Decorating our first house - tips needed!

[arebee]

Good morning!

I am very excited as my DH and I get to decorate our first home this Christmas. We have a Christmas tree in a pot and that's basically it!

What are your recommendations for:

• Shops that sell good quality, tasteful and reasonably priced tree decorations
• Mantlepiece garlands with lights - some I've looked at are really not very full looking and generally a bit cheap
• Nice homemade decorations - dried oranges, cinnamon sticks etc. any advice around making those is appreciated

And then any family traditions you guys have started that you love? Christmas is one of my most favourite times of the year and I'm super excited for our first one as a married couple!

We bought a cheap set of baubles our first Christmas and every year we buy one special decoration each, it's built up over the years and we have 24 really special baubles and have got rid of the cheaper baubles as the tree got fuller. It's lovely decorating the tree and remembering why we bought all the baubles, some are from the Xmas markets we've been to and one year we went to Disneyland Paris in September and got baubles there

Be specific about when the in-laws (and your own parents) are welcome to arrive if invited. Christmas Eve to 26th has turned into 22nd to 28th over the years 🤦🏼‍♀️

We've collected nice decs over the years, I'd start small and focus on one or two things rather than trying to decorate the whole house as it will be super expensive. Some poinsettia and candles will go a long way.

Bear in mind you need to store it all so it's worth considering what you want to keep as disposable or invest in for the long haul.

Get yourself on Etsy. Plenty of very high quality handmade products for your home and often cheaper than the shops. There is tat on there these days, but if you reverse search the listing image you can see if you are buying something genuine or from Ali Express.

I bought a pre lit garland from either B&M or the Range last year (I forget which) after rejecting many others for being too sparse/tacky/sparkley etc etc. Lots of people were really surprised when I told them where it was from! It is bushy and perfect.

I think the key with collecting your decorations is just choosing individual things you love from a variety of shops/christmas markets/online rather than just grabbing a set from Tesco. That being said, we do have a few of these sets (bought from the garden centre which I find always has nice bits) but they sort of just provide the 'backdrop' to all my special ones. I have some nice little scandi wooden ones (like the little trains, snowmen skiing etc) that I got from Ebay of all places. I'd just go round as many shops as you can, starting now and keep your eyes peeled!! I also really rate Homesense/TK Max for general decs and Lights4Fun for lights.

Pinterest for homemade decoration ideas, I cant wait to get on this this year! Me and my pals are also doing a wreath making session at a local pub which I'm really looking forward to.

Also, dont forget the scent! I am constantly on the hunt for candles/diffusers/room sprays etc that have that magical christmas scent and when it's right it brings it all to life.

Oooh there's some great ideas here, thanks everyone!

I like the idea of starting with a basic set of baubles and slowly building them up over the years - definitely will do that.

@TheSmallestOneWasMadeline I did think the ones in B&M looked quite good so that's reassuring. I think I'll go for a bit of a mooch around this weekend to get started. So exciting!!

What about traditions as a couple? I have a load we can do when we have kids but is there anything nice you do with just your partner?

Lights.

You need far more tree lights than you think.

100-200 per foot of tree. Sounds bonkers but it's true. Get yourself a really good set of lights with enough bulbs to light your tree properly. Expensive but is a valuable foundation for all the rest.

@arebee our Christmas tree decorating evening has become a bit of a tradition for us! We always do it the first or second Friday of December, we buy loads of nice Christmassy party food and cook it all then we munch it all while we decorate and listen to Christmas music. With my homemade mulled wine too 🍷

Things we did as a couple pre-kids (baby/ toddler stage now):

•Tagged and later cut down our Christmas tree
•Had boozy afternoons at Christmas markets
• Christmassy cinema trips
•We’ve been to the theatre a couple of times around Christmas (Nutcracker)
•Had long boozy grazing board style lunches at home with friends
•Generally relaxed and did what we fancied 😂

We started off nearly 40 years ago with a decent set of lights and a combination of cheap filler baubles in silver and gold along with slightly better larger baubles and just a few ‘nice’ baubles which were added to each year. I would normally do a colour theme, but with the same base colours (sliver or gold and glass/crystal) and then buy a couple of boxes each of large and small coloured baubles.

You may want to have a think about what you are putting on the top of your tree, if anything. Some of the tree toppers can be a bit heavy and end up wobbling to one side. It’s going to depend on your tree. Certainly less issues with a real g tree as the top is normally quite sturdy.

Our garland is as old as the hills and is plain, however I have put lights through it and decorate it with whatever colour theme I have used on the tree and some crystal ornaments. Don’t limit your garland search by just looking at lit garlands as you may find a plain one that suits your needs better.

Have a google as how to make the homemade things. I have got beyond the stage of making things, but had great fun in past years with decorating fir cones and egg boxes with paint and glitter.

Most of our current stuff is from the Range last year - garlands for the mantelpiece and bannisters, baubles, ornaments etc. They're good value for money when you're setting yourself up with everything.

I use 2 sets of lights on the tree and stick to the traditional red and green baubles.

Hobbycraft are great for cinnamon sticks, pine cones, orange slices and little ceramic tea light houses.

Garden centres tend to have some lovely decorations, and I went to Wilko's last week and they had some nice decs too.

Agree that it's good to start with lots of basic baubles and a few really nice ones then replace them slowly. We did this (out of necessity as had no money for the first few years) but our tree is full of holiday destinations and random memories.

Definitely spend on a good set of fairy lights though, invest and they'll last. Plus, you can never have too many lights.

Have a good think about how you want the house to look and go from there. Are you a more is more type person? Coloured lights? Perfectly colour coordinated? More modern colours?

We moved last year so I could finally have a garland. I chose one from B&M and added lights to it.
Maybe have a look at Hobbycraft too - they have some lovely wreaths and garlands plus all the materials you will need if you want to make things yourself. Or maybe a local craft shop if you have one.

I'm not sure you'd want to follow our traditions tbh. DH has grinch-like tendencies and I love Christmas
We have a pretend argument every year about when the tree goes up. He always complains about it being too early but I will inevitably come home from work one day to find he's got everything out of the attic and checked for spiders.

He goes out one evening so I can watch Christmas films and wrap presents (I love doing this).
We visit a garden centre and he will choose something he likes then try and convince me I like it so much I'm forcing him to buy it, then we go for a meal out.
If we're home for Christmas, he preps the dinner on Christmas eve while I lay the table with christmas music blaring and drinks flowing. Then we watch a film and eat cheese & crackers.

Think ribbons to add bulk to a tree, if you don't have a lot of decorations. And lots of lights!

Kinwoven designs on Youtube have lots of Christmas decorating tips and tricks, they have a great video on making garlands look so much better with extra lights and bits of fake greenery/foliage ("picks") and baubles etc. added to it rather than worrying about the original garland itself being fantastic. (She does Christmas BIG, and has spent more than 20 years and a LOT of money gathering decorations so learn the tips, but don't feel the need to go overboard buying).

We started with a small tree, 4 lengths of tinsel (ribbon wasn't a thing then), 1 bag of 20 cheap red baubles and a couple of stockings I made in red and green felt (about 3" long, and I used the ribbons I cut from tags and other clothing loops I didn't need for the loops to hang them) and some pine cones dipped in white paint with string loops to hang them. We gathered other decorations and baubles over the years on our travels and in lots of different stores.

Pick a base colour or 2 coordinating colours this year - and either gold or silver to go with that. You will find lots of packs of baubles in so many colours, so get 1 decent pack (preferably with smaller to larger sized balls) as your base. Get a ribbon that will work with that to make bows or to thread through the tree in loops. And add a handful of nice individual decorations that you make or buy.

It's easier if you have that base colour decided, and the accent of gold or silver, as you'll see so many things in shops but keeping to a basic colour palette and theme helps. Red/Green and gold works well as a starting point and is quite traditional so there will be lots available, but you could also do more woodsy/natural vibes and mellow with brown/white added to the reds/greens rather than gold/silver. But I also love blue/white and silver (and have accents of turquoise/greens for a sea theme some years, or some pink robots others).

You can’t go wrong if you stick to a couple of classic Christmas colours for your tree - red, green, gold, white etc - leave out purple, black, teal etc as you’ll get bored of them and they’ll end up getting chucked out. Put the cheaper baubles to the back of the tree and the best ones at the front. Collect one ow two new ones each year and enjoy seeing them again in future Christmasses.

Charity shops have loads of decorations, many really good quality, which can help with decorating the tree.

Wilko used to do good bauble basics, tk max the special ones.
Hang things from the ceiling to make the room transform..
Lighting, he carful of new too bright led.

Start out with a colour scheme in mind and avoid trendy colours which date.