Do you regularly buy new Christmas decorations?

[caperplips]

I don't mean buying a couple of new tree decorations to add to the collection each year, I mean more like deciding on a colour theme and starting fresh most years?

I know someone who redecorates her home in the latest trends on a yearly basis and then decorates her tree to 'match' each year. I am horrified and fascinated in equal measure!

We don't do this, we have been collecting our decorations since we set up home together 18 years ago and for us a huge part of Christmas is taking them out and looking at them and remembering where and when we got them and each year we add to them. I truly LOVE a lot of our decorations and cannot imagine throwing them away.

I stick loosely to a traditional slightly nordic style, lots of red and white and wood and felt and old fashioned looking baubles and when the tree is up I love nothing more than sitting with the fire lighting, fairly lights twinkling and sipping a baileys whilst admiring it all. None of it matches but I like how it looks

I just wondered how often you replace ALL your decorations or if you do?

I am waiting patiently for the FB update including many photos of my acquaintances latest colour scheme, so far we have have had all teal, all silver, all purple, all baby blue and all white -all on a white tree - each colour was a different year!

God no! I am very mindful about pointless spending (because the environment). Designer trees or themed trees leave me cold.

Definitely not! I do have a colour scheme (red, green and gold as it feels festive) but we add to it every year or so with ones the kids choose. Some of the decorations are from my childhood tree. All the decorations stay the same each year - it's comforting!

Like you, I don't have a coordinated look. I've had some of my decs since I first left home 34 years ago. I love the memories....like my 1 year old climbing on a chair to feed a wooden cow on skis a biscuit....he's 30 this December. Dd10 chooses a new tree decoration each year. My grown up daughter does a coordinated tree & changed it every few years. It looks nice, but I LOVE mine.

I'm the same as you. However it's either red, green and gold or silver and blue with the odd overlap.

I love our mish mash of decorations! We still hang all the ones the kids have made from years ago, which make me smile every year. I even have fond memories of the really cheap decorations DH and I bought, just because they were from our first Xmas together in our own place.

Wouldn't mind a second tree though that looks a bit more put-together. I'll never not have all our traditional decorations though. Just need space for two trees...

Have ancient decorations, blue Victorian Father Christmas (before he went red). Newer ones including ones made as a child. Think walnuts painted and with sequins stuck to them. For some reason have the star my sister made when she was 4, she is 60 next year.

We started with a cheap box from Asda 15 years ago and have gradually replaced them with ones from honeymoon, wedding, holidays etc. We buy one for each child (we have 3) each year. This year we've got a tiny ballerina, a bunny with a santa hat and "baby's first Christmas 2018". Last year was an ice skate and a minion. Ours isn't a classy tree but we love it. No way would I be changing it.

No!!
I have two diff themes I could do but I can't pull myself away from classic red and nutcracker theme.

I couldn't do new themes every year.

Different trees in house could have different styles of course... But just buying new colour stuff... Would be meaningless to me.

I used to watch program called ladies of London. It was my guilty pleasure. Two ladies had such different stylez.. One old school aristocratic and I loved her house and tree the other Caroline stanbury had cold impersonal modern house.. Cold strictly coordinated tree with no magic...

I do usually add to existing Dec's though... But I do feel this year there is little more I can do

We bought our old very expensive fake tree over 20 years ago and this year I decided it was about time we bought a new very expensive tree. It arrived a couple of days ago and today I went out and bought brand new everything for it. It is from Balsam Hill and there is absolutely no way anyone can tell it is fake. It even feels real.

The old was very traditional red and gold and absolutely nothing that didn't match was allowed. The decorations we have collected over the years have stood the test of time and the finished tree always had the wow factor but the bare tree without decorations was starting to look a little thin and some of the hinges on the branches were broken. It was time for it to go.

I don't feel sad - I quite like change so I'm loving my new tree. I'm not one for keeping things for sentimental reasons. It's just stuff and you can't take it with you. The only reason I had kept my old decorations for 20 years was because I couldn't afford new ones. I'll ask my girls if they want any of the old baubles and if they don't they and the tree will be off to the tip at the weekend.

The new decorations are made of glass and are champagne, gold and silver and lots of lovely crystal. And today in Waitrose I bought some beautiful blue/green/turquoise sequin baubles which really add the finishing touch. It sounds a bit icky but it really is stunning - even if I do say so myself.

Well that's me done for the next 20 years. Yikes I'll be in a retirement home for the next replacement.

I know one person who does this, but her DH is in the army and they move a lot. I think she changes with each new place. Her DC are quite young yet tho.

notangelinajolie maybe you could take them to a charity shop instead of the tip? Seems a bit of a waste to chuck them.

My family tree decorations are all old and much loved. My favourites are three carved olive wood ones that my late aunt brought back from Bethlehem itself, and some that I got at the Oberammergau passion play. The kids are adults now, but they still insist on a real tree and all the familiar old decorations each year. I love the smell of the fir branches as we dress it each Christmas.

I could tell you where every bauble was bought, and I remember who I was with when I bought them. They've been accumulated over 30 years of married life. So many memories when they come out each year.

No. We’ve been married for 29 years and have collected tree decorations from all over the world on our travels.Weve also had a lot sent to us by family overseas. We’ve got decorations from Stratford Upon Avon to Barbados. Each one means something to us. Our tree is not colour coded but it is full of memories.

I have a colour theme matchy matchy tree, silver, gold and white, and I've been collecting baubles and ornaments for it for the last five or six years. Precious and individual ones that mean something to me. Just because it matches doesn't mean it's soulless or boring.

But then I also have a largely grey house which isn't popular on here

@Ivegotasecretcanyoukeepit I take it you're rich/famous/one of our secret celebrity members? 6 trees? Strikes me as OTT unless you Iive in a palace (omg, are you a royal?!)

I'm strictly silver and red and the only baubles I really care about are ones I bought with the dogs'/horse's name inscribed on them.

Fuck no. Christmas trees should be a record of your history, added to every year. Even my utterly minimalist sister-in-law has a tree which is a riot of baubles she made as a child, mad ones I've given to my nephews, random ones she and my brother have inherited from their respective parents...

This year my mad baubles of choice have been from here: www.rhsshop.co.uk/category.aspx?id=10000408 I bought my nephews a couple of tropical fruit to remind them of a holiday we had last year, and some figs and pomegranates for me.

When I was about 14, I came home from school to a tree decorated in hideous, plain matching baubles. My mum had bought a big multipack from B&Q, and binned all the ones we'd had my whole life. Even personalised first Christmas ones, the handmade at school ones, the apples, the feather robins, the glitter snow flakes, the wooden soldiers/sledges/snowmen, the flocked reindeer, those twisty ones that look like they have gems inside, the polystyrene snow balls... not to mention the foil ceiling garlands. I was gutted. I've spend my whole adult life collecting vintage ones from car boots and charity shops, and I also buy my children each their own new bauble each year (don't think they care really), and I buy the odd new one I just like, granny made crochet charity ones from craft fairs to fancy ones from John Lewis. Never matching, I think colour themes are boring. I'm all about the mish-mash.

@Maelstrop - nope definitely not one of those.

We have one tree in each of these rooms;

1 in the sitting room
1 in the other sitting room
1 in the hallway
1 in the dining room
1 in the open planned kitchen and dining room
1 in the orangery/garden room

May sound excessive to some but I promise it doesn’t look silly.

No, I like all the old tree decorations, some of them are over fifty years old and are like family heirlooms but I do buy two new decorations each year in memory of my parents who are no longer around.

Another one who has a collection of much loved decs. Our colour theme each year is Rainbow Disco All The Things Christmas.

I let DD pick the new decoration this year, and she chose a very elegant one with gold bells and a red bow. Which will sit very nicely next to the glittery dinosaur decoration I made.

I've got loads of decorations that my DD has made over the years and all the decorations have memories attached.
I do know someone who just bins the lot every year and buys new because they can't be bothered to take them off the tree and put the away and store them.
It's shockingly wasteful and so bad for the environment because none of those decorations are going away soon.

notangelinajolie I think you're allowed a change after 20 years:)
If you're looking for a home for your decs then your local school might want it. We're always looking for stuff for our Santa grotto.