With Thanksgiving on its way and Christmas not far behind, holiday decorations are everywhere.  Using a little creativity, you can decorate your house and make a few stocking stuffers using a few small office machines.  Here are a few ideas.

• Create custom placemats.  Even your kids can help you do this.  Have them make a collage of their favorite Christmas items.  With all the holiday catalogs rolling in, pictures won’t be hard to find.  Use a laminator to coat the final product in plastic and voila!  New holiday placemats for your table.
• Make your own gift tags.  Do you have a pile of cards leftover from last year?  These can either be extras that you didn’t need or ones that were sent to you.  Cut out the pictures and use them as gift tags.  If there is writing on the back, glue it on cardstock before using.  To apply to a present, you can simply punch a hole and use ribbon to tie the tag onto a package.  Or you can use a small laminator to turn the picture into a sticker that will easily adhere to wrapping paper. Xyron makes a wide selection of small sticker makers that work well and won’t blow your budget.
• Save your kids’ holiday artwork.  Soon your cute little munchkins will start coming home from school with Christmas or winter holiday related artwork.  Instead of stashing these on the refrigerator or in a storage box, send them through a laminator and hang them on your wall.  When the season is over, keep the fun creations with the rest of your decorations.  They’ll make you smile with fond memories every year when it’s time to decorate.
• Make your own filler material.  Instead of crumpling up loads of tissue paper to fill the extra space in bags or boxes, get shredding.  Colored construction paper is much cheaper than tissue paper and you can choose whatever colors you want.  Empty your shredder’s waste container and then put the colorful paper through your shredder.  This is an easy way to get festive stuffing for your presents and something you can do all year round.
• Design custom magnets, stickers, and bookmarks for stocking stuffers.  Xyron makes several smaller laminators that can apply adhesive or magnet backings to any small flat object.  This is a great way to turn wallet size school pictures into a bookmark for Grandma.  Photo magnets also make great stocking stuffers for the rest of your family.  Custom gift tags can be made by attaching adhesive backing to any picture of your choice, another great stocking stuffer item.
• Finally, make a holiday menu.  If you have certain recipes that you make every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas, gather them all in one place and laminate them.  Then punch a hole through one corner and slide a ring through the cards.  This is a great way to keep everything together and it can store with the rest of your holiday items.  It also makes a great gift for other family members who frequently cook the same dishes.

As you can see, there are many fun crafts you can do at home with every day office equipment.  Many of these machines can be purchased inexpensively for home use as well.  Making your own holiday crafts entertains your kids and saves you money.  Why not get started today?