Decorating Santa’s Grotto

One of the things I love about this time of year is the opportunity to be really creative. Mobile Mini challenged us to help out Santa by designing a portable grotto that can fit within a storage container. Now my 4 year old loves his Playmobil cargo truck and cargo ship as it comes with a couple of shipping containers. He loves these toys and can often be found using them to ‘ship’ other toys around the house. I immediately knew this was the challenge for me.

Of course my first thought was to create a gingerbread-inspired portable grotto for Santa. But then I thought I would not be quite so predictable and instead create an upcycled look for the grotto instead wit ha vintage vibe. I love to shop in my local charity shops and upcycle some of my vintage finds. Drawing isn’t my strong point so I created a Pinterest board which is full of my ideas.

Follow Jenny Makes’s board Upcycled Christmas on Pinterest.

First of all I would cover the walls, ceiling and floor in wooden pallets. On the walls these make great shelves and you can use them as extra storage too. I’d hide some vintage wool blankets to act as insulation – I think a storage container could be a pretty chilly place! I would de-construct the pallets to use as flooring and use them on the ceiling too, I like a rustic look.

I would decorate my portable grotto with a tree and some lovely decorations. My Pinterest board is full of ideas from recycle book bird ornaments to cupcake case garlands, mason jar lid snowman ornaments, vintage quilt tree decorations and of course my own vintage ruler Christmas trees.

I even found the comfiest looking chair for Santa to sit on, made from recycled corks!

One of my favourite decorations is my Liberty covered baubles, made from my fabric stash, plain baubles and watered down PVA glue. They are quick to make and I would string them across the ceilings to brighten the place up.