Turning Unexpected Dollar Tree Items into Beautiful Christmas Decor

Do you love creating Christmas decor that feels special and looks expensive but doesn't cost a lot? Well, today I'm sharing five affordable DIYs using items from Dollar Tree that you might not expect. And I can't wait for you to see how some of them come together to create a magical little Christmas village. So let's get started and I'll show you how easy it is to create one-of-a-kind Christmas decor using Dollar Tree supplies. Let's start by making some little Christmas houses. All you need are some empty soap boxes and a bit of adhesive. Dollar Tree carries individual bars of soap in a variety of sizes that are perfect for this project. And they only cost $1.25 each. Start by gently opening the flaps on both the top and bottom of the box. Then find the seam along the side and carefully pull it apart so the box unfolds into one long flat piece of cardboard. Here's the pattern I'm using as a guide for drawing and cutting out my little houses. Draw a straight line through the middle of the soap box across all four panels. This is where the roof will begin. Next, sketch the roof shape. On two opposite sides, draw a triangle that starts at your pencil line and comes to a point at the top. You can place them on either the large front and back panels or on the two smaller sides, whichever look you prefer. Next, sketch out a small tab on each side of the triangular roof shapes, plus one at the top of one of the rectangular panels. Once all your tabs are drawn, use an X-Acto knife or utility knife to carefully cut away the sections you don't need, leaving just the house shape and tabs behind. Also, be sure to keep part of the box's original side tab. Then lightly score the areas where you'll need to fold by gently running your knife over the lines, just enough to scratch the surface, not cut through it. If you want to add a door and windows, do that before folding the house into shape. I simply sketched where I wanted mine to go, then used a ruler and an X-Acto knife to cut them out. They really don't need to be perfect. Now it's time to fold the house back into shape. Gently fold along your scored lines, pressing the creases so they hold their shape. Then apply adhesive to the tabs and reassemble the box, pressing each seam together until it's secure. I used a micro dot glue runner for this step. It's basically a type of double-sided mounting tape and it worked perfectly for holding the cardboard in place without making a mess. After assembling the box, I decided to cut apart an extra soap box to create a more pronounced roof line. I simply cut off one of the larger sides from the second box and used it as a separate roof piece for my little house. This gives the roof a bit more dimension and makes the house shape stand out even more. Next, I painted my little houses using Christmas-inspired chalk paint colors like red, white, and green. I painted the main part of the house one color and the roof another to give each one a little contrast. It took two coats and sometimes three coats to completely cover the printed text on the soap boxes. Once the chalk paint was dry, I used a black paint pen to outline the windows and door just to help them stand out a little more. And now for the most important element, fake snow. I'm using a snow product that I bought on Amazon, but later in the video I'll show you some other budget-friendly ways to make your own. I had this jar left over from last year and wanted to use it before it dried out. I just apply the fake snow with a small spatula, spreading it over the roofs like cake icing. While the snow was drying, I decided my houses looked a little too plain. So to embellish them, I cut up some lightweight cardboard, in this case an old microwave popcorn box. I sliced it into tiny strips to make shutters for the windows and used Mod Podge to glue them in place. For some extra charm, I created two little porticos, one arched and one peaked to go over the doors. This time I used hot glue to hold them in place. On another house, I glued narrow strips of cardboard below the windows to make flower boxes, then filled them with tiny bits of greenery and red sequins for berries. I also used a green pipe cleaner to make some Christmas garland for one house and a miniature wreath for another. The pipe cleaner and the red and white twine I used to make tiny bows also came from Dollar Tree. To really give them that festive, magical look, I had to add glitter. I applied spray adhesive to all four sides of each house, then sprinkled on a layer of fine iridescent glitter. It catches the light beautifully and makes the snow sparkle. With the houses complete, it's time to move on to the next part of our Christmas village. For this, you'll need a few jar candles. I'm using six of them in different sizes, all purchased from Dollar Tree, but you can easily make your own using empty glass jars you already have on hand. We're going to use these as risers to elevate the houses and give our village more dimension. Before using the jars, make sure to remove any labels from both the jars and the lids. You can soak them in hot soapy water for a bit to loosen the adhesive, or use a product like Goo Gone to remove them more quickly. We're going to change up the candles inside the jars later in the video, but for now, let's focus on the lids. I had a couple of wood lids that I painted with white chalk paint, but for the metal ones, I used my favorite Zinsser Bullseye Primer, also in white. Once the paint was dry, I used hot glue to attach the soapbox houses to the three largest jar lids. Then I started adding a few festive touches to bring each little scene to life. I used small bottle brush trees from Dollar Tree, along with miniature figurines and accessories from their Christmas Village collection. On the smaller lids, I created tiny Christmas scenes using Dollar Tree items and a few miniature pieces and ornaments I already had on hand. These smaller scenes will help tie the whole village together and add even more charm to the display. Next, I needed to cover each lid with snow. I started by using the jar of fake snow I already had on hand and used up the last of it. I spread the snow over each lid using a small plastic spatula. I also pushed a little bit over the edges so it looked like snow gently dripping down the sides of the jar. You can also spread as much or as little of the fake snow as you like onto your bottle brush trees to give them a soft snowy look. Then, while the snow is still wet, sprinkle iridescent glitter over the top. One inexpensive option for fake snow is spray foam insulation, the kind that comes in a can. After spraying it onto the lid, I spread it out as best I could using an old butter knife. Then, pressed my miniatures right into the foam while it was still wet. Once it dries, it will hold everything firmly in place. Because the foam has a slightly yellow color, I sprinkled white glitter over the top. White works better than iridescent here to brighten it up and make it look more like snow. The main drawback of using insulation is that the foam continues to expand as it dries, so you don't have much control over how the final texture or shape will turn out. So, here's another budget-friendly option that looks just as good as the store-bought variety. First, hot glue your miniatures to your lids. Then, to make the fake snow, just mix equal amounts of Mod Podge and baking soda together to create a paste and spread this mixture over your lid. It's a little runnier than the store-bought, but I think I may actually like the final look of this better than the store-bought snow. And as a final touch, I sprinkled on iridescent glitter while the baking soda mixture was still wet. Now, let's do a little DIY project with those Dollar Tree candles. Fijars themselves make perfect platforms for small Christmas scenes, but since you can't burn the candles with the lids on, we're going to turn them into faux candles instead. To do this, add a battery-operated votive candle to the center of each wax candle. Dollar Tree sells three for $1.25. Start by trimming down the wicks, then use an X-Acto knife or a hot knife to carefully trace around the base of your votive candle. To make digging out the hole easier and a lot less messy, I used an old spoon that I heated up with my heat gun. The warm metal melts through the wax smoothly, making it easy to scoop out little by little. I did have to stop and reheat the spoon between each scoop. Once the hole was deep enough for my votive candle to sit flush with the surface, I used my heat gun and the spoon to smooth out the wax. I cut a small circle from a piece of vinyl and placed it in the bottom of the hole. That way, no wax would stick to the base of my battery-operated candle. If you want to keep this project extra budget-friendly, you can make your own faux candles by melting down old candles you already have around the house, or even ones you've picked up from the thrift store. Just pour the glass jars, like jelly jars or salsa jars, and let the wax cool until it starts to solidify. Then spray the bottom and sides of your battery-operated votive candle with non-stick cooking spray and gently press it into the wax until it sits flush with the surface. Once the wax hardens, the votive candle will pop right out. Surround your candles with a few larger Dollar Tree bottle brush trees to make the display feel even more like a cozy Christmas village. Rather than using the candles to build a full Christmas village, you could also decorate each jar individually to create a one-of-a-kind gift. After decorating the lids of my homemade candles, I wanted to dress up the jars themselves, so I printed out some vintage Christmas sheet music and used a special ruler to tear the edges. It gives you that straight but slightly irregular look of real torn paper. I tried to choose sheet music that matched the theme of the little Christmas scene on the lid. I sprayed the back of each strip of paper with adhesive and wrapped it around the jars. For another jar, I printed two Christmas tree farm labels, a larger rectangular one for the front of the jar and a smaller round one that I glued to a craft stick to make a little sign for the lid. To finish off each jar, I tied a small bow around the rim and just like that they're ready to give as thoughtful handmade gifts. I'm using the homemade candle jars as gifts, but I'm keeping the Dollar Tree candles to use for creating my Christmas candle village. That way I get to share a few as presents and still have thoughtful, let's create a coordinating Christmas themed matchbox to go with it. You can buy a pack of 10 mini matchboxes at Dollar Tree for just $1.25. I printed several vintage Christmas images, perfectly sized to fit the front and back of each matchbox, and I've linked these pre-sized images in the description box for you. After cutting out the images, brush a light coat of Mod Podge onto the back of the paper and onto the side of the matchbox, then smooth the paper into place. Repeat this on both the front and the back of the box. Pairing your candle with a coordinating matchbox turns your simple gift into something that feels truly special. I hope you enjoyed these projects and if you did, I think you'll love this next video too. It's filled with more beautiful and creative Christmas DIYs. Just click right here to keep watching. Thanks so much for watching today. Hope to see you next week!