A Complete Guide to Decorating for Christmas
For some people, waiting until December to decorate for Christmas seems late. Stores and wholesale retailers have been selling giant inflatable snowmen since the Fourth of July. Some of your neighbors have had their lights up since Halloween, and others might have never taken them down since last Christmas.
Why all the rush? Rest assured that there’s plenty of time left to deck the halls, especially with a bit of help from our guide. With everything from handmade decorations to hanging lights, this roundup will get your home in the holiday spirit with time to spare.
DIY Decorations and Crafts
There’s nothing better than homemade holiday decorations. Not only is making your own Christmas decorations cheaper than shopping for them, but it’s also a great way for the family to create lasting memories (instead of lasting clutter).
Check out this guide for seven homemade holiday crafts, from paper snowflakes and pine cone elves to DIY snow globes. Then check out nine more festive DIY decorations, including gingerbread play dough, twig ornaments, and dried citrus garlands.
And what better way to spread the Christmas spirit throughout the whole house than with scented candles? Our guide will walk you through making your own holiday candles, from choosing a wax to creating your own festive scent, such as wintry fir, cinnamon spice, or sugar cookie. Get our full guide here.
Decorating with Greenery
While pine-scented candles are a lovely addition to a festive home, you can’t beat the look and smell of the real thing. There are all kinds of ways to decorate your home with pine branches, pine cones, and other fresh winter greenery, such as cedar, juniper, mistletoe, and holly. Our guide to using greenery to decorate doorways, adorn mantelpieces, and even accent gift wrapping has everything you need to know — check it out here.
You can transform your dinner table into a winter woodland wonderland with fresh greenery, too. Get your family dining room camera-ready with one of our three favorite holiday table designs.
Last but not least, let’s turn your Christmas tree into Christmas trees. Complement the star of the living room by placing miniature potted firs around your home, stacking “book trees” in your den, and showing off yummy gingerbread trees in the kitchen. Learn how to make all these (and more) in our guide.
Outdoor Christmas Lights & Decorations
If you still need to check brightening up the outside of your home off your list, we have a few tips to put up your Christmas lights quickly and safely. (And without killing your lawn. More on that here.)
Before going all out with some extravagant, “National Lampoon”-esque light display on your home, you’ll want to check your local laws and HOA rules to see what’s allowed and what’s not. You should also consider that your neighbors have to live right by your house all through the season and may not appreciate a 15-foot-tall inflatable Rudolph peeking through their window until New Year’s. We cover all this and more in our guide to holiday decoration etiquette.
If you’re not one for LED lights, there are other ways to glow up your home for the holidays. Try making your own front-door wreath out of leftover ornaments (a guide to this and other exterior decorations here). You can also create some warm, holiday magic with homemade luminarias, paper lanterns that have illuminated the Southwest for hundreds of years. Learn how to make luminarias yourself using our guide.
Lastly, there’s no better way to cap off a winter evening outdoors than with a mug of cocoa on the patio. Bring the festive festivities outdoors with these tips for decorating your porch, such as arranging wintergreen window boxes, setting up a cozy garden bench, trimming the house columns with garland, and more. We’ve got 12 festive ideas for patios, porches, and gardens in this guide.
After a long day of decorating for Christmas, it’s time to wrap yourself in a blanket and enjoy a warm holiday beverage. Get our recipe for Mexican hot cocoa here.
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