Wednesday, Dec 1, 2010Holiday Decorating Ideas

In some holiday décor traditions, “the stockings are hung by the chimney with care in hope that St. Nicholas soon will be there.” Well, stockings are one idea and here are some more holiday decorating ideas from centerpiece decorating ideas to that might brighten up your festivities in this wonderful season.

Decorate Your Mantel: Chose something wonderful as a centerpiece. Perhaps an angel, maybe a crèche, or maybe the three wise men. Surround it with greenery and then add some sparkle: tinsel, lights, fruit, glass bulbs. As an alternative, string last year’s Christmas cards between two sturdy vases and add sticks with red berries, greenery or white lights.

Give Old Decorations a New Purpose: Fill your clear glass vases with greenery, lights, candles or bulbs and use them for a table centerpiece. Make a chandelier with bulbs and ribbons to hang over y our dining room table, or in the front hallway of your home. Cookie cutters hung from ribbons in front of a mantel mirror add a new twist using old things.

Centerpiece Decorating Ideas: Go for a lovely fall walk and take snips with you to find and bring home small branches and twigs. Paint them either all white or in colors that are meaningful for you at Christmas. Now, simply arrange the painted twigs in a lovely container. You might put a piece of fancy Christmas ribbon around or under the container, or not as you choose.

Treat Yourself to a New Wreath: Our wreaths get recycled from year to year, but this year, why not treat yourself to something new. One of the things you can do is to remove the decorations from your old wreath and freshen it with new ribbon, flowers, or ornaments. Or you could start from scratch using easy to find items: old grapevines make a wonderful background for a wreath. You can buy them in a craft store or make one yourself. Soak the vines in water to make them bend easily. Tie them into a circle with craft wire and then decorate with greens, berries, bulbs, lights, pinecones or whatever suits your fancy.

Light Up Your Entryway: For this project, you’ll want to collect pinecones from the forest. Smaller cones work best. Find a large basket. It can be with or without a handle. Fill it with the pinecones. Next, take a string of Christmas lights and weave them throughout the pinecones. Glue them into the basket with hot glue. Now wrap a lovely Christmas ribbon around the basket or it’s handle and you’ve got a warm, cheery holiday décor welcome for your front porch or front hallway for your family and friends. These baskets make great gifts, too.

Holiday Décor Theme for Your Home: You can use a traditional, every-bright-color theme when you decorate for Christmas and you’ll have a lovely look. Or, you can decide on just one color and carry, say, silver and red, throughout the entire home. You might choose a Christmas runner for your dining room table and then take it’s colors throughout the rest of the house. You can use a roll of holiday gift wrap to create continuity throughout the house by making small décor ideas in each room using that paper.

No matter what you use for holiday decorating ideas, be sure to include your family and friends in the preparation. Cookie parties and decorating parties can be tons of fun! Merry Christmas!

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. ~ Author Unknown