Christmas-Loving Mum Turns House Into Xmas Showstopper For Just £300
- Lauren Welling, 26, has gone all out to give her daughter an amazing Christmas
- She spent £300 transforming not just her tree and the outside of her house, but even her bathroom
- Lauren bought supplies from car boot sales, Wilko, B&M, Tesco and The Range
If you’re not in the Christmas spirit yet, this amazing house will certainly do the trick.
Lauren Welling, 26, a body piercer and mum of one from Luton, has always loved Christmas, and wanted to make this year extra special after last year being ruined by Covid.
Lauren managed to get £20 off a tree from Wilko, a £55 B&Q garland for just £1 and thousands of lights and decorations from B&M, Tesco and The Range.
She not only transformed her Christmas tree and the outside of her house, but even gave her bathroom some festive cheer.
Lauren told the money-saving Black Friday app: "I have a two-year-old little girl and now she is starting to understand Christmas, I wanted to try and make it as special as possible!
"The last few Christmases haven’t been great to say the least for the vast majority of the world, so this year I said to my boyfriend, 'I want to go all out this year’.
"I went to Wilko and looked at a tree and it was £95.
“Someone that worked there said 'I shouldn’t be telling you this but that tree will go down in price in the next couple of days’.
“Lo and behold, the next morning it was down to £75!
"I had the decorations from last year but I had a smaller six-feet tree so of course, I had to go to The Range, B&M and the local garden centre to top up and fill it up.
"There are 440 lights in total on the tree.
"I got 200 from B&M for £10 and 240 from Tesco for £12.
"I had no real inspiration for the outside lights.
"I had no idea how many to buy or what to put them up with so I thought 'I’ll get 1000 lights’, genuinely thinking that it would just cover the outline border of the house.
"My brother-in-law put them up and then we started to realise how many lights there actually were so we started going up and down as well.
"I had to go to The Range to get more cable clips.
"They come in packs of 25 for £2 and we used four and a half packs.
"I still would like to add a few more bits but I didn’t realise how expensive outdoor decorations were!
'But I definitely need a few figures outside as I want my house to be one of the houses that parents bring their kids to have a look at, as I remember absolutely loving that when I was little.
"Christmas is my favourite time of year and when people say it’s too early to put stuff up, I think ‘why?’
"It’s a lot of effort to go to just to have it up for 10 days.
"When I get home from work and see those lights and my little girl's face every time she sees them, it makes it worth it.
"I have even added a Christmas touch to my bathroom, and my little girl sits on the Santa bath mat and says 'one present please, Santa!’
“The tree was £75, the tree lights were £22 and the decorations in total including last year’s were around £80.
“My garland was actually £1 from a car boot sale but originally cost £55 in B&Q, so I got a bargain.
“The outdoor lights cost £35 and it cost £10 for all the clips.
“For the bathroom, the mat was £16, the towels were £9, the Santa soap was £4 and the accessories were £10.
“I spent £262, but in total it’s cost around £300 overall with other bits around my house and Christmas bedding."
Lauren is thrilled with her festive home, and says that an investment in something similar now will be worth it for the future.
"Anyone thinking of doing it, just go for it,” she adds.
"It may be a little pricey but you won’t have to buy the decorations every year.
"I believe £300 is so worth it as we will probably have this tree for years to come and won’t be buying all these bits every year.
"Some people spend £300 on a tree alone so I think for everything it’s an absolute bargain!
"Just be as over the top as you want to be!"
Tom Church, co-founder of the money-saving Black Friday app, commented: “Christmas is a notoriously pricey time of year, but Lauren has definitely managed to keep costs down when it comes to turning her home into a Christmassy paradise.
“Finding garlands at car boot sales, getting insider tips from shop assistants and reusing last year’s decorations are all amazing tricks she had up her sleeve.
“Plus, as she says, these decorations will last for years, meaning her home will no doubt attract attention for miles around for years to come!"
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