Where do you buy your Christmas decs?

[MustardScreams]

I’ve thrown out all my old tatty stuff and need pretty much everything new, which is exciting, but I have no idea where to start.

Where do you get most of your Christmas bits from?

The Range, B&M, Home Bargains and I am going to have a look in Matalan as they have some nice stuff on their website for Christmas.

A lot of mine are from Woolworths and BHS! Bits I've added over the years have come from garden centres, John Lewis and little gift shops.

Last year we did a whole decorations refresh as ours were old and tired, they had been bought at wilkos and matalan. This time around I bought them from M&S, John Lewis, Fenwicks and paperchase, mostly glass ornaments.

Definitely look in home bargains. They have some lovely decorations which look much more expensive than what they are x

You threw it ALL out?!! Now is the perfect time to start a new family tradition then. We each buy one new decoration each year, and make some.

When we buy them, we try to make sure they are good quality so will last, and that they have a meaning to us so we will remember a time and place and the people we were with when we decorate the tree. Eg I have ornaments I bought in Sweden that were very traditional to that country when I was on my way to spend Christmas with family there, I have some I bought in the very expensive shop in York that we had to pay for in a hurry because we had taken 5 children in there and one of them smashed a big bauble, but the shop were very nice about it as they say it is one of the hazards of selling glass balls, then we all went for a mulled wine in the Christmas market and it started to snow.

When we make them, we all have a look at stuff we have in the craft box, and what we would like to make, then we spend a day making them. The year we went to Sweden we couldn't carry much. So to supplement the decorations we bought, we made salt dough decorations and painted them. My trees at home are mostly red and white, so we took only red and white paints, some cookie cutters, and let the children loose. Last year we made the decorations in the photo, mostly from bits we had in the craft box. I bought a wooden letter for each of the kid's names and a couple of die-cut shapes off Amazon (give yourself plenty of time for delivery - they take weeks to arrive!) and let them go. I have a Christmas craft box that has coloured string, wool, beads, small bells, wooden shapes, felt, acrylic paint and buttons in it. I top it up each year and the bits I add usually cost no more than £10.

Another year we had collected some very large pinecones in France on our summer holiday and we decorated those.

We love decorating the tree and knowing how we got each decoration. It's a mix of very individual and beautiful baubles, and lots of homemade stuff which as the kids have got older has become less tat-like each year . DD is now a very skilled artist and needleworker, and DS has a unique sense of creativity - it was worth persevering with the years of absolute tat to get to the lovely things they make now.

TK Maxx have some lovely stuff.

When we first bought decs they were from Matalan and Sainsbury's and over the years we have added by picking up a decoration from every place we've visited

I personally am not a fan of John Lewis but depending on your budget, garden centres, supermarkets or the range etc is probably your best bet

@Backinthebox gorgeous!

Wilko have some nice glass ones.

I started off with the bog standard multipack of baubles when I had my first home and gradually added nice individual ones each year. Now most of them are unique.

I started off with a giant pack of generic baubles and over the last twenty years have replaced them. Nothing really matches, everything is different colours and price ranges but I love every one of them. Each year, DH and I go out and buy a new bauble each to add to the collection. We’ve inadvertently got a bit of a bird theme going on. My most precious and priceless decoration is a battered old robin with wire that wraps around the branch that my Nan gave to my mum and which she gave to me. It’s got to be around 45 years old.

John Lewis is looking quite good for baubles this year. We also go for quite a lot of Gisela Graham stuff. But nothing beats finding one of those little boutiques with completely one off decorations.

Harrods! Just pick up a few special bits each year. It will build up to a gorgeous collection pretty quickly.

I’ve got things from all different places. Garden centres are good, and look out for seasonal Christmas Barns, often an offshoot business on or near a farm, and sell real Christmas trees as well. Lots of more unusual decorations.

Shopping centres sometimes have pop-up Christmas shops.

Ikea - nice decorations, and the real Christmas tree for £24 came with a voucher for £20.

M&S, John Lewis, paperchase and Flying Tiger.
I'd love to go to Liberty's one year, there Christmas shop looks gorgeous!

One thing to be careful of is if you have a real tree, the weight of some of the 'nice' baubles. Each year I've been to TKMaxx or Homesence I've not been able to get any as they've all been too heavy

When DH and I had our first Christmas together, we bought some multipacks of baubles to fill the tree. Now every year we buy 2 or 3 new baubles or decorations to go on the tree, as well as a "special one" - hopefully this year's special one will be DD's first Christmas bauble (due on 19th)

We have:
Small hanging angels from York Minster
Small glass bottles with feathers in from the imaginarium in York
A large brightly coloured ceramic bauble from the airport in Mexico
A Halcyon days bauble given to me by DH the the box of gifts with my engagement ring
A Halcyon days bauble bought from Liberty London during our Christmas trip
Small wooden carved decorations from the Edinburgh Christmas market
Lots of robins on clips dotted around the house and tree bought since my DM died

I love all of the individual ones and that they all have their little story behind them

We get them from all over:

eBay sellers (can get Gisela Graham at brilliant prices);
John Lewis;
Matalan;
Next;
National Trust shops;
Garden centres;
Christmas shops where we've been away, like in Berlin.

So many places!

Homebase have (or used to have) a vast collection. And every year I trawl the garden centres. You can get some lovely stuff that way.

Agree with a PP about eBay for Gisela Grahsm stuff. Most of my (still growing) fairy collection came from there. Her fairy tree toppers are gorgeous.

Wilkos & Tesco do nice ones.

I love John Lewis but they are pricey.