Affordable ways to bring some magic to your Christmas

It's so often the little things that dictate our experience of an event or occasion. The attentiveness of a waiter, the flourish of a fresh flower as a garnish, or the hand cream in the bathroom - all these small touches add to our experience of a place or event.

The same can be true of special occasions or festive get-togethers. I’ve been thinking lately about how to bring more of these magical touches to my Christmas.

Here are some low-cost ideas on how to sprinkle a little more magic into your Christmas season.

Create your own Christmas traditions

In our family, when I’m making the Christmas cake, every person in the house when it’s being made must have a stir. While they stir, they are asked to put their good intentions for themselves and others into the cake.

I know of a family with older teenagers who bake lots of biscuits before Christmas and then deliver them to essential workers on Christmas day. Chat to your parents and grandparents and find out what old traditions they can remember and consider incorporating them into your own Christmas.

Go back to basics with a Scandi-style Christmas

There’s something magical about the simplicity of white, pine, and candle light.

Cover your Christmas table in a white cloth or sheet and surround plain white candles with small branches of fresh pine for a beautifully simple and fragrant Christmas table decoration.

A feast for the senses

I love the smells associated with Christmas, but I find ethical candles a bit expensive, so I like to create a concoction that both smells divine and tastes amazing.

For the non-alcoholic version, I add equal parts apple juice to cranberry juice, then I add in some mulled wine spices, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, fresh ginger and orange slices. I let it simmer in the evenings or before I’m expecting guests and it fills the house with a warm, inviting aroma. You can use red wine* instead of juice if you prefer.

Family rituals

The Irish ritual of using ribbons to represent wishes and tying them onto sacred trees has long struck me as being magical. Sometimes reffered to as 'fairy trees' or 'wishing trees', different colours have associated meanings, such as red which represents protection, and white which means serenity and purity.

In fact, I have heard that in Irish Traveller communities, people often wear red and white cords or ribbon on their wrists.

One year, when my children were small, we tied large red and white crepe paper ribbons to a tree in our yard, making lots of Christmas and New Year wishes as we did so. The wish and ribbon-filled tree made me smile every time I arrived home.

Vintage decorations

I once invited some friends and their children around to make vintage Christmas decorations and we spent a joyous afternoon putting cloves and ribbons on clementines and oranges and teaching all our children how to thread strings of popcorn.

To make clove tree decorations you need clementines or mandarins, some ribbon, pins and a lot of cloves. Wrap the ribbon around the clementine and use pins to hold the ribbon in place. Tie and bow and add a loop for hanging and add extra pins. Cover the segments between ribbon with cloves. These decorations look beautiful on a real tree and can also be hung elsewhere in the house to provide a lovely smell.

Whatever large or small things you can do will contribute to making the most out of the Christmas season. May it be a most magical occasion for you and your loved ones.

*Always drink responsibly