So, a couple of years ago I had a Harry Potter themed tree, but then disaster struck and my second tree broke (sad times)
This year, my twin sister who also loves Harry Potter, created a Harry Potter themed tree and it made me reallllly want one again..
Plus, we went to the HP tour and they had so many Christmas decorations that injust couldn’t resist. See yesterdays post for the ones I picked up.
I used a plain 6ft tree, and added some plain/glittery red baubles as a base (I’m going for a Gryffindor theme, Obv.)
I purchased some Gryffindor ribbon at the HP tour and I made this onto bows… I popped them on first.
Then I added my Harry Potter baubles that I already owned, and my new ones from the tour (see yesterdays post)
I had house baubles of the 4 house colours, 4 clear house baubles filled with gold glitter, purchased this year and a large glittery Hogwarts Crest bauble that my mum got me a few years ago.
These all came from Primark.
Finally, I added a few little extras that I have in my collection, some HP glasses, a couple of tickets for the Knight Bus and the Hogwarts Express, as well as a few little characters (Can you spot Ron & Dobby?!)
All in all, I’m really happy with how it came out.
So, ever since Primark started selling Official merch such as Harry Potter, I’ve managed to pick up some really cool baubles at Christmas time.
This year I have bought some lovely clear baubles. They are a set of four and each has one of the different house crests printed on it. They are filled with gold glitter.
They look really pretty and go well with my red and gold theme.
Also…
At the Harry Potter Warner Bros tour in London, last weekend, I picked up some more decorations.
Let’s take a look…
They sell ribbon that comes in four colours, one for each house.
I went for Gryffindor as that’s my favourite house.
You can use it to either drape around the tree as tinsel or tie it to make little bows, to decorate your tree.
I went for bows.
I also picked up a couple of other baubles, at the tour.
I went for a couple of Gryffindor themed ones.
I really had to hold back because there were so many awesome ones.
I went for a red Gryffindor bauble with a lion topper.
This is really cool.
I also picked up one of the stain glass effect house shields.
Gryffindor of course. I think these are really pretty and were probably the most reasonably priced ones tbh.
A great little stocking filler for any HP fans. They are available in the fours houses too.
The final one I picked up was this…
It’s a general Harry Potter one. Its has a ‘H’ for Hogwarts on a little Crest, with a Hogwarts silhouette, on the front. It is a clear bauble, so it goes nicely with the Primark ones I bought (mentioned above).
It is filled with little shavings of confetti that are the house colours.
Super pretty.
They did have a Hogwarts castle in a snowglobe style, which I kinda wish I had bought, but it looked rather heavy.
They also did some other more specific ones such as the little Yule ball outfits.
They had a Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry Crest topper, for the top of your HP tree… again very tempting but I have another idea for the top of mine, that I used last time I embarked on a HP tree.
Check out tomorrows Blogmas post to see my finished HP tree, complete with these baubles and decorations on it.
If you want to do Christmas on a budget, because let’s be honest, although we love the frills it’s all about the quality time, kindness and love that we share with our friends and family. Those are the things we remember.
But, that being said, I bloody love the decs! So heres a way to go full Christmas without breaking the bank, and we have Wilko to thank for it with their beautiful but incredibly reasonable Christmas decoration ranges.
I literally couldn’t choose between the cute tree decorations in this range (as it fits our Red, Gold & Green).
They would also make lovely gifts.
Alpine range
PolarBear, £3
Wooden star tree, £3
Green metal tree, £2
Packs of 3 baubles, £4
Gingerbread biscuit car decoration, £1
Tree star topper, £2
Packs of plain coloured baubles, from £1
They have loads of different ones in different variety packs and sizes.
Sacks, £6 Stockings, £4
Pom Pom Garland, £1
Pom Pom Garland with bells, £6
Large bells silver and red, £1
I love this collection and it is one of a few that they have.
This one fits in perfectly with our red/gold/green theme.
They also have a icy collection that is lots of whites, silvers and blues, as well as a gold collection and a rose gold collection.
I have bought a few things from the alpine collection (I couldn’t resist!!) I also picked up a couple of the polar bears as I thought these were super cute and would be quite generic for any tree.
I’ve personalised these, with the year, to go into a few hampers that I’ve put together for family members.
Heres to a very important Christmas tradition, the start of the festive season…
… putting up your tree!
Here is ours this year.
Here are my little helpers! They loved helping me decorate the tree.
& of course we needed snacks to keep us going during the decorating process.
I put our tree up quite early this year (in the middle of November, dont hate me!!) I love it.
I love our red, gold and green themed tree and each year I buy a new bauble. This year I got us a few which will feature in another of my Blogmas posts (Affordable Christmas decs)
One shop that is doing amazing Christmas decorations this year is Matalan.
They have a great mix of traditional and more modern decorations.
They also have a real mix of the types of decorations that they sell, from small tree decorations, tinsel, wreaths, tall standing nutcrackers, centrepieces, table clothes, sacks, stockings and so much more!
It’s all really affordable too.
I’ll try and include as much info about prices etc as I can 👍🏻
Let’s take a look!
I was literally in Christmas heaven browsing the aisles!!
Christmas throws, From £6
These look super cosy ❤
They had a selection of different themed throws from the traditional Farisle patterned ones as well as tartan ones, reindeer and christmas tree patterned ones and block coloured ones, in various Christmas colours.
I love it when you start to see the Christmas decorations in the shops and now that it is December all the shops are full of the most festive of displays.
Me and my eldest Nephew had a look round one of our local stores (The Range) to see what festive decorations they had to offer, and we weren’t disappointed.
It’s very easy to get caught up in the hussle and bussle of December, its a super busy month in the lead up to Christmas, but you need to make sure you enjoy Christmas yourself.
It will make the festive period so much more enjoyable if you take the time to get into the spirit.
These are just a few ways that I spend a day in, if I want to get into the festive spirit or am feeling particularly Christmassy and want to have a Christmassy day.
Lets take a look…
1. Watch a Christmas film/TV show
I love popping a Christmas film on, to sit and watch or to have on the background. I am quite fond of the ‘made for TV’ Christmas films, I’ve been recording those to watch at the weekends. One of my fave Christmas films is Arthur Christmas, although I do have to watch the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special at least once!!
2. Write out your Christmas cards
This not only gets you in to the Christmas mood but it also ticks a job off the list too which is great for taking away some of the seasonal stress. I LOVE our Christmas cards this year, I found them in Primark and they are Harry Potter Christmas cards.
Of course I had to buy them, they are so cool but the designs are really pretty too. They were £1 for a pack of 30 and I bought three packs.
3. Do some decorating
This is one of my most favourite Christmassy activities ever and it is guaranteed to make you feel so festive, I seriously challenge anyone to not feel super festive whilst putting up the decs.
If I’m feeling really Christmassy I end up buying more decorations or just going around the flat popping all the lights on and admiring the tree decorations haha.
4. Pop on a Christmas CD/play some Christmas tunesss
Because Christmas songs are life.
My ultimate fave is WHAM! Last Christmas, classic. We have a spotify playlist that is Christmas themed but we also have the ‘NOW! That’s what I call Christmas CD, unfortunatly this year I am yet to find it, sadface 😦
and finally…
5. Do some present wrapping
The ultimate Christmas activity, cosied up in front of a film, hot chocolate by your side and a festive array of wrapping paper, ribbon and bows and you are certainly in for a festive afternoon. I have found a couple of different sets of ribbons etc and have again gone for the traditional colour scheme of red, gold and green. I also have some pretty white and gold sets too.
The paper you see above is so cute and is covered in traditional Christmas toy soldiers, gingerbread men, snowmen and candy canes, adorable. I bought this one to wrap the children’s presents with.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Ikea’s Christmas wrapping selection, this is where the bulk of mine is from (random I know!) but great and inexpensive too.
I will be doing another post later in Blogmas with some great ways to feel festive when you are out and about!
I hope this helps make you feel festive and ready to get your jolly on!
This first post is all about the decorations. I absolutely LOVE homeware, adding those little (or big!) items that just make a room perfect, cosy & super pretty.
And what could be better than combining two of your favourite things,,, decorations & Christmas!!
Lets take a look at what I’ve got in my little Festive haul…
First up, we bought a new tree!
‘Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas treee’
Our current tree is a little worse for wear so we picked a new artificial one from Sainburys for £25. It is a 6ft green tree, not too encroaching, just right for our little lounge 🙂
Next up, some decorations for said tree…
Mini glitter baubles
Glitter balls
12 pack of glitter baubles; Mini gold star, shaker baubles.
These were also from Sainbury’s and were £6. These are so cute because they are mini and they will look so pretty when they are on the tree, contrasting with the green branches, And who doesn’t love glitter sprinkles?!?
‘Jingle bells’
Little pud!
6 pack of Christmas pudding bell baubles.
These Christmas pudding bells are super cute and look so festive hanging on the tree. I love the rustic feel to them, the little star cut out and their soft jingle. These were also from Sainbury’s and were £6.
Green glitter ball
Chunky green, glitter bauble.
This bauble is so pretty. Green is my absolute favourite colour (and not just because its super festive… although it helps haha) but also for the Autumnal feel , especially this shade of green.
Its quite a large bauble and is covered in fine dark green and gold glitter. It is then covered in emerald green sequins too. This is going to look so pretty when it catches the light.
It was also from Sainsbury’s and was £1.50.
‘We’re walking in the airrrr’
Flying snowman decoration.
This little guy is adorable and I love how he looks like he is flying through the sky! It kinda reminds me of the classic Christmas film ‘The Snowman’ plus he’s glittery!! winner.
This was £2.99 in a local garden centre.
GLITTER!
Bronze/Dark gold glitter maple leaf decoration.
This leaf decoration is quite simple but looks lovely in this bronzy/gold glitter. This is also quite autumnal but with a glittery, festive touch. This was 75p in Asda.
A letter to Santa
Felt Santa Claus letter hanging decoration
This little decoration is so cute, a little letter to Santa! Loving the festive colours too. This was £1 from Asda.
Lets move onto lights!
Gold star fairy lights
‘Twinkle Twinkle little star’
Gold star lights
These little lights are so cute. I love how they look like mini cookie cutters and I love the gold colour too, they give off a lovely warm glow when they are turned on.
Berrytastic!
Festive berry lights
These little lights are so cute. There are three different coloured bulbs, a warm yellow bulb, a iridescent white bulb and a festive, berry red bulb. These look great in our lounge, I Love them.
Red X-MAS bulb lights.
These are SO COOL. I love bulb light signs like these, if you’ve been round here for a while you’ll know we had a white ‘R & T’ version at our wedding which I still have in our lounge. I also have a red star in our kitchen from last Christmas, as red is the accent colour in there.
For day 4 of Blogmas I thought that I would show you my Christmas decorations in our flat & our tree.
I know not everyone will agree with this but I put my tree and decorations up on November 25th, ready for just over a month of festive cheer.
First up, the tree 🎄
Yes we have a fake tree but this malts enough as it is, I don’t know people cope with a real tree with pines!!!
We have yellow Fairy lights on our tree with a red, gold & green theme for the decorations. Red & gold tinsel and red, gold & green baubles with other assorted decos and a red star for on top of the tree.
I always put the lights on first, followed by the bead string & tinsel, then the baubles, decorations & the star goes kn top last.
Our personalised Christmas sacks go next to the tree ready to be filled 🎁
i do love Christmas so I don’t stop with a decorated tree…
The lounge has been nicknamed ‘The grotto’ by Tim around this time of year because I am a bit OTT but I love it!
Lovely & festive 🌟
I love coming home and relaxing with the Christmas lights on, getting all cosy. All the lights look awesome at night time too, sometimes I just put them on instead of the main lights
DAY 4 of my beauty advent calender…
Today I got the Revolution strobing balm.
This one looks like shade ‘Hypnotic’. This is an illuminating balm for a neutral looking highlight to help sculpt the face.
It is a creme formula and apparently you can use this wet or dry depending on the intensity that you are going for.
I used the balm that I got in my calender yesterday as a primer and my make up did look really good all day while we were busy in London shopping, rushing around so this will be a nice little addition to my collection maybe saving it for a night out as I don’t worry too much when I’m just at work.
What’s your favourite Christmas decoration? lights? tinsel? Wreaths?
Roseanne Byford 