This year We have teamed up with Middle Street Primary School to share the children’s Festive Wishes for the year to come. We asked the children to not just think about the gifts and presents they would like, but to reflect on the year past and consider what positive changes they would like to see happen around food, the environment, the community and physical and mental wellbeing.
Do you remember what you got for Christmas last year? Or the year before? What about when you were a child? We can’t! But we do remember what we did and who we shared it with. Decorating your house in winter is a centuries-old tradition for ushering in warmth and love, and there are many ways to do it that are cheap, easy and even free! Sharing time with loved ones is a wonderful way to cultivate seasonal well-being.
This is a great and super cheap recipe for salt dough to make hanging decorations with children or yourself – no need for plastic! They can of course be saved and used again next year (especially if you seal them with varnish or clear glue, like PVA), but also will compost down harmlessly when you’re done with them (if you don’t use acrylic paint or varnish!).
- 1 cup table salt
- 2 cups plain flour (great way to use up any stale flour you have in your cupboards – we always seem to have ends of bags to use!)
- ½ – 1 cup water
Simply mix the salt and flour, then add the water a little at a time until a kneadable dough forms. Let it rest for 20 minutes, roll it out on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick (that’s about 0.6cm thick) and use cookie cutters or cardboard templates to cut around with a knife – adult supervision required!
Don’t forget to use a pencil or the end of a paintbrush to make a hole in the top for hanging. Line a flat baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven at the lowest setting for 1-2 hours until dry and hard. Decorate as you wish.
Tip: If you don’t want to use paint to decorate, think about embellishing the ornaments before you bake to give texture – you can use a toothpick to draw designs in, leaves, lace or fabric to press in to make patterns, or even purpose made cookie stamps.
We sell EcoGlitterFun compostable glitter at Infinity Shop & Bakery, Think about adding a little sparkle to your decorations.
Other homemade decoration ideas:
- Decorate whole oranges with cloves and red ribbon
- Dry orange slices in a low-temperature oven and string them on a ribbon
- Make rowan berry garlands – if you have a rowan tree, harvest the red berries and thread them on a string using a needle, and separate each berry with a knot. Dry the sprung berries in a warm dry place – an airing cupboard is ideal.
- Evergreen herb wreaths – use woody herbs like rosemary, and spices like cinnamon sticks and star anise, pine cones etc and weave, glue or tie onto a wire circle or sticks. You can repurpose a wire hanger for this. All these things look beautiful as simple table decorations too, specially arranged around a candle
