There is no reason to purchase an expensive Christmas centerpiece for your dining room table. Instead of spending a lot of money on holiday table decorations, combine a little creativity and inexpensive arts and craft supplies with gifts from nature to create your own centerpiece.



The best place to start is in the great outdoors. Collect a few pinecones from your yard. If you don’t have pine trees, it’s likely that a neighbor will be more than happy to let you collect pine cones from his or her yard. You can also visit local parks to collect pine cones, assuming this practice is allowed. To create the most interesting centerpiece, you’ll want to collect pine cones in a variety of sizes.

It’s a good idea to gather your pine cones several weeks before you are ready to start decorating for the holidays. Spread them out on newspaper in a cool, dry area of your home so they can dry completely before you use them in your centerpiece.

Once pine cones are completely dry, it’s time to decorate them. The most attractive pinecone centerpieces combine completely natural pine cones with those that have been touched up with arts and crafts techniques.

To prepare your pine cones for display, divide them into three roughly equivalent groups. Leave one group undecorated. Take one group outside, place on newspaper, and lightly spray them with gold or silver spray paint. You may want to combine both colors depending on your home and holiday décor.

You will need glitter and glue to decorate the third group of pine cones. Parents and children can work on this part of the project together. Remember that working with glitter can be messy, so place newspaper under your working area to make clean up easy. Simply put a little glue on the tips of these pinecones and sprinkle glitter over the glue. Shake off excess glitter, and the result will be pinecones with lovely, sparkly tips.

When the painted and glittered pinecones are dry, you just need to arrange them in a nice bowl or tall glass container. Place them in the center of your dining room table, and you have a perfect centerpiece. If you end up with too many pinecones, you can use them throughout your home to bring a holiday touch to every room. They look beautiful on mantles, and are also a nice way to add a special touch to holiday garland.