two ends of the garland to make a loop and trim the ends of the dental floss.

And there you go, an easy, frugal, and fun decorating idea!

What are you favorite frugal holiday decorating ideas?  Leave a comment below!

(I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)