Christmas Buckets

One of the great things about starting to prepare for Christmas in July is finding great deals on Summer things that work for Christmas too. Lots of stores have things like metal buckets, trays, and lanterns meant for summer get-togethers and holidays, but they work great for Christmas too.

Around this time of year stores are starting to clear out summer stuff, especially 4th of July stuff so you can find it marked down really cheap. And 4th of July stuff is often red or white, both of which work for Christmas too. You can also get creative with other colors to make them work too.

My mom found a few of different buckets and trays on clearance and I cut out some Christmas designs and sayings out of vinyl using my Cricut. We added designs to each of the buckets.

It was a super quick way to make something that would make cute Christmas decor to decorate your home, or to use as a gift basket to fill with items and give as a Christmas present.

Obviously the sizes and shapes of the designs you use will depend on the sizes and shapes of buckets you find and what you wanted to use them for, but we put together a variety of ideas to inspire you and show a few different ideas and ways you can use them. All of these were found at Target, Walmart, and grocery stores. You could probably also find similar things at craft stores.

First we took a large oval bucket that was part of a 4th of July Collection so it had a red band around the bottom. For this one I created my own design that said "Merry Christmas" made of fonts available in Cricut Design Space. We filled it with cute little red, white, and gray knitted hats and I loved the way it looked. It would also be great under the tree filled with Christmas storybooks, or as a gift basket with a warm fuzzy blanket and some hot cocoa.

Next we used plain metal tray (about 8" x 14") and added a black and white vinyl design. This one was probably my favorite of all. I edited a design I found in Design Space so that it better fit on the tray. I wish I had cut it a little smaller but I loved the way it turned out. It would be cute as a decor piece, or paired with some hot cocoa and nice mugs.

We also had a smaller pink bucket and a light blue one. We thought those buckets would work well to hold a small gift. We gathered a few things to put in them to give an idea of what it would look like.

On the pink bucket we added a gold "Happy Holidays". Pink may not be a very traditional Christmas color but I think you can definitely make it work, especially for a gift.

On the blue bucket we did a couple different versions, the first a simple white snowflake. I thought the snowflake design worked well with the light blue and helped tie it into the winter holidays. It kind has an Elsa vibe.

Last I added a silver design that I found pre-designed in design space. I liked the combo of silver and blue, and this design also incorporated snowflakes.

You can find all of the designs I used by clicking on the links below, they will take you to the Design Space canvas where you can edit and resize as needed.

North Pole Hot Cocoa Tray

Merry Christmas (Large Oval Bucket)

Happy Holidays

Merriest Wishes

Snowflake