Seasons > Christmas > Decorations for the home > Christmas decorations for the Front Door
Decorating a front door can be as simple and quick as hanging a single wreath on the door. If you are looking at this page, however, you probably want ideas for making your entryway a little more interesting. But where do you begin?
Choosing a color scheme or theme, such as these silver and white decorations, can be one way to get started. Choose things that you really like, or make you smile.
Another place to begin is to look at your entryway, and try to come up with ways to decorate the elements you have. If you have windows, you can hang greenery or suncatcher style decorations such as snowflakes. Use clear packing tape or suction cups to fasten them to the window. Just make sure these don’t show--hide them behind branches or bows. Be sure to clean the windows first, or they will quickly fall down. If you use suction cups, check the package for how much weight they will hold before you buy them. If you don’t have windows, wrap greenery around pillars, or hang a swag horizontally above the door. Even a small front porch like this one has room to have a standing decoration in a corner or next to the door. Just make sure that it doesn’t get in the way as you go in and out, or you will have to rearrange it every time you go by.
One more place to get inspiration is to go to stores and see what they have, and try to imagine what it would look like on your front door. One of my favorite things to do is to go to craft stores and department stores for inspiration, then go to the dollar store, and see if i can make something similar with what I can find there.
Hang 3 wreaths on the door for a dramatic affect. I bought plain wreaths and added pine cones that I picked up off the ground, and silver balls and white “greenery” from a dollar store. I used florist’s wire cut to short lengths to fasten them on. The wind tended to blow the wreaths around, so I taped the ribbon to the door near the bottom wreath.
over the door wreath hooks are often sold where wreaths are sold
Many craft stores sell ready made swags as well as plain swags. I made this swag from two small Christmas trees (from hundred yen stores). Pull off the legs and fasten the bases together in the middle with florist’s wire in two places. Add a big bow in the middle. I added pine cones, silver balls and white “greenery” with florist’s wire. view how to make a bow
The swag under the window is also a sideways hundred yen Christmas tree with matching silver and white decorations. I fastened it on with a short tension rod. The candle and snowflakes hanging inside the window blend with the decorations on the outside.
The small Christmas tree was too small by itself, so I put it on top of a potted plant. The tree is decorated with white crocheted snowflakes and silver and white decorations from a dollar store. The small decorations are too small to see from a distance, so I added a large crocheted angel and some large silver balls in the ivy below the tree. You may want to anchor these into the dirt so they don’t blow away: cut a wire coat hanger into 8 inch lengths and bend into “U” shapes, then push them over branches and into the dirt.
It doesn’t really matter what goes in the corner as long as it doesn’t get in the way of going in and out, and it matches the color and theme of the other decorations. These boxes are wrapped in mylar (plastic) wrapping paper so it’s o.k. if the rain or snow splashes them. They also have rocks inside to keep them from blowing away.
I borrowed this wrought iron chair from a friend. I was worried that I might not be able to open the door, but it fits beside the door, amazingly enough! A table would work just as well--just make sure it’s pretty. The chair has small gifts wrapped in silver and white with a few silver balls tucked into any empty places. A tray keeps them from falling off the chair.
As you can see, the same door looks totally different using different colors and theme, even though the elements are basically the same--a door decoration, window decorations, and something on the ground next to the door. The snowman theme and red plaid bows are definitely kid-friendly.
I made this swag from two small Christmas trees (from hundred yen stores). Pull off the legs and fasten the two center poles together in the middle with florist’s wire in two places so it doesn’t wobble. Add a big bow in the middle. I added pine cones with florist’s wire and tucked in some holly leaves and berries. For a more luxurious version, add red, green and gold balls and snowmen ornaments.
This angel is huge, but once it is outside, it looks small and bare, even with the other decorations around it. I added some greenery accented with artificial holly and real pinecones to both anchor it, and to increase it’s visual size. A large snowman would look cute, too. If you like working with wood, a trio of wooden snowman (a giant version of what is on the door or window) would be quite inexpensive to make, and storage space would be minimal since it would be flat.
I bought plain wooden snowman ornaments at a craft store and got my kids to paint them with acrylic paints (less work for me, and a fun Christmas project for my kids!) Here the snowmen are combined with greenery and a plaid bow, and all are fastened to the window frame with a short tension rod.
Even though these snowmen are about the right size for a wreath substitute on the door, it seemed too small and plain by itself. I tried adding a red bow, and that helped, but it didn’t seem to be enough. When I added the “Merry Christmas” sign, that finally seemed to make it “good enough” to decorate my front door.
The interesting thing about these pink and white decorations is that the wreath and swags are made out of clear plastic bags--just cut them into rectangles (the family fun website where I discovered the idea, suggests using sandwich bags) and tie them to a coat hanger in knots. Bend a hanger into a circle for the wreath, and in straight lengths tied together for the swags. This is easy, and cheap, but rather boring to make, so you may want to do it as you watch T.V. It is definitely not a project kids would enjoy--they might tie 3 or 4, but then they will be ready to move on to something more interesting. I forget if the wreath took me one or two hours to finish. The crocheted angel inside the window blends well with the plastic bag swag on the outside.
adapted from the familyfun website.
A gingerbread theme is sure to please kids. This gingerbread house was made out of cardboard boxes and foam decorations. The wreath and swags are decorated with dollar store candy canes and gingerbread ornaments that I fastened to plain a wreath and swag with florist’s wire. You can make your own gingerbread ornaments with cookie cutters and air drying clay such as Hearty (karuikaminendo sold in 100 yen shops.) Many dollar stores sell foam sets around Christmas, some of them being gingerbread men. Another option is to make gingerbread men out of corrugated cardboard, or cut the shapes out of wood, and paint them. Craft stores that sell plain wood shapes for crafts often sell gingerbread men and gingerbread house shapes quite inexpensively. If you sew, make them out of felt, and if you cook, make them out of real gingerbread, but bake them extra hard.
If making a gingerbread house seems like way too much work, find something else to put in the corner. This stack of gift boxes was sold as a set at Costco.
Here are two ways to combine the inside decorations with the outside when decorating a window. The one on the left has a dollar store birdhouse, and the one on the right has dollar store candles. The swag, as in the photos above, is a hundred yen store tree turned on it’s side with a bow and painted wooden gingerbread man and mints.
Seasons > Christmas > Decorations for the home > Christmas decorations for the Front Door
These candy canes and felt gingerbread men were purchased at a dollar store. They are fastened to the swag with florist’s wire. Holly leaves and berries were added to vary the greenery.
Hint: bend the the back branches to the front so the swag lies flat against the window or wall. If some branches seem too long, bend them in half--back on themselves.
1
2
3