Christmas decorating is a fun way to help get your home into the holiday spirit, whether you buy it or make it. Looking for some new ideas to try out in 2021?  The Christmas decor trends for this year are looking particularly festive and will be sure to pump up the holiday spirit around you.

When you add these great decor ideas to your home this holiday season, your guests will want to know how you did it all. The best thing about these Christmas decor trends is that there’s something to suit everyone’s taste! Let’s take a look at what’s hot for DIY holiday decor this year…

1. Try A Christmas Tree Centrepiece This Year

Why not offer a new take on an old favourite by using a centrepiece that includes a mini tree? This little tree won’t take away from your main tree by any means and will allow you to add an extra splash of colour to your dining room. You can get creative with it and add some other outdoor elements like pine cones and tree clippings to create a festive scene.

2. Custom Advent Calendars Are In 

You don’t have to splurge on advent calendars. If you have a few bags, envelopes or jewellery boxes to spare, you can create your own advent calendar filled with surprises for each day leading up to Christmas. Not only will it save money, but it could also  become a nightly ritual for you and your little ones to look forward to opening.

3. Wine Bottle Characters Are So Much Fun!

If you have some empty wine or sparkling juice bottles sitting around, why not put them to good use? Some craft paint, pieces of felt and buttons or bells are all you’ll need. Here’s how you pull it all together:

• Paint the bottles in the appropriate colours (such as white for a snowman, red for Santa, brown for a reindeer, etc.)
• Cut out felt pieces to make a snowman’s hat and scarf, Santa’s belt, and the reindeer’s antlers and collar
• After glueing on the appropriate felt pieces, add some buttons to the snowman, a belt buckle made of buttons to Santa, and a ring of bells to the reindeer

4. Bring Out The Classic Mistletoe And Holly Bells

Your guests will be amused by the sight of these festive balls hanging from one of your light fixtures. They’re also easy to make by covering a styrofoam craft ball with mistletoe and holly. Attach a red ribbon with a bell at the end to top it off. 

5. Lightbulb Snowman Ornaments

Burnt-out light bulbs don’t need to head to the trash can just yet – they can find a new lease on life as cute snowman ornaments. Use some white, glittery paint for the body and glue on a couple of twigs as arms. Paint on eyes, a carrot nose, mouth, and buttons, then attach a string for hanging. 

6. Wood Slab Placemats

If you have more pieces of firewood than you can use, slabs from these pieces are easy to repurpose as wood placemats. Although often treated as a form of rustic decor, they are both versatile and easily customizable. You can paint or otherwise adorn them to make them look extra-unique.

7. Pinecone Ornaments Or Door Hangers 

Collecting pine cones is always a fun cold weather activity, and they have great decor potential as well. Glittery paint will help enhance their natural beauty. Attach a festive bow to the top of each and some string for easy display on your tree or doorknobs.

8. Display Your Gingerbread House With Class 

The middle of your dining room table isn’t the only place you can display a gingerbread house for everyone to see. Try using a sideboard decorated with ornaments, candles and metal lanterns. The metal lanterns and candles can be great year-round decorations, and many ornaments also have the potential for year-round use.

9. Sprinkle In Some Colourful Button Ornaments 

Do you have more buttons around than you need to replace any missing ones? If so, attach them to some styrofoam balls using ball head pins. Attach a festive-looking ribbon to the top to use as a hanger, and you’re good to go! 

10. Hang Stockings From Your Railing

If your mantle is a little crowded or you want to do something different, consider hanging your Christmas stockings from the railing of the stairs. You can also dress the area up a little with some garland or tinsel wrapped around the bannister. Consider using coordinated stockings for maximum effect. 

11. Get Frosty

Add an icy layer to all of your Christmas decorations with nothing more than a homemade glitter mix. The trick is blending 3/4ths white glitter with 1/4th silver. It will gleam like freshly-fallen snow, and it can be used on everything from wreaths to dining room centrepieces.

12. Create A Memory-Filled Photo Wreath

This homemade wreath doesn’t require pine needles. Instead, it’s created with a series of pictures that curve around a wire frame in place of the traditional leaves and twigs. It’s a heartwarming craft that will help you remember the true meaning of Christmas.

13. Invest In Year-Round Outdoor Lights

Why spend all that time headed up and down the ladder, risking your safety just to light up your home for a few months only to take it down again in frigid temperatures? This year, consider having some permanent colour-changing outdoor lights installed around your home’s exterior. They’re sleek and are set up to display fun colours all year long. You can switch from red and green for Christmas into gold and white for New Years, and even change your lights to your favourite teams’ colours on game nights!

14. Spell A Holiday Greeting

This particular project uses cardboard letters that you’re supposed to upholster with your choice of fabrics, but you can make a hanging banner out of anything. You can let your kids cut out letters with coloured construction paper! The specifics don’t matter as much as the warm holiday message behind it.

15. Get Pretty With Plaid

Plaid is one of the time-honoured patterns of Christmas linens, so don’t be afraid to use it all over your house. Lay down red tartan as a tree skirt; stitch some green squares into your festivity quilt. If you’re worried about overdoing it, just make sure the colours, shapes and line widths of your plaid are very diverse.

By now you should have a lot of ideas for fun and festive holiday decor to create in your home. The best part is with the exception of the outdoor lights, you can make them all yourself! Whether you’re an experienced crafter or a complete newbie, these ideas will kickstart your imagination and help you get your home feeling as festive as possible for the Christmas season.

Originally posted Dec 5, 2017; updated Dec 2, 2022

Author: Sereena S.

Mom of two, wife to one, and a dog lover. Although cats can be okay too, but only sometimes...