Simple Holiday Decor

Simple holiday decorating

A beautiful Christmas tree shining brightly in your living room or den just sets the mood for the holidays. You plug in the lights and have instant Christmas! These days, no one has time to devote hours and hours to decorating every corner of their home for the holidays. But not decorating could earn you a reputation as a scrooge! So find a happy medium, and deck the halls with a few of these easy holiday décor ideas from Real Simple.

Deck the doorways

Use lighted stars, snowflakes, or bulb string lights to a doorway to add a charming glow and make quite the holiday statement.

Beautify a buffet

For your holiday buffet, add seasonal touches like metallic accents and a vase of winter flowers or foliage with berries.

Make a mantel

No fireplace? Let open shelving or bookcases stand in for a mantel. Hang stockings from the bookshelves and arrange decorative accents like miniature trees, string lights, or snow globes.

Ornaments on and off the tree

Even if won’t have a full tree this year, you can still display prized ornaments. Hang your most eye-catching baubles from beautiful ribbons throughout your home, including on the staircase.

Lend a hand to your mantel

Pin mittens to lengths of yarn and display them along a mantel or bookshelf. Kids’ colorful striped wool socks or knit hats work, too. 

It smells like Christmas

Bundle a few cinnamon sticks together with ribbon for a fragrant addition to your tree. Or leave fresh cinnamon sticks out in a bowl as a simple DIY take on traditional potpourri.

Simple log on

Most streaming services have videos of crackling fires, so you can watch and hear an old-fashioned fire even if you don’t have a fireplace! If you have Netflix or another streaming service like Pluto (free), just search the holiday picks for holiday tunes and a crackling fire.

Table feast

For an inexpensive wintry centerpiece, fill clear glass vases of different heights with pinecones. For extra sparkle, spray-paint the pinecones gold and silver or simply dump various shiny glitters over the cones.

Old-time treasure

Poinsettias might seem old school, but they can also make a sophisticated statement. The trick is to take them out of their foil-lined pots and place them into pretty vases! Nothing says Christmas like a pretty poinsettia. Just ensure your pets cannot get to them, as they, like mistletoe, are toxic to them.

Window dressing

You want to consider window ledges and empty bookshelves while you’re decorating the tree and mantel. Pine boughs in a large vase with a handful of ornaments hanging on them make a beautiful holiday statement. Old glass jars of pistachios, winterberries, or red peppercorns show off the season in classic fashion.

The list goes on and on! You’ll find plenty more ideas for decorating your home for the holidays, from the traditional and elegant to the alternative and unusual, that take five minutes or less. Or spend as much time as you want! The most important thing is to enjoy and make your holiday home ideal!