Starting again with Christmas decorations

[Freemanhardyandwillis]

Last weekend I lost all our Christmas decorations, tree, wreaths etc - including all the sentimental ornaments collected over years. 😥 Where to start? I'm not sure whether to plan a colour-coordinated tree (and which tree??) or not. I always loved our eclectic look but there doesn't seem much point trying to recreate it from scratch. What would you do?

Aw that’s sad 😢

I have plain gold and red baubles as my base colour to keep quite traditional, but then a range of fancy one off ones picked up from various garden centres and holidays over the years, that show a bit of personality, so it’s a nice balance.

I do all white on my main tree- so loads of variety/textures, but white. It’s lovely 🥰. Good luck @Freemanhardyandwillis , hopefully nice to build up your collection again even if it’s not what you would have chosen to do 😢

Oh what happened?

Personally my tree(s) are so far removed from colour coordinated I couldn't go down that route. Have you got kids at home? Let them chose a few things each, coloured lights, random bits.

Love your username, flashbacks to my hideous school shoes I had to have 😂

Some of mine were in the car load of stuff that came with me when I left my ex, over 20 years ago.

I would just buy a cheap and cheerful box in colours that catch your eye then build on them, starting on boxing day and then in future years. Trying to get everything again at once would be such a big ask, specially as the best decorations are always the ones that you buy because they mean something or you know they would make someone smile.

How on earth did you ‘lose’ them all?
I’d be buying a couple of sets of basic baubles in traditional colours, some lights, tinsel or beads depending on preference. You might get some baubles from a charity shop??
Then take all the family and get them to choose at least 1 thing each to start a new collection.

Oh no that's such a shame 😥 what happened?

You absolutely can begin to rebuild the eclectic look though but it will just take time. Go for three or four main colours of multi packs to decorate the bulk of the tree for now and just add whatever you like to it, pick up things from places you visit etc. eventually you won't need many of the fillers anymore and it will be an assortment of memories 😊

I do a different theme every year so that might be where to start so far I've done:
Purple and silver
Trad red and green
Blue
White and gold
Pink
Scandi wooded toys (when the grandsons are here!)
Harry Potter complete with sorting hat topper!
Not going to lie I now have loads of decorations and I still buy one or two special ones each year

White, silver, glass and plain wood is what I have on the main tree.There's a right hotchpotch of decorations including some from when I was a child but they all work together because you don't need to match any new baubles to preexisting shades. Plus it looks lovely imho

home bargains have just put out their crimbo stuff and have some very inexpensive bauble packs to start you off.

re tree have you tried Facebook marketplace? It's a good place to look if you want an artificial tree or Lidl and Aldi will soon have their stuff in.
when you've added to the collection over several decades it's so expensive to replace it all in one go.

And I'm sorry for your loss, I would be devastated to lose my decorations (although it would have to have been a small truck that went awol as I have so many 😂). There's so many memories of my childhood, holidays we have taken where I bought decorations at Christmas markets and things I have made.

@StiffyByngsDogBartholomew That looks lovely!

When I said I lost them I meant they were destroyed. They were in our basement which was completely flooded and just too stinky and disgusting to rescue! My kids are all teenagers now but a lot of the decorations were ones they had made or picked out. Thanks for all the ideas.

@boulevardofbrokendreamss Yes, school shoe hell!

Thanks. We lost plenty of stuff that had greater value but this is what hit me the worst. Daft I know.

Oh I'm sorry. My Dad took ours to the tip when clearing out the garage (without checking) and I remember the sadness of losing the special ones. But I'd try to think of it as a fresh start of lovely pretty decorations. I'd go somewhere like Next or M&S where you can get a huge starter box of baubles, then add some special ones and decorations to match. Etsy can be great for something special.

I'm sorry to hear about your flooded basement, OP!
I think Christmas decorations have such a high sentimental value, so it is not odd to have a strong reaction to losing those things.

Can you take a little walk around a shop and just see what you like the look of?
Bring one of your children (or all of them) with you, ask what they like?
Give every family member the task of buying or making at least one ornament?

Also to add Sostrene Grene and Flying Tiger can be great for cheapish cute Christmas pieces.

Oh I would be devastated! I am 62 and I have ornaments from when I was a child! Plus my parents used to travel a lot a pick up ornaments from Mexico, Guatemala, India, and so on, and I've collected ornaments from other places too.
If I lost them all? I'd need an amazing budget to even start to replace the old fashioned glass ornaments. So I might start as suggested above. Get a large pack of base colour baubles then start collecting again.
My sister has different themes - last year it was honey bees! Before it's been typical Scandi red and white. Then multi coloured. But that does cost quite a bit every year.

@Chickenspeckandcluckaroud Oh no! I hope he was suitably repentant!

Would the family be up for a pre-Christmas Day out? Either timed to a local Christmas market or even just to the shops now many have decorations out? Lunch/coffee& cake followed by going shopping and everyone picking out 2-3 decorations they like. No they aren't the memories but they would be personal choice and could restart the collection. Then buy some generic ones to plug the gaps.

That's so sad, I don't think you're daft at all.

When we first moved to our current house we went from a 4' artificial tree wedged into a corner to a bushy 7' real tree. I had a tiny collection of eclectic ornaments but nowhere near enough. We were also broke! I bought a book with papercraft Christmas decorations and made loads of paper angels and stars and so forth with the children. We have gradually replaced nearly all of them over the years but they made cheap, colourful and meaningful placemarkers.

I hope you manage to build a new collection with new memories and that you have a lovely Christmas.

I lost most of mine too one year, it was horrible! Don’t try and replace everything this year just start with the basics, big box of baubles and one or two special ones then gradually build up each year, I think that’s what makes them special.

I’ve pretty much done the opposite. For years I’ve had colour coordinated decorations. Most recently silvery colours but I am bored of that now so last year in the Boxing Day sales etc I bought a load of really reduced pretty random decorations - a flamingo, peacock, champagne bottle, sequin clementine etc! Plus a set of two or boxes baubles. Maybe you could get something for this year and then after Christmas in the sales you could hunt around and grab some bargains for next year.

That’s very sad. I would have to do something completely different for this year as I’m overly emotional and know I’ll get teary but also know in time the tree will be full of new memories. Thinking about it I think it would be upsetting for the entire household and not just me.

I’d get a smaller real tree this year to give me time to choose a replacement possibly in the sales. Or a cheaper/2nd hand that can be used elsewhere or passed on.

Fairy lights would need replacing as a priority, if I was choosing a pre lit replacement in the sales the fairy lights can be repurposed elsewhere as there is no such thing as too many twinkly lights.

I’d plan a family day out to choose a new topper or an afternoon to make one (one of our trees has a homemade twig star atop).

To decorate I think I’d be annoyed at any sort of bauble even filler ones in a single colour, not chocolate though so maybe I’d fill it with choc decs or just candy canes. Or a crafting evening/afternoon. We’ve done all pine cones with bottom bit painted, all white Pom poms, an oversized brown packing paper chain and this year we’ve collected coloured ribbons to tie in bows on the branches.

Aw I'm sorry that is sad. But you can have new traditions and there are lovely things especially if you are happy to spend a little.

I'm sure you have some lovely garden centres near you or if you are in the Herts/Cambs/Essex area this is a lovely place to shop.

https://www.themagicofchristmas.net/

You could take your teens and get them to choose a couple each and get a hot chocolate and a cake while you are there.

National trust places have nice things too and the John Lewis, Marks and Lakeland online shops are good places to look.

Im so sorry to hear this. I would be devastated. I, like you have memories on my tree.
I would gather all your children and take them on a trip to The Range or similar and get them to pick a few of their favourites. Ask them to buy you a christmas tree decoration that you would be like for a Christmas present.
I know that I started with boring baubles and replaced them all with memories each year. I'm sure that you will come to a point where there aren't any baubles left!

Pick a style you like. Scandi, retro or totally stylish ( one or two colours)

Have fun looking on line for some feature decorations and then fill the tree with a set frome somewhere.

I'm so sorry to hear this OP. Moving forward, I've always stuck to a traditional colour scheme that looks fabulous - red and gold ornaments. Years ago I used to buy trees from the nursery but eventually succumbed to a wonderful artificial tree with 200 led lights included. It looks fabulous and easy to assembled with the added bonus of not having to fight with the lights.

I've changed ornaments - the small time-consuming ones for big clip poinsettias or flowers, but kept the colour scheme.