Create Amazing Christmas Reindeer With Budget Dollar Tree Items

Have you seen the acrylic reindeer at Dollar Tree? They immediately sparked my creative side, and if you are looking for a way to add a touch of luxury to your holiday décor, I have a budget-friendly, cheap solution. With just a little creativity and effort, you can easily create amazing Christmas reindeer that look high-end from Dollar Tree. If you want glamorous reindeer, you will love this DIY high-end option for budget-friendly holiday decor.

Reindeer are trending for Christmas decorations for 2023, and there are many expensive options. I’m planning a reindeer theme, so these inexpensive reindeer were a perfect solution to add to my project list this year.

The hardest part is deciding which of the many design options to use. Therefore, I’m sharing several options that you can choose from.

I can’t wait for you to see how they look.

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Why Are Reindeer Associated With Christmas

There are several stories of Santa Claus and his mysterious delivery of gifts on Christmas Eve. However, reindeer’s popularity to celebrate Christmas is attributed to the poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas (aka `’Twas the Night Before Christmas’. It was written anonymously in the New York Sentinel on December 23, 1823. Later, it was attributed to being written by Clement Clarke Moore.

And so, the fascination with Christmas reindeer began.

Today, reindeer are one of the most iconic symbols of Christmas. They appear in Christmas decorations, songs, movies, and stories. Therefore, it’s perfectly natural to decorate your home with this budget-friendly project for this Christmas season.

Choose The Right Dollar Tree Reindeer for Christmas

Dollar Tree has several reindeer to choose from, including metal, wood, plastic, ornaments, and even a couple of larger ones that are in the $5.00 section.

While all of these can be glammed up, for today, we are working with the acrylic plastic Dollar Tree reindeer. We will upgrade this cheap Dollar Tree reindeer, which measures 3.25 x 6.25 and costs only $1.25 each.

In addition, I was inspired to update a previous DIY holiday decor item with a little glam.

How To Prepare Your DIY High-End Christmas Reindeer

First, you will want to paint the reindeer to begin the DIY High-End Reindeer project. The easiest and most effective way to do so is with spray paint.

The surface of the plastic reindeer is very smooth, and most paints will not adhere easily. Therefore, I used a White Chalky Finish Spray Paint with a matt finish. It is a stylish finish on its own, but additional paints can be easily applied if desired.

I find that this paint will stick to almost any surface and provide a good base for additional upgrades.

How To Glam up Your Cheap Dollar Tree Reindeer For Christmas

I purchased several of the budget-friendly holiday decor reindeer, and I thought it would be fun to experiment with a few different ways to upgrade your cheap Dollar Tree reindeer for Christmas.

Simple Two-Step – Glamorous Reindeer

The first idea is very simple and easy to make. I added some antique gold rub and buff on the reindeer antlers, hooves, and nose tip.

For the next step, be sure to have all your supplies handy. Use a small paintbrush and add a glue ring around the reindeer’s neck. Then, sprinkle it with gold glitter before the glue dries.

These simple two steps to upgrade a Dollar Tree reindeer only took a few minutes, and now you have a DIY high-end reindeer.

Rustic High-End Christmas Reindeer

For a rustic DIY high-end Christmas reindeer, use a small brush to paint the reindeer antlers, nose, and hooves with gold paint.

Once the paint is dry, use dark wax to enhance the painted areas.

To highlight areas, just add a small amount of dark wax to a paper towel and rub it onto the surface. I like to apply the wax randomly over the rest of the reindeer.

Be sure to buff those areas before the wax dries. This will darken the white paint and give the reindeer a rustic appearance.

Finally, to upgrade the reindeer more, you can tie a garland around the neck. I found several types of budget-friendly holiday decor to use for this step.

I purchased some berry or leaf garlands, jingle bells, pinecones and berry picks to use around the neck.

To glam up the rustic Dollar Tree reindeer, I chose the pinecone and berry picks.

I love how glamorous the rustic Christmas reindeer looks on the stairsteps.

Budget-Friendly, High-End Glamorous Reindeer

Finally, the last glamorous reindeer for Christmas required a few more steps.

Begin by painting the entire reindeer with gold metallic paint.

Next, when the original paint dries, add a coat of Folk Art Sugar Metallic Evergold paint for texture.

Let’s add a little more glamor. Using a small brush, paint the antlers with Elmer’s glue and sprinkle with ultra-fine silver glitter. To enhance the reindeer more, add your choice of enhancement around the neck. Add a little glue to the top areas and sprinkle it with glitter to match.

There are two options for the gold reindeer. One uses silver glitter, and the other one uses white crystal glitter.

Which do you like best?

I personally liked the silver better, so I added silver glitter over the white crystal. Now, the two Glamorous Christmas reindeer match.

In addition, I used the pinecone and berry pick on the gold reindeer. However, I painted them with gold paint to glam them up before adding the glue and glitter.

Other Options For Budget Dollar Tree Christmas Reindeer Ideas

There are many options for upgrading your Dollar Tree Christmas Reindeer, and it’s impossible to include them all. However, here are just a few more ideas I had while working on this tutorial.

• Paint the reindeer black, bronze, or copper.
• For fun, paint them pink or enhance them with pink accessories.
• Add glitter over the entire body.
• Place a wreath around the neck.
• Use fake snow to the antlers. (see How To Add Fake Snow To Christmas Decorations.)
• Spray paint with a texture paint such as brown for an authentic deer look.
• Mount the deer on a wooden base.

Additional Inspiration

After seeing how easily the Dollar Tree reindeer could be improved, I decided to glam up this Dollar Tree reindeer ornament that I had used on the large Christmas ornaments that I previously shared.

Just adding one coat of metallic gold paint to the reindeer antlers made such a difference.

How To Decorate with DIY High-End Christmas Reindeer

How are you going to use your new DIY high-end Christmas reindeer?

They will look great added to shelving, bookcases, or tabletop vignettes.

I plan to use the rustic reindeer as Christmas stocking holders on my staircase. With some plain stocking hooks, the reindeer fit perfectly on top to enhance the staircase.

Here are some other ways to use them.

• Add a ribbon to make them ornaments.
• Use them for ornaments on Christmas wreaths.
• Include them as part of your table centerpiece.
• Use them as place card holders on a holiday dining table.
• Allow your guests to take theirs home as a holiday gift.
• How about making them for Hostess Gifts or Secret Santa Gifts?

I look forward to hearing how you plan to use your reindeer.

High-End Reindeer for Cheap

With these simple steps, you can easily glam up your inexpensive Dollar Tree reindeer. I have nine high-end-looking reindeer for only $18.00.

I already had most of the paint and glitter. I did purchase the picks used for around the necks and the white Chalky finish spray paint. However, I only used a small portion of the spray paint for this project.

Each glamorous reindeer only costs $2.00 and just a little bit of time to make. I consider that a real bargain.

I hope this will encourage you to look for budget-friendly holiday decor and to look for ways to update inexpensive or old decor this holiday.

Additional Links

You may also enjoy these previous tutorials and posts.

• How To Repurpose Old Christmas Decor
• How to Make Recycled Wine Cork Christmas Trees
• DIY Old Wooden Spool Tassels
• Inexpensive Large Ornaments with Dollar Tree Christmas Supplies

Resources

Click the images below for links to items used and additional resources.

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