Outdoor Holiday Decorating Tips

Now that Halloween is behind us, all eyes are focused on the upcoming winter holidays. Are you thinking about decorating your home for the festive season ahead? We sure are! Sprucing up the outside of your home will be enjoyable, non-labor intensive, and wallet-friendly with a little help from our friends at RubberMulch. Rhianna Miller, home and garden design expert for RubberMulch shows you exactly how to get that polished outdoor holiday decorating down with easy-to-create ideas that don't take a lot of time or money. Check out these great ideas below.

The Front Entryway. Your front door and entryway are begging for personal treatment when it comes to outdoor holiday decorating. In this case, simple goes a long way. You can always go with the standard wreath-it never goes out of style and always looks good. Put a twist on the old school wreath by adding more than one, hanging from a decorative ribbon, wrapping around a string of lights, etc. Wreaths look great hung from windows and yard fencing as well. Dig out your old sled from childhood and place by the front door for a hint of nostalgia. Candles look great on a front porch, place in a metal bucket, glass hurricane candle holders or metal lanterns. The nighttime lighting will be key in making your front entryway holiday perfect.?

Outdoor Garden Containers. Repurpose your summer garden containers and make them winter ready. Fill containers with frost-tolerant plants and greens such as evergreens, cabbage, and tigs. Real cut logs also make a great filler for your containers. Add ribbon around the logs and a string of lights. ?

Just Add Swag. A simple, cost effective way to add a dash of holiday d�cor is with evergreen swags or garland. Whether you choose to pick up real evergreen swags or fake, simply wrap your garland around the mailbox, front porch bannisters and railings, fence, and anything else in your front yard that could use a little green. Hold swags in place with Command Hooks (they stick to any surface and do not leave marks when you remove them).

Whimsical Holiday D�cor. Making your own outdoor holiday d�cor is both fun and inexpensive. All you need is a little creativity. Check your garage for planters, metal lanterns, and scrap wood. With a few basic tools and a hot glue gun, you'll be ready to create. Scrap wood or pallets can be cut and made into a non-traditional Christmas tree display with lights for the front yard. If you're like most of us, you've got a lot of extra Christmas tree balls in storage. They can be glued together and set in a pot for an interesting topiary or used to fill a metal lantern. Stringed fresh cranberries make a unique garland to add to evergreen. Attach jingle bells, pinecones and unbreakable tree ornaments to wreaths and garland (pick these up at a dollar store near you), a couple of yards of plaid fabric can dress up garland or a front porch rocking chair, and backyard twigs can be spray painted gold and added to planters and container plants.

Add A Festive Holiday Look to Planters. Galvanized metal buckets are handy for many reasons - they are perfect to set your terra-cotta planters in as they make a great festive yet inexpensive look for the holidays. They are also ideal for creating elegant arrangements using long-stemmed berries or natural branches. A small wreath laid around the base of the planter is a great way to add even more holiday color! Place on front porch to greet your guests as they arrive for holiday parties.

Light Up The Night. Luminaries are a classic holiday decoration and a beautiful addition to the exterior of any home. Line your sidewalk or driveway with luminaries to welcome guests for your holiday gathering. For those who have a fear of fire or the annoyance of the candle flame blowing out with wind, battery operated candles or LED luminary lights makes the perfect solution.

Decorate Outdoor Christmas Trees. If your yard has evergreen trees, consider creating an outdoor Christmas tree. It will brighten up the entire yard. Keeping with the theme of your other decorations, string clear or colored Christmas lights throughout the branches. Be sure to string lights among the interior branches instead of just draping them on the exterior branches to make the whole tree brighter. You can also make large Christmas light balls by bending chicken wire into a ball and threading strings of lights through the structure.

Rhianna Miller is the Home & Garden Design Expert at RubberMulch. Rubber Mulch is the original and environmentally responsible mulch made from 100% recycled rubber used in gardens, playgrounds and sustainable landscaping. Rubber Mulch is weather resistant, durable, and the most cost effective mulch around and is specifically designed to protect children from falls on the playground.