What theme are you doing re decorations

[TheCrumpetQueen]

In regards to colours around the house/on your tree?

I'm thinking of either traditional red & gold or maybe something modern like black & gold or purple & silver.

It will be my sons first birthday on Christmas Day so we will have some birthday stuff up too!

Where are you all getting your decorations?

I let the dcs decorate the tree, they love it , and I love the chaos of it

Would hate to tell them they couldn;'t put a gold star on it because it didn't fit in with my theme

My theme will be 'whatever decorations I can find from the loft'

Hehe I don't have any so am starting from scratch!

This year i'm going to do all bright colours for the tree (with lots of coloured twinkling lights as these seem to be the one that my DS points out in the shops).

We've themed in the past (black & red or silver & blue) but our DS is now 2 and want to do something fun for him rather than a strict theme. Plus i'll be 36 weeks pregnant so want something easy to do.

I do have a smaller tree which normally sits on the dining table which i theme differently to the main tree.

I have done silver and purple every year for about 8 years now and I think I need fresh ideas!

although I don't have money to change the colour scheme

My theme will be the same as always -- family eclectic. The best bit about doing the tree is remembering where you were when you got each of the decorations. I still have some of the first decorations I ever bought - they look a bit old and faded but so do I! DH and I bought some beautiful spun glass decs in Paris on honeymoon. We only have about 5 left and they are treated with more care than the iPad. Each member of the family buys a new decoration every year so we have a mix of gaudy, quirky, tasteful and downright bonkers. The tree groans under the weight. It's beautiful.

My sister otoh buys a new theme every few years. Her tree is also beautiful, just in a different way. (Actually, the black year it was hideous.)

This year will be red/white/gold on the tree, plus we're lighting up the front of the house with gold and green. And setting up my big Christmas village on the dining table. I love Christmas!

We have a few plain red and gold baubles and a few nice felt decorations that I've picked up at craft fairs but my tree decorations tend to be edible, so I make biscuits for the tree each year (iced gingerbread shapes, cinnamon and applesauce shspes and stained glass biscuits) make popcorn and cranberry garlands and hang candy canes. I also tie on red and gingham ribbons into bows. This year I am also considering making some tiny tree bunting and getting some bells to hang.

The nice thing about decorating with biscuits is that it is fun and messy for the children and they can get really involved but it still looks nice by adult standards at the end.

The downside is that the children keep eating the tree decorations and running out of space for proper meals.

panadbois i dont have a lot of spare cash so have found the easiest way to change themes is to use one of the colours you currently have and then buy a cheap box of coloured baubles in a new colour and slowly change it that way.

Also buy decorations in the after christmas sales to use for the next year.

We don't have any schemes - it is a mish mash of old decs, dcs home made efforts and special decs that have been bought on special occasions.

It really is a bit of a mess but I love it! The only stipulation I have is no tinsel on the tree, but the rest of the house can be covered in it!

I like to have gold, red, green, purple, pink, blue (maybe I should have just put EVERY colour actually) and hundreds of white lights, with a few fairy's and stars thrown in (in my defence, we have 3 young DC). But also, I think it looks prettiest.

No theme. Themes are boring. I put up everything we've collected over the years, in all its mismatched wonder. Coloured lights as well, inside and out

Totally agree shatners, I hate perfectly decorated colour themed trees with boring clear lights. And what's festive about purple, pink and black anyway? I know someone who decorates her tree to match her sofa! I honestly think people completely forget their kids when they decorate their trees, it should be bright, colourful and fun, not coordinated and organised.

No themes here. We have so many decorations from when I was young, things collected over the years need to buy new this year to replace all the now non glittery things that I didn't pack away properly but it will be a mix of colours. I usually put the lights round and tinsel then the dc decorate looks like an elf has chucked up on it by the end with the sheer amount of glitter and sparkly stuff

DCs don't get anywhere near the tree

In my defence they do have a small tree each that they throw decorations at and this gets put in their bedroom

We were burgled one year just before christmas (and before DCs so had spare cash!) and to cheer myself up we bought a 7ft tree and all new decorations for it. I picked silver, glass and purple and I loved my tree. This was about 7 years ago and last year DH told me he'd never liked it because it didn't look traditional enough for him.

So the themed changed last year and since we couldn't afford to do it all I stuck with the silver and glass and added traditional green and red. I got a box of green and red baubles pretty cheap and a few other bits form M&S 3for2 offer. I will need to add more to it this year and since its a big tree probably for a few years yet

I isn't going to be a boring strict theme :(

It*

The dc have coloured mini trees in their room pre lit they are blue and pink but they have so much more fun than I would doing the downstairs tree that I let them I do move things if needs be like last year when I supervised from sofa due to just coming out of hospital. because I couldn't get up it was only later on that I realised they had left a whole side of the tree with nothing on

Our theme is "explosion of colour" - the tree has multicoloured lights and a random collection of decorations collected over the years. The only rule is no garlands of any description on it, just things that hang individually from branches. The rest of the house is done in line with existing colour schemes in that room, so red and gold in lounge/dining room which have yellow walls, blue in the kitchen to match crockery. Multi coloured lights in the hedge outside the front door.

Mine's usually green involving trees, holly and mistletoe. The baubles, collected over many years are red and gold although for the new house I might go and get matching silver ones. Now the DC are grown-up we have sophisticated plain lights . And for extra grown upness I'm putting lights on our manicured bay trees outside the house
But the reallly really exciting bit is the christmas day birthday OP. We have one of those. Now how are you doing that and where's your special place for the birthday cards going to be and are you buying him an extra present because he missed it all last year. We always have birthday cake at tea-time and candles and do the birthday presents then. We've always found Christmas is even more special because of it. Has yours got a christmassy first or second name we went for the third name. But ours is 19 this year

Main tree is dr Seuss themed, red and lime green with a bit of gold. Then a second one for the children to decorate.

Lots of greenery downstairs (mostly fake) with golds/neutrals/white in living room, navy accents on the stairs and blue/silver in the dining room.

We have a playroom upstairs with a tree the kids decorate. They got a huge cardboard castle last Christmas so I'm thinking we'll get some tinsel for that.

Anything the boys make at school goes where they choose. I'm happy for a cardboard fairy to go on the living room tree.

no theme.... just lots of colour - and tinsel!!

Yes, tinsel! I can almost hear some of the people on here fanning themselves with their copy of Good Housekeeping at the very thought of it.

I love tinsel :)