I don't know what sort of Christmas decorator you are – if you have everything up before December starts then I'm impressed! I usually leave things somewhat later, although we did have a tree by mid-December this year which is good going for us! We are hosting Christmas this year for the first time, so I wanted it to look suitably festive and homely. Last year our decorations were very relaxed and natural – my fireplace looked something like the image below (which I loved). But this year the kids specifically requested something more colourful and I thought I'd better oblige. So here are 3 easy (and affordable) Christmas decorating ideas.

All you need is some square or A4 paper, a needle and thread. I headed over to this tutorial on Youtube which is simple to follow (you might want to mute the music though, it does start to grate on the third watching!) I can assure you that once you've made 3 or 4 stars, you're on a roll. I did manage to persuade my 8 year old son to help, then he persuaded his friend to make a few – many hands make light work! We used the coloured paper left over from my recent interior design workshop (click here to book you place at the next workshop in February!) but these would also look effective using just white paper. When I had about 50 stars, I used a needle and white cotton to thread them together to make garlands. I then tied one end to the light cable and tied the other end to command hooks on each of the surrounding walls. (Oh, and please don't look at how high that light is hanging over our dining table – it needs to be about 50cm lower, which will be sorted in the new year, honest!)  

Our dining area is a bit white, bland and uninspiring (major revamp planned for the new year) so the colour livens things up a bit. I bought some coloured candles to pop into my brass cross candle holders too, which my younger son has been gleefully rearranging ever since! 

2) Eucalyptus. 

I'm not sure I can strictly claim this as decorating, but eucalyptus makes everything feel more Christmassy! Just buy a great big armful of the stuff at your local florist and put it everywhere! It looks great hung from walls, put into large vases, draped over mantles and shelves and even tied onto banisters. Just add some twinkly fairy lights, et voila! It's cheap, cheerful, natural and smells gorgeous too. It will dry out over the course of a week or two, but given that it looks and smells just as good when dry, who cares? And you don't have to store it in the loft until next year, which is always a bonus in my book.

I know that if you're an interior-obsessive like me this might not come naturally, but I did actually let my 3 loose on the Christmas tree this year. We always have a real tree because I love the smell (and we have no loft space to store a fake one anyway), but when it arrives in the house I usually take-over decorating. Not so this year! My 8 and 6 year olds put things on, whilst my 3 year old took them off again. I confess that I did tried to tinker with the tinsel and distribute the baubles in a more even fashion, but I was told in no uncertain terms to get my mitts off! It was actually quite liberating not to be stage managing things and I can also congratulate myself on encouraging my brood's creative talents. Our tree won't win any decorating awards – it is mismatched, colourful and homely rather than pristine and co-ordinated, but at least the various child-made decorations don't look out of place and I've discovered that I actually quite like coloured fairy lights once more!

I'd love to hear your top Christmas decorating tips (especially if they're easy!)

Image 2: Carole Poirot. All others are my phone shots (please forgive me).