As if the Christmas tree weren't pricey enough, now you have to decorate the thing?

Trimming a tree can be costly. But save that money for your family's presents and festoon your fir on a budget.

Here are 10 crafty and creative ideas to decorate your entire tree for less than $10. Some of these ideas won't even cost you anything:

• "Cut snowflakes from squares of white paper," suggests Shannon Yadon, communications and development manager at Goodwill Industries of Hawaii, Inc. "Vary the sizes of the paper squares to have varying sizes of snowflakes. Junk mail can also be collected through the weeks and used to make colorful snowflakes." Search online or borrow a library book to learn how.

• "Glossy magazine (pages) made into origami figures to hang would be fun," said Shanah Trevenna, student sustainability coordinator of Sustainable UH. Learn how to do origami by going online or borrowing origami books from the library. To fold the ornaments pictured, visit www.origami-instructions.com and search for "star box."

• "Hang pictures of family and friends," said Kathryn Ho, a member of American Mothers Inc.-Hawaii Association. Pictures can be left as rectangles or cut into circles. Mount them on colored cardstock or paper, leaving a [0xa4]-inch border. Punch a hole in the top and hang it with decorative ribbon or yarn.

• Do the same thing with old Christmas cards. Hang them "as is" or cut the decorative card fronts into different shapes, such as circles, stars, pine trees or candy canes.

• Don't have old cards? Just hang holiday and photo cards on your tree as your receive them in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

• "Cinnamon applesauce ornaments can be made with cinnamon and applesauce — equal parts of each — to form a dough, which can then be cut out with cookie cutters and a hole made in the top with a straw," Ho said. "After drying overnight (they should be completely hard), they can be tied with a red ribbon and hung on the tree."

• "Make 'Favorite Memory' decorations," Yadon said. Cut star, bell or other holiday shapes from cereal boxes or thin cardboard boxes (easily found as food packaging). Paint the shapes solid colors with nontoxic paint. Have each family member write their favorite memory of the year on one side of the decoration. On the other side, write the family member's name and the year. Decorate the finished memory decoration with glitter. Punch a hole in the top of the decoration and find pretty ribbons or raffia to loop through a hole to hang on to the tree branches.

"If you have each family member make five to 10 memory decorations, your whole tree will be filled with the happiest times of the year, for next to nothing," Yadon said. "As years pass and more memory decorations are created, decorating the tree will become a trip down memory lane."

• Make a cool Christmas photo ornament using old CDs, said Ava Jenkins, manager at The Green House Hawaii. "This ornament highlights the beautiful faces of your children or loved ones and uses recycled items as well," Jenkins said.

Supplies: old CDs or DVDs, magazines or scrap fabrics, glue, decoupage glue, other recycled decorating material (beach glass, shells, beads, buttons, pine cones, seeds), drill with small drill bit, recycled Christmas or birthday ribbon, and favorite photos or whatever picture you want to use as the center of the ornament.

Directions: Use the CD as the circle template. Outline the CD on the fabric or the magazine using a beautiful or interesting design area. Cut out the circle. Glue the circle on to the dull side of the CD, leaving the shiny side clean. Don't worry about the hole in the CD; just cover over it.

Cut the photo into an interesting shape and glue on to the circle. Use the decoupage glue to create a barrier over the entire circle; apply the decoupage and spread very thin using a wet finger to smooth the material. When the circle is dry, drill a hole in the top for the hanger. Glue on other decorations. Tie the ribbon through the drilled hole and use a wire hook to hang on the tree.

 This idea for pasta snowflake ornaments comes from http://familyfun.go.com. Supplies: various dried pastas, wax paper, glue, toothpick and ribbon or string.

Directions: Working on waxed paper, arrange wagon wheels, bow ties and other dried pastas into different geometric patterns. Then use a toothpick dipped in glue to stick together the pieces of each one. Let the glue dry completely, then peel away the waxed paper. Use ribbon or string to hang them.

• Create an ornament out of pipe cleaners and raffia, Yadon said. Shape pipe cleaners into a star or a circle. Wrap strands of raffia around the pipe cleaner until the entire shape is raffia-covered and looks like it's made of straw. Create a loop at the top of the shape with the raffia for hanging over the tree branch.

You can then attach a small seashell to hang in the center of the shape. This can be done by either looping raffia through a pre-existing hole in the shell, or by hot gluing the shell directly onto the raffia shape, or cut and glue a photograph behind the shape so that the raffia shape becomes like a picture frame. Finish the tree by tying raffia and ribbon bows on the branches of your Christmas tree for a rustic-looking "natural" tree, Yadon said.