Paper Christmas decorations are back: here's how to use them
Christmas decorations don't have to involve tinsel, glitter, baubles, and expensive accoutrements. Paper Christmas decorations can be made at home, and are delightful craft projects in the run up to the festive season, plus they're a wonderfully sustainable way to decorate for Christmas. Whether you use them to fill out your Christmas tree, decorate your chimneypiece or simply hang them around your living room, they can be beautiful ways to decorate your house for the season, and can be adapted to any style, whether elegant and minimalist or colourful and exuberant.
What Christmas decorations can you make out of paper?
Almost any kind of Christmas decoration can be made out of paper (in fact we have an entire set of tutorials devoted to paper Christmas decorations right here). Our favourites include paper stars, paper chains (these are the perfect winter day activity for kids), crepe paper streamers, garlands, fans, and of course paper snowflakes. We also love making seasonal paper flowers, such as hellebores, especially since their real-life counterparts are usually too delicate to last long in vases. You could even get paper involved when making a Christmas wreath (though that's maybe better for an indoor one...).
Paper decorations are festive and a fun way to get children involved in creating something for the house. What's more, they're recyclable so better for the environment than plastic, throwaway pieces. The one thing to consider is that some paper decorations that are made from flimsier materials won't last so long, so perhaps make these closer to Christmas day to ensure they're looking their best. More heavy duty card decorations can last years though.
Where to buy paper Christmas decorations
We have many favourite sources for stylish paper Christmas decorations if crafting them isn't up your street. For hand-crafted folk-inspired decorations, try independent shops like Cambridge Imprint and East End Press, Choosing Keeping and The Shop Floor Project. Bigger stores like John Lewis and The Conran Shop are also reliable stand-bys for contemporary designs. Other treasure troves include Re: Found Objects and Meri Meri, where you can always find an array of charming and colourful designs. And last but not least, don't forget about Etsy, which is packed with the best in hand-made decorations.
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Sarah Hogan1/20Paper chains are affordable and pretty, with a process of assembly easy enough to get even the youngest crafters in the family involved, yet they still look suprisingly sophisticated. Here, simple white paper chains adorn a rustic cottage scheme.
Andrew Montgomery2/20You can create more interest with contrasting colours hung alongside one another, like the blue and red paper chains seen here in a rustic scheme.
Jan Baldwin3/20Metallic paper chains decorate the patterned walls in a Christmas decoration scheme full of joyful, bold colours.
Ali Allen4/20The paper garlands in this Scandinavian-inspired Christmas decoration scheme are £14 for a 10-metre kit, from The Shop Floor Project.
Lucas Allen5/20Paper bunting hanging across the hall is perfect for vintage style Christmas decorations, as seen here in the Dorset house of the owners of Bonfield Block Printers. Make your own using a craft punch like this one from Woodware.
Rachel Whiting6/20Gold dots are a fun and crucially, very temporary, way of adding a Christmas feel to the home. Gold dots cut from foil card, £3 for an A3 sheet, from Paperchase; using 'XCut Large Palm Punch Circle', £6, from Hobbycraft.
Sarah Hogan7/20Here, the paper and cotton garland, 'Vintage Music', comes from The Original Pop Up Shop. The paper bunting is from Toast and the pine-cone garland came from Anthropologie.
Carolyn Barber8/20Home-made paper garlands are the perfect way to add a festive flourish to bedrooms. These were hand-made with shapes punched from coloured card using a craft punch from Woodware.
Rachel Whiting9/20Paper streamers - very simply made by rolling a sheet of crepe paper and cutting into slices like a swiss roll - can be garlanded around for a village-hall-celebration look. Handmade bespoke paper and straw chandeliers, 'Pajaki', from £90, fromKarolina Merska. Garland in crepe paper, £1.75 a 2.5-metre roll, from Paperchase.
Paul Raeside10/20Here House & Garden decoration editor Gabby Deeming has twisted streamers around the posts of this eighteenth-century Spanish daybed, also decking its canopy with bushels of fir and multi-coloured baubles.
Paul Raeside11/20Fix lengths of old fashioned crepe paper streamers to the cornice of the room then gently turn them clockwise to form loose neat twists. Keep twisting until you get to the bottom. Repeat with each length of streamer. They should hold their shape naturally. This method also looks lovely when the streamer is fixed to a central point in the ceiling and brought to the edges of the room. Twist the streamers as you go and make sure they are swagged slightly. You'll end up with a circus tent like effect.
Rachel Whiting12/20Paper fans and flowers are perfect for those who embrace colourful, kitsch decorating. Paper streamers, £8.50 for 3 x 4-metre lengths; hanging paper decorations, from £15 each; metallic fans, £9 for three; all from Talking Tables.
Paul Raeside13/20House & Garden decoration editor Gabby Deeming has created a jolly Christmas dining room, strewn with velvet ribbon from Macculloch & Wallis and crepe streamers from Pipii. The gold hanging paper snowflakes and diamond piniata are from Talking Tables, while the pink honeycomb ball is from from Pearl & Earl. Draped on the table the orgami star garland made from Paperchase wrapping paper was handmade (find instructions for creating your own here).
Rachel Whiting14/20For this look, paint two metal hoops, suspend them from the ceiling with string and garland them in paper chains. Paper flowers can be attached with twists of florist's wire, and will helpfully conceal joins and ties. Paper decorations are easy to make at home, but there are also plenty available to buy. Traditional Polish paper chandeliers, called pajaki, have a similar look and can be bought online, or you could try garlanding a simple chandelier with bright fake flowers or paper pompoms.
Ali Allen15/20Here in this Scandinavian-inspired Christmas decoration scheme the paper snowflakes are from £6.50 each at Broste Copenhagen
Damian Russell16/20The hand-made rosettes over this fireplace are made from plain-coloured wrapping paper from The Conran Shop.
Rachel Whiting17/20There is something visually striking about a cascade of stars. The charm is in the looseness of the arrangement and in the tones of white on white. Made of papier mâché, the stars have to be dipped in paint and hung up to dry. Once dry, string them on to long lengths of clear wire and hang them at different lengths, building up more density lower down. Then scatter the same number of stars on the table. However, be prepared to buy in bulk: this arrangement took nearly 200 stars. Papier mâché stars, from £4.75 for a pack of six, from The Littlecraftybugs Company.
Paul Raeside18/20Paper stars (white), large, 60cm diameter, £8.60 each; medium, 45cm diameter, £6.13 each; and small, 12cm diameter, £16.15 a set of three. All from House Doctor. Follow our guide to making origami paper stars if you're feeling crafty.
19/20Her Gabby Deeming has created a scheme inspired by the holiday season, using the year's most stylish decorations paired with patterned textiles and hung with garlands of origami stars.
Rachel Whiting20/20Go oversize on decorations for impact. One of these paper rosettes would hold its own in a small room. Bespoke giant paper rosettes, by Comeuppance, from £75 each, from Etsy.
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