to think these are the tackiest Christmas decorations?

[iheartchristmas92]

but i love them because they remind me of childhood! hanging from every corner of the ceiling and meeting in the middle of the ceiling around the light fitting. i haven't used any since i left home at 18, but i think my mum still uses them. some parts sellotaped together still 😂 they 'smell' like Christmas. also foil tinsel .. any foil decoration really 🙈🙈

what Christmas decorations do you find tackiest, whether you use them or not?

(pic from google)

Amazon do a load but I much prefer trawling the back street cheap tat shops, usually with a name like bargain bazaar or something similar. Cheap as chips and Delboy Trotter would give his right arm for some of the treasures for sale in there

as well as the ceiling decorations we had those big stars hanging down paper chains as well plus lanterns made by us kids. you know the ones join a roll of paper snip away in a pattern and bobs your uncle lantern or how about the trees made from a newspaper with the branches hanging out the top!

@tillytrotter1 I popped to b&m this morning and got some I'm so happy, there already up!

@evilharpy We had the exact same one! I believe it's still in a box at my parents' house, along with all the other decorations that are too tacky frail to be used any more...

@SnowyChristmasTree I've been looking for those foil ball things for years but can only find really expensive ones. Have you found somewhere that sells them?

I love foil decorations and my parents still put them up every year. I try to be tasteful with my decorations but it just wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of festive naffness

I love them! Love tinsel and good old lametta too.

Can't stand boring Christmas decorations.

Can't believe how many of you had the sleigh. I should have just asked here while I was hunting for a replacement!

They're in Wilkos I looked for them specially this morning.

We had the sleigh too, I think it was bought at Woolworths. I got all teary-eyed seeing it, I was reminded of my children's early Christmases.

@evilharpy I have just seen how many mentions your reindeers got so scrolled all the way back to see and we had that too! I love it when you're reminded of something you'd not thought about in years and probably never would. It happens quite a lot on MN.

We had those foil garlands too, and my Dad would hang them up with absolute mathematic precision!
We also had foil candles that we’d hang from the window, along with the lanterns, stars, and petrol station foil ‘baubles!’

Managed to get some foil chains and stars in the factory shop today - will put them up later!

Not as bad as all the feathers and bows people seem to be using these days 🤮

@BeyondMyWits You’ve just made me feel very nostalgic. My gran used to have those crepe paper chains and I loved them!

The tackiest, yes and the best! What a throwback. I'd forgotten about these. Mum used to decorate the front room ceiling with them, as the tree was in the back room.
The 'smell of christmas' for me that cheap paper gift wrap where you buy about 5 sheets for £1 at the market- used to love sniffing my presents on Christmas morning

I love this thread. I thought the foil garlands and stars were the most sophisticated thing ever as an 80s child

I'm sure I saw some in Poundland last week - not sure of the colours sorry.

Ahh the nostalgia of an 80s Christmas in the UK.

This coupled with a beautiful nativity advent calendar (no chocolates!) that featured stars and a night sky covered in glitter were just magical.

And trees adorned with a Santa head with cotton wool beard made at the 3 year olds nursery...

We didnt have those foil streamers, but we had them in coloured tissue paper. We also had twisty crepe ones and quite a lot of concertina paper decorations - like below. I rather like the large concertina ball decorations you see in shops too.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-1930S-HUGE-CHRISTMAS-PAPER-CONCERTINA-BELL-DECORATION-20-/163934401492

I also have tinsel on the tree, but no bows or beads and no colour theme. Every year each of my DC and I chooses a new bauble so they are all sorts of shapes and styles - some are quite hilarious and some very tasteful. We love them all.

And also we had ones like these:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Vintage-Paul-Jones-Paper-Chains-honeycomb-Garlands-Decorations-Bells-etc/114001349711?hash=item1a8b028c4f:g:ehoAAOSwwH9d6Bv9

I just turned 40 so this is bang on for me!

We had the coloured lights with flower casings on the tree when I was a kid too. Christmas is not a time to be tasteful surely?

We had almost everything that's been posted when I was little. The cardboard Santa and sleigh, the baubles made of lots of pieces of foil made into cones and stuck together to make a ball, the satin thread covered baubles and the angel hair (thought that was more on my grandmother's tree).

My recollection is that a lot of them came from catalogues - Kleeneze, Betterware and the like, and also from the Avon catalogue.

I'm guessing that many of us are of a similar age, and were children at a time when consumerism wasn't quite so rife and there wasn't a million different varieties of things as there are now.

I don't care if they're tacky, I love them! My tree used to be all silver with white lights. Changed it for colours last year and it's so much more we'll, Christmassy!

@dayslikethese1 jesus i remember those! 😭😭😭

@evilharpy My nan had that decoration! Got me right in the nostalgia feels that picture did.

I loved the baubles that were made out of little foil cones and the satin ones too. And proper multicoloured fairy lights! LED just isn't the same.