I realize some of you folks are already decorating for Christmas, but I’m one of the old fashioned hold-outs…no Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. So, before you get Santa out from his Summer slumber…here are 18 frugal decorations that you can make for Fall & Thanksgiving.
I usually start decorating for Fall and Thanksgiving in early to mid October and keep it displayed all the way through Thanksgiving weekend. Each year I make a few more decorations, because Fall truly is my favorite season. I absolutely love the colors and the weather…I feel like Fall makes me the happiest of all the seasons.
Since Thanksgiving is all about family and food, it’s my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving is always held at our farmhouse in the country, so it’s the good old fashioned traditional holiday reminiscent of the “Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go” kind of holiday. And, I love every minute. It’s a simple holiday not spoiled by commercialism, which is why I like to make many of my own simple yet festive decorations for this special time of year.
So, let’s craft some frugal Fall & Thanksgiving decorations…
Here are some of the frugal Fall and Thanksgiving decorations that I made recently, along with a few others from last year.
To spare you the one hundred plus photos in this blog, (because that’s honestly how many I took creating these items), I will be adding links to some of the posts on my Frugal and Delicious Facebook page showing the various frugal Fall & Thanksgiving crafts. Please be sure to click on the links and check them out.
I hope you enjoy making and displaying these decorations as much as I have. You still have time to create some items this year, or shop for discounted supplies and get a jump start on next year. Either way, these frugal Fall & Thanksgiving decorations are festive and fun!
#1 Make Your Own Fall Ribboned Garland and Mesh Bow
I purchased 3 Fall garlands from Dollar Tree along with mesh ribbons and a few Fall picks. Later I purchased orange lights from Dollar General to add into the garland. I used twine from Dollar Tree to tie the garlands together and also to secure the ribbon to the garland. Later when I purchased the lights, I used the twine to tie the lights to the ribboned garland. It’s that easy. You could also use zip ties or pipe cleaners/fuzzy sticks instead of the twine. I just like the natural look of the twine.
Let’s hang this lovely Fall garland…
When the ribboned and lighted garland was complete, I used a staple gun and stapled it in place around my front doorway. As you can see, it looks absolutely incredible. And the cost was minimal…the most expensive part was for the lights. They weren’t necessary, but I absolutely love the welcoming warm orange glow around our front door at night.
Supplies for the Fall garland 
Using the twine to tie the garlands together 
Tie the garland and mesh ribbon together 
Tying the lights onto the ribboned garland 
My grandsons on Halloween surrounded by the lovely Fall garland I made
#2 Make An Easy Mesh Bow
The garland ends looked bare/unfinished…I felt they needed something, so I made 2 bows (one for each end) to add the finishing touch they needed. By using the mesh ribbon I had left over, made this a frugal decoration. I simply gathered the mesh ribbon into 5 loops and rubberbanded them together. Then I took 2 additional mesh ribbon lengths as tails and tucked them into the rubberbanded bow. I trimmed the excess edges, tied the bow with twine and then tied the bow onto the garland. It was that easy. Nothing fancy…just a simple finished touch.
Cost-$1.00
Here’s a link for the mesh ribbon…
https://www.dollartree.com/crafters-square-decorative-mesh-ribbon-5yd-rolls/292845
#3 Frugal Fall & Thanksgiving Decoration: Convert a Bread/Loaf Pan to a Centerpiece
I discovered these bread pans marked down to 30 cents at Dollar General last year. So I bought 2 of them (hindsight, I should have bought more). I used one loaf pan for a Fall centerpiece and the other I made into a Christmas decor item (something I’ll share with you another day).
To start, I wrapped a Fall themed ribbon around the sides of the pan and hot glued it into place. Then I put part of an egg carton inside the loaf pan and secured in place with hot glue. This process filled the pan and raised the decorating level with no cost. Plus, flowers can easily be inserted and secured within the carton material and divets. Then I inserted a small solar light (that I wrapped the top edge with a Fall ribbon) into another piece of the egg carton and glued it into the center of the loaf pan.
It’s all about the finishing touches…
To hide the egg carton, I covered it with moss. Then I added 2 of these cute little burlaped bunches of Fall decorations (that I bought at Dollar General for $1.00 each) and secured them in place with hot glue. I added a few other silk Fall leaves and berries with hot glue and a Fall flower with leaves to the front of the loaf/bread pan. And that’s it! Super easy and super frugal.
Cost…less than $5.00!
Loaf/bread pans purchased from Dollar General during a 90% markdown-cost…30 cents each! 
Insert part of an egg carton into the loaf pan. Add a solar light to another section of egg carton. Cover the egg carton with moss. Carefully secure everything with hot glue. 
Add other bunches of silk Fall leaves, berries and other decorations and secure with hot glue. 
Close-up of finished centerpiece.
#4 Frugal Fall & Thanksgiving Decoration: Place Card Holders
Items Needed…
- Wood blocks and/or cross cut sections of tree branches
- Small sticks and branches
- Silk Fall leaves
- Thin rope and/or twine
- Hot glue
- Mini pinecones
- Drill (to pre-drill the holes for the branches) – optional but it helps
This is another super easy and frugal craft. I used chunks of branches from our yard (that my husband sawed to the proper length needed) along with little wooden childrens blocks from Dollar Tree. I had my husband pre-drill holes into the blocks and wood pieces to insert the branches. Then I used hot glue to secure the branches into the holes in the wood pieces and blocks. Adding a mini pinecone at the base of the branch for a finishing touch. Then I glued silk Fall leaves onto the branches.
The finishing touches…
I did wrap and glue twine and rope around the wood blocks for additional texture and a rustic look. It also covered up the painted-on letters. If you don’t want to wrap the blocks in rope, you could paint them instead. These can be used for decorations or attach names to them with card stock, cardboard edged in lace or leaves etc. and use them for place card holders.
Cost -$3.00
#5 Frugal Fall Farm Truck Wall Decor
I have always wanted to do one of these wooden paint stick fences. And as you know, I am absolutely obsessed with these old farm trucks, so this was a really fun craft for me. Decoupage is also one of my favorite crafts, that brought life and a unique look to this decoration. It’s definitely worth all efforts.
#6 Frugal Fall Decoration For Your Roadside Mailbox
#7 Berry Basket Door Decor
#8 Day of the Dead Door Decor
#9 Frugal Fall & Thanksgiving Centerpiece
This centerpiece is constructed from many Dollar Tree items, so it is a frugal decoration that’s perfect for Fall & Thanksgiving.
#10 Frugal and Festive Wreath For Fall & Thanksgiving
#11 Frugal Fall & Thanksgiving Decorations Using Loaves of Stale Bread
#12 Frugal Thanksgiving Decoration: Wooden Stick Turkey
I loved making this turkey! He came out so cute! He is another craft that was totally worth all efforts.
Here’s a link to the wood sticks I purchased from Lowe’s…
https://www.lowes.com/pd/SHLA-Quart-Paint-Stick-30-Pack/5001844561
Here’s a few other Frugal Fall & Thanksgiving Decorations that I made…
#13 Little Hands Wreath
This little wreath was a craft I did with my 3 year old grandson to give his mommy for her office. He chose the ribbon he wanted for the wreath. I wrapped a foam form with the ribbon and hot glued it into place. Then I traced his little hands onto colored felt squares, cut them out and glued them onto the wreath. I added a looped bow, hot glued it into place, added a loop of twine to the back for hanging and that’s it…Easy, Peasy! Oh, I wrote his name and date on the back of one hand as a keepsake and rememberance.
Cost -$3.00
Little hands Fall wreath
#14 Little Hands Turkey
This is a wreath I made with my oldest grandson a couple of years ago. Again, a simple foam wreath form…wrapped in a Fall ribbon. I used colored foam squares for his hand tracings, cut them out and hot glued them onto the wreath to resemble turkey feathers. I also used the colored foam pieces to cut-out feet and legs for the turkey. Then I added a pinecone (hot glued into place) for the turkey’s body accented with pieces of foam for his beak and waddle. And googly eyes hot glued into place. I then added a simple silk ribbon bow (hot glued into place) along with a loop of twine in the back for a hanger and that was it. Super easy and Oh so very cute…not to mention a wonderful keepsake!
Cost -$3.00
#15 Fall Decorated Wood Branch Cross
This was another super easy craft. I found 2 downed branches in our yard. I wrapped them together in the center with twine to form a cross. Then I just hot glued silk Fall leaves and berries onto the cross. Finished with a Fall ribboned bow (also hot glued into place) and done! Cost minimal/almost nothing, as I used scraps of whatever I had on-hand and free sticks from my yard!
Cost – almost nothing by using scraps of items on-hand
#16 Cutting Board Craft/Frugal Fall Decoration
What started out as a plain red cutting board from Dollar Tree was transformed into this fabulous Fall decoration. I spray painted the cutting board with white spray paint. Let it dry. Then I decoupaged these wonderful wood-look Fall leaf napkins onto the cutting board with mod podge. Added a top coat of mod podge to seal the design. Then I hot glued on some moss and this fabulous metal farm truck decoration from Dollar General. Topped it with a loopy bow from some Fall ribbon I had laying around, add a twine loop to the hole at the top for hanging and taaa daah….D-O-N-E!!
Cost -$4.00
Items used for the cutting board craft 
Cutting board craft-finished project
#17 and #18 Decoupaged Fall Themed Vases/Candle Holders
And the last of my super easy, super frugal Fall decorations. Theses are vases/candle holders from Dollar Tree. I used Fall themed napkins, cut out the designs and used mod podge to apply the designs onto the vases. I added a final coat of mod podge to seal the designs and that was it. They work great as vases for flowers or to use as candle holders. Another super simple, super cute, yet frugal Fall and Thanksgiving decoration.
Cost – less than $2.00 each
In Conclusion…
Well folks, there’s my 18 Frugal Fall & Thanksgiving decorations. I hope you have enjoyed them and I hope I have inspired you to craft some for yourself. Crafting….especially frugal crafting is relaxing and so rewarding. It brings a sense of pride every time you glance at your creations…especially when you’re resourceful enough to not put a strain on your wallet.
Happy Fall and Happy Thanksgiving. May you all be blessed with the wonders and celebration of the season with an abundance of family, food and fun. I’ll be back with more frugal decor ideas for Christmas.
Take care, be safe and be well.
Virtual hugs,
Chauncey
In case all this crafting makes you hungry….here’s a pumpkin crumb pie recipe that’s sure to satisfy your Fall and Thanksgiving cravings!
https://frugalanddelicious.com/frugal-delicious-pumpkin-crumb-pie-super-easy/
