If you're looking for ideas to help you decorate your home for the holidays, you may be interested in learning more about the most popular Christmas decorations. Knowing what types of decorations are the most common can help you brainstorm ideas for giving your home a festive touch.
What Are the Most Popular Christmas Decorations?
Decorating for Christmas is a big business. LendEDU reports Christmas decoration spending for the average American is 11% of their Christmas expenditures or around $70. In the 2018 annual Christmas spending survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, the category of non-gift holiday items includes, decorations, food, greeting cards, and flowers. The average person spends around $215 each year for this category. You may want to consider some of the most popular Christmas decorations when you shop:
- Candles
- Garlands
- Roping
- Swags
- Ribbons
- Poinsettias
- Christmas tree ornaments
- Wreaths
Iconic Holiday Figures
Regardless of the decoration you've selected, you'll want to add a little flair by picking a design to highlight. Many times, this is in the form of a famous holiday figure or motif. Look for wreaths that feature these designs, ornaments, or even ribbon printed with one of these famous icons. Traditional Christmas decoration motifs include:
- Santa
- Reindeer
- Snowmen
- Snowflakes
- Gingerbread house with gingerbread men
- Candy canes
- Bells
- Stars
- Angels
- Nativity scene
Choosing Color Schemes for Christmas Decorations
Most people prefer to choose a color scheme for their Christmas decorations. Some favorites include, red and green, blue and silver, and gold and red. However, if you're looking for something a bit more unique, there are plenty of unusual Christmas decoration options and great ways to decorate a fireplace mantel and other places around your home.
Candles for Christmas
Candles create the perfect ambiance for the Christmas season. Folklore credits Christmas candles first being used as symbols of the Star of Bethlehem that guided shepherds, kings and travelers to the Christ child in his manger. There are all types of novelty candles as well as scented ones ideal for Christmas.
Ways to Decorate With Christmas Candles
You can incorporate plain, scented or novelty candles in your holiday décor. Choose the colors that go best with your other decorations. Add candles to the mantel, dining table, guest bathroom, foyer, and living room coffee table.
- Candlesticks can be decorated with candle rings.
- Electric candles in the window and candle tree lights are classic Christmas candle decorations.
- Flameless candles are a great addition to any Christmas decorations with for holiday safety concerns.
Christmas Garlands
A Christmas garland can immediately transform a room or front door. There are many artificial designs that look very realistic. You may prefer live greenery. Just expect to pay more for live greenery. You may decide artificial garlands are more cost effective since they can be used each year.
How to Decorate With Garlands
You can frame the outside of your front door with a garland. Add a few light strings interwoven with the greenery for a nighttime display. You can also drape garland over your mantel to embellish a Christmas showcase, such as a mantel vignette of Santa, his sleigh and reindeer or candles and mirror candle holders.
Holiday Roping
Holiday roping is a type of garland that can be used in place of garland or with it. There are many various styles and designs for this type of Christmas decoration.
Decorating With Holiday Roping
You may decide to use a pearl-like beaded roping on your Christmas tree. A gold roping can be intertwined with garland greenery for a mantel, to frame a doorway or draped along a staircase.
Christmas Swags
The romantic touch of a Christmas swag can transform a plain area into a festive nook. Choose from live and artificial greenery. Many swags are lighted with wireless strings of light. Others are decorated similarly to wreaths.
Where to Use Swags
You can use a Christmas swag in place of a wreath for the front door or above the mantel. If you have wall sconces, you can hang a swag of greenery underneath the light fixture. You may decide to spruce up your mailbox with a holiday swag.
Festive Ribbons
Ribbons are a wonderful Christmas embellishment for your holiday decorations. You can select ribbons that complement your holiday décor color scheme. For example, if you choose Mardi Gras colors gold, green and purple, select one of the colors for your decorative ribbons.
Tying With Festive Ribbons
A garland draped across your mantel is a perfect candidate for festive holiday ribbons. Don't forget to add one to your wreath on the front door. You can add a ribbon on each end of your porch swing, walkway lamp post or mailbox post. You can use ribbon for tree garland and wrap your tree in ribbon streamers.
Red, White or Pink Poinsettias
Nothing says Christmas is here better than a red, white or pink poinsettia. These iconic symbols of the holiday season usually come with their pots covered in red, green or gold foil paper.
Where to Place Poinsettias
You can place a grouping of three or five poinsettias around the fireplace hearth. You may decide to set a pair inside the front door to greet guests or on each end of a console table or sideboard. A grouping of poinsettias can be place underneath or around the Christmas tree. Several poinsettias on the staircase might be just the festive touch needed.
Christmas Tree Ornaments
When it comes to Christmas tree ornaments, you have thousands of choices. You can go with traditional round glass balls, novelty ornaments made of resin or elegant hand-blown ornaments guaranteed to be heirlooms.
How to Decorate With Ornaments
The key to a successful Christmas tree are the decorations. You want to use a mixture of over-sized, large and medium sized ornaments. Select either silver or gold colored ornament hangers for continuity and to ensure each ornament hangs perfectly on the Christmas tree.
Live and Artificial Christmas Wreaths
Wreaths are great Christmas decorations that say, "Welcome" and "Merry Christmas" to guests. This symbol of infinity was originally used to decorate Christmas trees and later moved to grace front doors. Wreaths come in such a wide range of choices you won't have a problem finding one. You may opt for living wreaths or find more versatility in artificial wreaths designs.
Where to Place Christmas Wreaths
The most common placement for a Christmas wreath is the front door. Some people also place a wreath over the mantel. People often use smaller wreaths to place on their front windows. Some people even decorate the front of their vehicles with a Christmas wreath!
Best Time to Decorate for Christmas
As far as decorating your home, the most popular day to begin putting up your Christmas decorations is the day or weekend after Thanksgiving, though many are starting earlier. When taking down decorations, some people start on December 26, while others wait until New Year's Day. However, there are no hard and fast rules regarding Christmas decorations-as long as you have them up before Christmas and taken down by Valentine's Day!
