Need To Decorate the Tree, but Don't Have Much Moola?

Well, this is your lucky day!! Because I am the Queen of Inexpensive...(I dare not call myself "Cheap!") However, last year I needed decorations for a school tree on the cheap and so I resorted to my favorite place for such items...$ Tree. I am the only person on earth who can come out of $ Tree with $500 worth of merchandise in my shopping bag. I've been known to wipe out entire sections of items in less than 30 minutes.

Problem at hand was: Candyland themed tree...my themes have themes. In the first picture I photo'd some of the handmade items. Second picture is an upclose of the ice cream cones, third pic are some of the suckers and last, the paper "gumdrops".

Now let's get down to business. Ice cream cones: simply buy any one of $ Tree's small cone Christmas trees, turn it upside down, hot glue an ornament into cone, top with a "cherry" (pom pom) and hang...I also added some fluffy yarn for added detail and to hide where the two items were glued. Amount spent: $2.25 at the most...$2.00 at the least. Try getting that at a big name retailer for $2.00. They are a good size and take up lots of space on the tree...lots of bang for the ole buckaroo.

Suckers: simply buy a round ornament that has as its base,a Styrofoam ball and hot glue a sucker stick to it. I bought the ornaments six for $1!!! Put 18 or 24 on a large tree and watch the kiddos eyes light up!! (Husband will probably begin cardiac arrest...tell him to "cool it", the 18 ornaments totaled $3)....now that's what I'm talking about!!

Gumdrops: simple pieces of cardstock or scrapbook paper glued (not hot glued) together. I sold these at a bazaar for $4 each. You could use school colors, animal prints, old Christmas cards, anything...great for using up scraps and the favorite at the bazaar was the hot pink and zebra ones. I made these in the "candy" colors to carry out the color scheme. If you want the pattern, comment below and I'll post it.

BTW: My tree skirt was a fluffy hot pink throw I found at Big Lots for $5. I also had BIG silver glittered discs that I made into suckers and tied with a hot pink and white checked bows and notice in the first two pictures the little cupcakes...those were little boxes I found at Michael's for $1. I glued them shut and viola....cupcakes to add to the tree. Also used cellophane wrapped peppermint sticks....there you go....cute, cute tree...cute, cheap tree ornaments!! Now go forth and decorate!!