60 Creative and Elegant Christmas Decoration Ideas

Faux Fire Basket

If you don't have room for a traditional tree, create the same look on a smaller scale. Instead of a 7-foot fir tree, opt for a 3- or 4-foot-tall one, and use a decorative metal planter in place of a typical tree stand and skirt. Keep ornaments minimal, so you don't overwhelm the branches.

For a faux hearth to accompany your small tree, wrap birch logs in fairy lights and set them in a wire basket. Your room instantly looks warmer.

Beautified Bar Cart

Gilded accessories and pretty bottles of your favorite alcohol look decadent and festive when displayed during the holidays. And when an impromptu visitor comes to your door, you're ready to entertain.

Wow-Worthy Mantel Decor

For an unexpected and sophisticated mantel display, keep your pairings minimal. This grapevine wreath of evergreen branches, pomegranates, and amaryllis blooms makes an impressive holiday decoration when paired with a trio of elegant candlesticks.

Holiday Card Garland

For a clever way to display holiday cards that come your way, use clips or clothespins to string them along the staircase.

Striking Wreath Accents

For a traditional-yet-updated winter wreath, welcome holiday guests by mixing classic elements (in this case, spruce and olive branches) with unexpected accents (echeveria succulents and seeded eucalyptus branches).

Lit Birch Logs

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but your fireplace looks so delightful. Set a cozy scene by wrapping twin birch logs in twinkling holiday lights. Position mercury-glass candlesticks and votives alongside for an extra boost of shine.

Glass Candlesticks

For a hassle-free holiday display, take over an end table or deep windowsill by grouping contemporary candlesticks and mercury-glass votive candles. Add colorful glass ornaments for a pop of color and cheer.

Special Delivery Advent Calendar

Transform a large bulletin board into an Advent calendar with lined envelopes and stick-on numbers. Fill each envelope with treats that are joyful and surprising such as candy canes, gift certificate to the ice cream parlor, or a coupon good for an extra hour of video games. With the promise of a small treasure each day, the young and young at heart will love counting down the days to Christmas.

Silver and Gold Palette

If red and green aren't your thing, lean on tones that complement your existing décor. Paper medallions in silver, gold, and bronze look right at home atop the mantel. Add a warm finishing touch by draping sprigs of evergreen garland embellished with berries and ornaments.

A Sweet Scene

Greet holiday guests with a sweet indoor winter wonderland entry display. Decorate foam cones from the craft store with rock candy to create your own sparkly scene.

Window Snowflakes

Dreaming of a white Christmas? Dangling from a window, these cascading strands of silver and white gift bows create the illusion of falling snow. Shovel not required.

Center of Attention

'Tis the season for glitz and glamour on the holiday table. For this show-stopping statement, nestle sparkly, color-dipped vintage bulbs in a decorative glass bowl.

Double-Duty Decorating

Pretty wrapped presents can work overtime as last-minute decorations. To pull this off, focus on the finishing touches: Adorn festive wrap with clever tie-ons (like a strand of color-dipped wooden beads), a fancy bow, and a peppering of metallic ornaments.

Cohesive Candles

Group pillar candles for ambiance and extra light. Wrap festive ribbon around a few to compliment your décor and add texture.

Eye-Catching Table Runner

Forgo the fine china, fancy linens, and extravagant centerpiece in favor of a unique runner to steal the dinner scene. Place pins along the sides of a gilded poster board and artfully weave colorful string from pin to pin to create a modern, textured focal point.

Fireside Forest

Layer an assortment of tree-shaped objects in varying heights and textures atop the mantel. Below, hang a metallic, leafy garland to reflect the firelight from below.

Twist on a Traditional Wreath

Instead of traditional evergreens, make a wreath of citrus fruits. Start with a circular piece of florist's foam and then use wooden florist picks to secure large items, such as oranges. Fill in with smaller fruit―kumquats, clementines, and limes―and finish with a thick velvet ribbon.

Celestial Doorway

Trick out a door or window frame with an asymmetrical assortment of stars. Use adhesive strips to hang a strand of cascading star lights accentuated with ornaments and various-sized lanterns.

Stockinged Stairwell

Hang stockings from a banister trimmed with garland (live or faux) using floral wire or zip ties hidden amid the greenery.

Leaning Ladder

Attach stockings to a decorative ladder and then liven it up with a swag of pine garland. In January, replace the stockings with throw blankets.

Sweet Centerpieces

Bring colorful delight to the table with a sweet setup of treats that never goes out of season. We filled our no-fuss arrangement with red-and-white peppermint balls and fluffy marshmallows. Call on ribbon candy, multicolored chocolates, and candy canes as the perfect sides.

Overhead Opulence

Don't restrict magnificent baubles and sparkly snowflakes to the Christmas tree. Accentuate overhead lighting with shimmery decorations in a fresh winter palette like pale blue and silver. Finish with an elegant satin ribbon gently dangling from the chandelier.

Modern Simplicity for Stockings

For a breathtaking white mantel, we highlighted this gorgeous mirror with a charming border of decorative golden deer and white stockings.

Extra Ornament Displays

For a dramatic, high-impact window display, turn a bare windowsill into a stylish nook by filling glass jars of varying heights and shapes with leftover ball ornaments.

Fabulous Window Dressings

The ultimate preppy power couple―hot pink and lime green―make an unexpected debut in this modern all-feather composition. The dangling ornament adds just the right pop to this decorative piece.

Subtle Arrangements

Pull off a show-stopping arrangement that speaks to your style by keeping decorative elements simple. Fill a glass hurricane with an assortment of holiday ornaments, and then surround it with lush greenery.

Alternative Tree Assortment

Brighten a corner with an alternative to the traditionally inspired Christmas tree like this one with a retro-inspired palette on the exotic side. Delicate chartreuse, lavender, and pink balls scattered amid the branches make an attention-worthy display. Instead of garland for texture, feathers provide an unexpected twist.

Charming Countdown

This unique adaptation of the traditional Advent calendar speaks to the spirit of the season. Replace a leaning mirror for the month of December and fill pint-sized numbered bags with your family's favorite treats.

Frosted Tablescape

Set a simple and sophisticated winter–white table to make your holiday gatherings extra special. Start with a delicately embroidered ivory runner for a hint of warmth and texture. For dazzle, fill silver mint-julep cups with beautifully frosted pinecones.

White Christmas Tree

A monochromatic tree sets a festive tone that's soft, airy, and completely captivating. Accentuate its pure richness with ornaments in clear glass, shimmery silvers, and brilliant white.

Seasonal Finds

Opportunities abound for sweeping displays of lavish greenery along the mantel. This warming seasonal vignette calls for apothecary jars filled with cranberries, accented by sparkling fruit and pinecones.

Playful Accessories

Think outside the overflowing bins and boxes of decorations for a clever way to embellish bare tabletops. Turn Friday's game night staple into an innovative holiday prop.

Wintery Scene

At your entryway, welcome a few unexpected characters to your décor by animating a tabletop with enchanting wintry wildlife.

Flanked Entryway

Nothing like a pair of inexpensive plastic urns to instantly dress up a front entryway. Place a tall foam cone in each urn and anchor it with sand. Then use florist sticks and wire to attach greenery and Christmas balls.

Pinecone Table Topper

For this simple and elegant centerpiece sure to impress dinner guests, start with a garland of lush winter greenery that runs the length of your table. Enlist the kids to collect pinecones, and then secure them to the garland to serve as rustic toppers.

Centerpiece Simplicity

Load a simple glass jar or bowl with multiples of the same fruit, nut, or holiday candies. We filled trifle bowls with walnuts and the colors of Christmas—red apples and green baby artichokes. For a pop of brightness, display lemons or limes in a clear bowl, or put extra Christmas decorations to use. And think outside the table: Display clear containers of monochromatic ornaments in any room.

DIY Outdoor Decor

You don't have to leave your outdoor planters stark until planting time. For a weatherproof display that lasts until spring, arrange pinecones in window boxes or pots on your porch, positioning the largest ones on the bottom and the tiniest on top.

Holiday Crafting for Kids

Crafting aluminum-foil ring chains is a perfect, zero-supervision craft for kids—no scissors, glue, tape, or (huzzah!) sparkles. Cut them squares of foil (or buy precut sheets), wait several hours, and then help the little ones display their chains wherever your home needs some extra shine. For easy removal in January (and damage-free paint and wallpaper), hang using Command strips.

Holiday Cut-Out Message

Stencil letters to express your holiday joy loud and clear. Back some—or all—of the letters with brightly colored construction paper, and then attach with a removable adhesive so painted walls stay undamaged.

Starlight Balls

Wind a strand of battery-powered fairy lights around a medium-sized Styrofoam ball. Tie it off, and then tape the end of the strand to the ceiling or loop it around a curtain rod. For an even brighter arrangement, group three or four balls of varying sizes.

Cookie Forest

Decorate a buffet table with a trio of snowy cookie trees. Start with a base frosting by beating 6 egg whites with 3¾ cups powdered sugar. Spread a thin layer of the frosting on a Styrofoam cone and then, working up from the bottom, overlap vanilla wafers (use straight pins to hold them in place until the frosting dries). For a snowy effect, use a small sieve to dust each finished tree with powdered sugar.

Indoor Snowman

Use the same frosting as for the vanilla wafer trees (beat 6 egg whites with 3¾ cups powdered sugar) to build snowman decorations from oranges or clementines. Stack the fruit, holding the pieces together with toothpicks until the frosting sets. Add cloves for eyes, peppermint sticks for arms and a nose, and licorice for a scarf. The hat is a vanilla wafer and peppermints sandwiched with frosting.

All-Purpose Candlelight Display

Streamline seasonal decorating with a mantelpiece tableau that takes you from Thanksgiving to New Year's with a mix of ivory and white candles. For Thanksgiving, tuck wheat around the candles' bases and add walnuts. Later, replace with greenery.

Wrapped Up Art

Blank canvases in assorted shapes make an artful (ha!) mantelpiece display when wrapped with cheerful ribbons.

Band Together

Make "ornaments" by wrapping multicolored rubber bands to form balls. (Maybe you have a few of these started...) Attach a bit of ribbon and cord to suspend in your windows.

Cookie-Cutter Approach

These unique window decorations take just minutes to create. String tin cookie cutters of assorted shapes—angels, bells, and stars—on pretty ribbons, and then tack them to the window casing.

Holiday Card Display

Using greenery from outside, attach ribbons to a branch and then hang your Christmas cards using a pretty binder clip or safety pin. Recruit the kids for this afternoon project.

Sparkly Ornament Display

Nest vintage ornaments with leaves on a cake stand for a stunningly simple centerpiece.

Monochromatic Color Palette

Spare can be beautiful. Decorate a small, artificial white tree with objects that share a color scheme―in this case: candy canes, peppermints, and red bows―and place it on a side table or a coffee table.

Front Door Flair

Let visitors jingle all the way into your home. Tie big silver bells to the front doorknob with festive ribbon.

Mix and Match Centerpiece

To make this five-second centerpiece, mix clementines or oranges with peppermint candies in a single glass compote or a grouping of three.

Wintery Mix

Don't overlook a simple window ledge as a decorating opportunity. Pine boughs look charming in a large vase, while white starfish evoke snowy weather, even when it's sunny.

Modern Mobile Chandelier

Use wooden quilting hoops to create a mobile that floats over a table like a weightless chandelier. Turn the inner ring 180 degrees and wood-glue it to the outer ring at the top. Use clear fishing line and thumbtacks to hang various-sized spheres at different lengths.

Indoor Topiaries

Light up a room with twinkling topiaries, which look especially magical flanking a fireplace. Buy them ready-made, or insert five-foot-tall bamboo plant stakes around the perimeter of a potted evergreen, tie them at the top with florist wire, and then swirl white lights all around.

Silver Bells Arrangement

Add sparkling style to your dining room table by filling a snifter to the brim with an array of shiny silver bells.

Glowing Tealights

To create soft, flickering light for a mantel or a table in a dark corner, group inexpensive frosted-glass vases of different sizes, add tealights, and enjoy the glow.

Lighted Stairway

Create an enchanted stairway by stringing a banister with fairy lights entwined with feather trim. You can twirl the swag around the banister or attach it every few inches with ribbon or clear fishing line.

Family Photo Display

On the mantel, collect your family's holiday picture cards from previous years and clothespin them to a long, slim stick suspended between two vases. Display them in chronological order and, if you're particularly detail-oriented, date the pins.

Lighted Hurricane Lamps

Strands of holiday lights coiled in bottomless hurricane lamps make a glowing addition to a mantel or sideboard. Run the socket and plug ends of each strand out from underneath its cylinder, connect the cords to one another, and insert the last plug into a wall outlet.

Lush and Natural Greenery

A staircase looks festive with a garland of greenery. Instead of looping it around and around, lay the evergreens on top of the banister, fasten in place with floral wire, and wrap with extra-wide ribbon.