50 People Whose DIY Christmas Decorations Seriously Impressed The Internet

Woodworking enthusiast Paul told Bored Panda that making your own Christmas ornaments is "a great way to give the holidays a personal touch."

"So much of the holidays is about buying, so it's great to create. The main thing to keep in mind is that you're doing this for fun, and for family, so be kind to yourself. Making memories can be messy, and those imperfections show this is a labor of love," he said.

"As far as essential tools go, the only requirements are time and creativity. DIY ornaments can be extremely complex, or exceedingly simple. The goal should be to have fun with the process, and enjoy your own creativity. Laser engravers and wood lathes cost a lot of money, and can produce great results. But a wood round and paint can be just as good, if not better," Paul gave some advice.

"If you are interested in making your own wooden ornaments, just remember to be patient. No one picks up a hobby and immediately succeeds. I know it's tempting to look at Pinterest, and try to perfectly recreate a project, but these things take time to learn. There are often classes you can find online or just YouTube videos from passionate crafters that you can follow," the woodworker told Bored Panda.

"Chances are you are going to fail if you try something too complicated. That's why Regretsy, Pinterest Fails, and even the Netflix show Nailed It exist. Creating is an involved process. And honestly? Failing can be as fun as it is frustrating. There's nothing quite as unique as a failed craft project. Just remember that you are creating memories, no matter what the end result looks like."

Finally, Bored Panda wanted to get woodworker Paul's opinion about some quintessential Christmas decorations that no home would feel right without.

"I would say a tree is synonymous with Christmas for me, but I have cats. We have a new kitten, so even though my wife and I have a tradition of making turned wooden ornaments, and now laser engraved ones too, we know the tree would be on the floor in a matter of minutes. So I would actually have to go with stockings. They're simple, iconic, and relatively cat-proof. Plus they hold gifts! And who doesn't love those?"

Imitation is the best form of flattery, so don’t feel shy about taking a tad of inspiration from some of these photos this year, dear Pandas. There’s nothing like witnessing a dash of out-of-the-box thinking to get your creative juices flowing.

What’s most important is that you and your nearest and dearest love how your home looks. There’s really not much sense to put a ton of pressure on yourself and cater to others just for the sake of likes on social media. You do you, no matter how refined or quirky your sense of style.

At the end of the day, you really won’t be able to please everybody with how you decorate your home. Someone might have an issue with the fact that you’ve chopped down an Xmas tree and propped it up in your living room.

Someone else might find your color choice for your baubles not to be in line with what’s stylish this year. And others might take issue with your hand-made ornaments because they value a different aesthetic.

In short, if you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing nobody. Cater to your own tastes. Make decorations that will bring a smile to your parents’, partner’s, and kids’ faces. Set your inner Santa’s Workshop elf loose!

The beauty of it all is that there are so many different ways to be creative. The sky’s the limit (and if you’ve got access to Santa’s sleigh, you might go even higher). You can use a very wide range of materials for your Xmas ideas: from cloth and wire to cardboard and wood and beyond. It all comes down to how imaginative you are… and how dextrous your hands are.

You might not be able to get the result you imagined the very first time you sit down to do some DIY, but it’s important to keep at it. Watch some how-to videos on YouTube, search the internet for some guides, and come back to the challenge well-rested and raring to go.

Failure is temporary. Unique Xmas thingamajigs are forever.

Of course, decorations are great, but they’re just the surface. The holiday season is about more than aesthetics—though a feast for the eyes can boost our mood.

Kindness, hope, charity, family, and love—this is what the holidays are all about. Human beings are hardwired for socializing, helping others, and even gift-giving: our brains reward us for these behaviors. However, it’s not just our biology that’s at play. How we’re raised also impacts how we view altruism and empathy.

"Many of us are raised to believe it is the 'right thing to do.' Basically, all spiritual belief systems have a version of the 'Golden Rule, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,'" Professor Suzanne Degges-White, from Northern Illinois University, explained to Bored Panda where our instinct for kindness springs from, during an interview a while back.