These Christmas Decorating Ideas Will Inspire You to Bring the Beauty of the Season Home

Look for ways to maximize what you already have. It isn’t necessary to buy all-new decor. You can reuse elements—like ribbons, ornaments, bells, or potted plants—year after year to mingle with your new seasonal finds.

Christmas is a time for fun and festivity – don’t let your tree get too caught up in serious tradition! For homemakers looking to try something a little more glamorous, this sparkly Christmas decoration is the perfect way to add drama to your treetop. To make your own tree topper, bundle together a group of curly silver sticks from your local craft store, and wire the creation to the top of your tree. Decorate the rest of your tree with bright, equally glitzy colors like hot pink and gold. This is a perfect Christmas tree for a younger home. Bonus? The sparkly topper is a great New Years Eve decoration, too!

Let ribbons, not cut flowers, be your big Christmas splurge. They’re reusable, unfussy, and an easy way to add color to greenery in passthrough spaces like the entry.

Bring Christmas to every corner of your home. Look for out-of-the-way display areas, such as the top of a chest, to add sparkle and shine. Whether your vignette stays up year-round—like this collection of mercury glass—or is seasonal, keep the fluffing simple so it doesn't compete with the collection. Just cut appropriate lengths of greenery, like fresh magnolia, boxwood, pine, fir, winterberry, and American cranberry bush berries to fit vessels. Add them to about half of the vases as to not overpower the beauty of your collection. Echo the elements of green and red by threading holly berries across your furniture, and hanging a wreath from a strategically-located point on the wall.

Drape greenery and berries on lights; keep them away from bulbs for safety.

Whether guests arrive through the front or back door, make every entry inviting. A perch for removing boots can be a place to gather packages. Mudroom cubbies can display small collections, favorite ornaments, and family heirlooms. 

To create a poinsettia tree, follow these instructions: First, cut the larger blooms, leaving about 6 inches of stem. Sear them quickly to stop sap from dripping out. Sap should bubble under the candle flame, and the ends of the stems will turn black. You may also need to sear the points where larger leaves were removed along the stems. Insert each seared stem into a water-filled florist tube. Stems are hollow and will absorb water after being seared. Place the stems into the base of the ivy topiary. Then repeat this process with the medium-size and smaller poinsettia blooms, cutting the stems so they're about 4 inches long. Insert blossoms into the topiary, working your way toward the top. Once it's complete, care is simple—just add water to the tubes every few days, as needed.

Put your tree lights on a dimmer to ensure a lovely glow and pair with meaningful family ornaments for a tree that's all your own.

Plaid is not just for school uniforms and collared shirts. Use plaid as a theme for your Christmas decorations for a classic, old-school take on holiday cheer. To avoid overloading on one pattern, don’t be afraid to mix and match plaids of varying sizes and scales. Start with a transparent plaid garland, and decorate with metallic, solid-colored ornaments. The easiest and most budget-friendly way to incorporate plaid into your Christmas is by using the gifts under your tree as decorations themselves. Choose 2-3 plaid patterned rolls of giftwrap, and 1-2 solid patterns in complimentary colors. Mix and match ribbons on each gift for a layered presentation of presents.

Do not limit your decorations to the inside of your house or your front porch; take advantage of the South’s mild winters. Bring decorative Christmas cheer all the way out to your backyard. This warm and cozy backyard retreat is beautifully decorated for the Christmas season, and serves as a perfect place to cozy up with a blanket on a brisk winter night. A beautiful Christmas tree takes center stage, spun in classic red garland and gold lights. The mantle is adorned with fresh, aromatic greenery. A simple evergreen wreath above the fireplace completes the stunning scene. Stock your outdoor bar, and light a blazing fire for a cozy outdoor gathering.

Tie pinecones and berries with a velvet bow in a contrasting tone.

Add an unexpected detail to a monochromatic Christmas tree by hanging your tree topper from the ceiling. First, choose a shape that plays off your Christmas ornaments, as this round paper lantern mirrors the round ornaments on the tree. Attach a ceiling hook right above your tree’s tallest point. Float the lantern by hanging it from a bow attached to the hook. For added impact, attach cascading ribbon or garland from the bottom of your hanging tree topper. This modern Christmas tree decoration idea makes a big impact without appearing over-decorated or tired, and will stand out among the rest in creativity and originality.

See the rest of this tree

Display seasonal family treasures front and center. Here, needlepoint stockings, family keepsakes, are displayed along the mantel.

Pressed for time but want a big show to greet guests and carolers on your holiday front porch? Fit a 7-gallon magnolia into a decorative planter, and fill in around the edges with spray-painted magnolia branches and sprigs of seeded eucalyptus – we chose red, but gold or silver stuns as well. After the holidays, plant the magnolia in the garden for a year-round token of holiday cheer. Designed to come together quickly and with limited hands-on prep, this Christmas look is easy to tailor for various preferences. Change the plants or colors to suit your taste – Poinsettias are always a good substitute.

No fireplace? No worries. Hang a stocking from every seat at the table. Use pretty ribbons and double-sided, industrial strength tape to keep the stockings hung behind dining chairs with care.

Beautiful presents can double as festive decorations.

A white brick Colonial is a stately canvas for holiday decorating. The wreaths, swags, garlands, and gate decoration took a color cue from the home’s green-black shutters and bright copper lanterns.

For a mix of traditional and modern, use mercury glass teardrop vases to hold bright holly berries, available from florists and garden shops. Leaning on warm orange and red hues, we added some mandarins and pomegranates for texture, color, and fragrance. Kept in fresh water, the berries should last up to three weeks.

When it comes to Christmas decoration, a good rule of thumb is that more is better. While there are obvious limitations to this saying, we firmly believe that when you get the chance to incorporate a unique holiday detail into your Christmas décor, you should. Instead of displaying dining room name cards on simple card holders, make them festive! Pictured above, the holiday hostess enlisted her childhood collection of Steinbach nutcrackers to hold gold-scripted place cards that match the holiday dinner menu cards. Use a gold paint pen for metallic penmanship, and adorn the top with a gold foil holly sprig.

Make your entrance inviting for all. Dress the back staircase with a garland of pinecones, greenery, and ribbons of alpine blue.

Bring the Christmas forest inside your house with this rustic, homey Christmas arrangement. Use a footed silver serving tray to display a sumptuous centerpiece with vintage ornaments and clippings from the garden. Start with Southern classics: boxwood, pine, and magnolia. Next add large ball ornaments, followed by crocosmia pods, pinecones, and abelia whose flowers have dropped, leaving a showy flourish of pink sepals on the tips of branches. Finish with delicate sprigs of evergreens, dried shelf mushrooms attached to florist picks. Wire a few small, round ornaments of natural colors with in metallic and glossy finishes for a subtle touch of glamour.

Maintaining a quality collection of fluted vases, julep cups, and chalices makes it easy to display (and replace) choice blooms throughout the season. Update your mantel with winter blooms. The foliage base will take you well past New Year's; and the flowers will last five days. To create this look, begin with a base of silver artificial garland. Then tuck in layers of two kinds of fresh eucalyptus (silver dollar and seeded), as well as dusty miller placed in water tubes. Add silver brunia, white ranunculus, star of Bethlehem, 'Sahara' roses, eucalyptus pods, succulents, and snowberries to vases and along the mantel.

Boost the existing bones of your interior decor with seasonal decor. Nestle your existing vases into mantel garland, for example.

For a hint of holiday flair with a literary touch, put spare paperbacks to work by stacking them into a Christmas tree. It's a wonderfully whimsical touch to a mantle or bookshelf. 

Our favorite way to light up any season is a brilliant array of paper luminaries. Line them up along your front walkway, along your driveway, or scatter them on your porch for a bright, twinkling Christmas display that’s so simple and affordable to pull off. You can buy premade luminaries in bulk online, or make your own using white paper bags, pebbles, and battery-powered LED candle lights. After gathering your supplies, place a handful of pebbles in the bottom of your paper bag so it is less likely to blow away or fall over. Using your fingers, clear a place for the LED light (turned on) to rest.  Wait until its dark out, and you have a glowing luminary to light up your drive.

The bigger your Southern family, the harder it is for you to find and purchase personalized gifts for everyone. If you don’t have a spectacular gift – or even if you do! – the best way to make your gift more exciting is by spending a little more time on the packaging. These creative Christmas wrapping ideas are perfect for any gift. Choose a theme – traditional, natural, vintage, glitzy, coastal, or rustic – you can’t go wrong. Purchase small trinkets for decorative touch, like the wooden reindeer, glittery initial, cotton clipping, or bell and ornament pictured above. By layering paper, ribbon, and tags, you can create a picture-perfect package.

Surprise your Christmas party guests with a thoughtful take-home gift that they can keep with them for years to come. These oh-so-Southern magnolia tree saplings from Florida-based Seeds of Life are an ecofriendly way to say “thanks so much for coming” to your guests. The trees are packaged in natural jute, and come with care instructions so that your gift will last way past the holiday season. Magnolia trees are a year-round Southern symbol that become even more treasured during the holiday season. Tie on personalized gift tags to each tree for a handmade finishing touch.

Seeds of Life: $44 each, from seedsoflife.com

Pussy willow adds some height to a simple arrangement of pine branches with cones, displayed in an antique blue pickle jar. (Find these online or at thrift stores.) A turquoise ribbon complements the colored jar and the decorative Christmas trees. The limes accentuate the green tones from the branches and connect them to the base, a large pewter tray that offers a bit of shimmer without the shine of silver.

Adorn your tree with meaningful ornaments, like these which were collected during the family’s travels. Finish your design with cascading blue and red velvet ribbons.

Muted colors with printed seasonal menus and gold ribbons pair wonderfully with pops of Christmas reds. 

A true Southern decorator knows just how important a well-wrapped gift is, and you will never catch us wrapping our gifts in computer paper. For family gatherings, make the exterior of your gifts look just as good as the presents that lie inside. The bonus is that, until you give the gifts to their recipients, they will add class to your living room while they wait under your tree. Pair preprinted gift tags that reinforce your Christmas decorating scheme with boxes wrapped in chocolate and metallic papers to add character under the tree. Write the recipient’s name on the back of the tag for functionality.

Greenery can make a big impact, even outside. Add matching wreaths with ribbon to each window of your home, and don't forget the doorway. Make an extra special entry by creating an evergreen border to your front door. 

The next time you are handed down a beautiful piece of family furniture from an elder, don’t forsake it because you don’t have the room. Save these heirlooms for seasonal occasions, and use them in your Christmas decorating.  Showcase them during the most wonderful time of the year by putting them on display. This mahogany buffet may not be useful all year round, but during the holiday season, it is a perfect place to serve Christmas brunch. It fits perfectly into a niche built just for it. Update the pieces with modern accessories, such as a pair of mod white lamps, which help a traditional piece of furniture blend seamlessly with more modern tastes.

Nestle evergreen clippings in a bar cart for fresh accents.

Hang pine garland, velvet bows, pinecones, and pheasant feathers along your banister for an entry guests won't soon forget. 

Upgrade your entryway by twirling topiaries with fruit. Start with two bonbon compotes. Hot-glue sheet moss to a plastic-foam cone. Stick florist clay adhesive (joann.com) to the bottom of the compote, and press the cone onto it. Attach a row of green plums (or Key limes) by skewering with a wooden pick and inserting into cone in an upward swirl. Glue scabiosa pods and dried hydrangea blossoms next. Repeat. Skewer a pineapple (spray-painted gold) with a wooden pick, and insert into top of topiary. Florist Tip Spray-paint the dried hydrangeas white. (We used Design Master Colortool Floral Spray paint in Flat White; joann.com.)

Save money and add a personal touch by making your own Christmas gift tags. Kids love getting to craft their own unique tags. Pictured above, the crafty holiday homemaker used a color copier to make copies of tartan fabric, and then cut the copies it into rectangles to create each patterned gift tags. You can also print background patterns from the Internet and make simple designs using your computer. Type or handwrite names in the center. Add ribbons and bells to dress up each gift. Choose wrapping paper and patterns that match your room’s décor, as these gifts will be waiting under the tree for the whole Christmas season.

Bottle trees and a bit of greenery zip-tied to the bamboo headboard shift the guest room into festive mode without much upkeep.

Extend the festivities to empty corners. A framed collage of pages from expired passports sets an adventurous backdrop for a colorful tree decorated with garland and accents inspired by far-flung locales.

This designer Christmas décor secret is ingenious, easy, and cheap. Cluster small ornaments together for an extravagant impact. Small ornaments can easily get lost on a busy tree amid the sparkling lights and merry garland. Using thread or fishing wire, simply thread a cluster of ornaments together and tie to make an eye-catching arrangement. Hang them on your tree sporadically for shiny upgrades – we love adding a bell or two for some jingle. Incorporate the same individual small ornaments throughout the tree to echo the larger displays. You can also hang these festive ornamental clusters around your house, such as on wreaths or from your mantel.

Play up one color for extra impact. We paired clear glass containers with fruit, foliage, and ribbon in a fresh shade for an unexpected display. Arrange camellia branches in one water-filled vase and naked seeded eucalyptus in another. Place a mound of apples beneath a glass bowl. Accent with contrasting ornaments and tiny battery-powered fairy lights.

Place ornaments and antlers in a versatile vessel, like an antique dough bowl, anywhere around the house for a small dose of cheer. It works wonders on an entry table or atop a mantel. 

This simple Christmas decoration is an easy way to spruce up your front yard for the holiday season, and comes together with only a few supplies that you may already have on hand. Top off a square brick mailbox with an abundance of bouquet winter plants. Fill a wide, shallow planter with an arrangements of bouquet winter plats like pansies, flowering cabbage, cedar, fir, lavender, and rosemary. We trimmed ours to resemble a Christmas tree. Tuck in spare ornaments in contrasting colors, like deep red and metallic gold. Add pinecones to fill gaps and add texture. Finish your mailbox with a satin bow.

The winning table formula of family silver + a hit of color + inexpensive grocery store flowers is just as effective now as at any other time of year.

If you want to get the look of a single warm, welcoming holiday wreath, but have a double-door entry, do not fret. Instead of forgoing the whole idea, consider using a two-piece wreath to adorn a double-door entry. Make your own by starting with a wreath that has a sturdy base so it will hold its shape. We used fresh evergreen here, but a grapevine wreath will work just as well. Cut the wreath in half, lengthwise, with sturdy wire clippers. Use florist wire to attach evergreen clippings, fruits, and ribbons. Securely hang half of the wreath on each door so the two meet in the center with the doors are closed.

In a pinch for a festive, company-worthy way to decorate your doorstep this holiday season? Greet guests in style by arranging a grouping of festive candleholders and lanterns at your entryway for quick and easy holiday style. We love this technique because it is very versatile. Choose lanterns and sconces that you already have lying around your house for a cozy, mismatched look. Or, purchase matching sets in elegant shades of gold and deep reds for a more upscale effect. Arrange large, sturdy candles for a warm glow, and strategically place wrapped gifts for Christmas spirit.  Consider using flameless candles as a worry-free alternative to regular pillars.

You can take your layered evergreens up a notch by combining them with vibrant flowers and fresh greenery.

Low-care (or no-care) plants set the scene while placing a wreath front and center crowns an outdoor area in complementary cheer. Add a garden-friendly centerpiece by dropping paperwhites into a pine needle basket.

Set your tablescape early in the season to give you a nice daily reminder to your countdown to Christmas dinner. Layer green and white linens, seasonal candles, red flowers, and small dishes filled with cranberries for a setting that will help your anticipation grow. 

Creamy white ceramics make great vessels for holiday blooms. We’ve mixed holly, cedar, and privet berries with white amaryllis and lime green mums. Start with foliage, placing the largest pieces first to establish the size of your display. Add flowers and berries one stem at a time to form a triangle of amaryllis, mums, and berries. Fill in with more greenery, and skirt your vase with colorful packages and ornaments.

Don’t neglect outdoor patios and porches in your Christmas decorating. Because we live in the South, our winters are much more mild, and we can use our screen porches all the way through the Christmas season. Decorate your outdoor spaces with wreaths, candles, and large glowing orbs to draw guests outside to cozy up by the fire. This understated yet festive outdoor spaces is perfect for casual gatherings. We love the rustic candlesticks seen on the table of this back porch. And while these red chairs are functional year round, when taken among all the festive Christmas decorations displayed during the holiday season, they begin to resemble cheery sleighs.