Ways to Decorate Outside for Christmas
DIY Front Yard Christmas Decor
'Tis the season to bring out the tree, garland and wintry wreaths to celebrate the holidays. With the outdoors looking a little less colorful and winter quickly approaching, your front yard deserves a dose of handmade festivity. Take a look at a few of our DIY Christmas lawn decoration ideas to get your outdoor spaces looking fresh and ready to greet your family and friends for the season.
Get the How-To: How to Make Holiday Garland From Foraged Greenery
Light the Way for Holiday Guests
For a safer alternative to the traditional paper-bag-style Santa's runway, add a layer of rock salt or Epsom salt to glass vases or mason jars then nestle a glass votive candle in the center of each. Depending on the size votive you use, the candles will safely provide hours of illumination. When one burns low, simply replace with a fresh candle.
Festive Up Your Front Porch
In place of a standard topiary, bring a bit of your indoor decorations out with a mini fresh or faux Christmas tree. To create a sturdy, weather-proof base, skip a fabric tree skirt and instead place the tree in a wicker basket weighted down with a few rocks. Burlap garland, shatterproof ornaments, pinecones and a few handmade twig stars wired onto the branches are sturdy enough to stand up to the elements.
Add an Orb
Our how-to explains the steps for creating these illuminated grapevine sphere topiaries for your front porch. The waterproof lights ensure they'll brighten up your entry even during stormy winter weather.
Get the How-To: How to Make Illuminated Grapevine Spheres
Make Ice Lanterns
Get an assist from Mother Nature (or your freezer) to turn plastic cartons filled with water into magical ice lanterns to display either indoors or out.
Get the How-To: How to Make an Ice Lantern
Turn Lumber Into Hip Trees
Basic woodworking skills, plywood and nails are all you need to create modern Christmas tree silhouettes that you can display year after year.
Get the How-To: How to Make Rustic Nail-Head Christmas Trees
Go Big With Ornaments
Light up the night with these ginormous Christmas tree ornaments. A few supplies from the hardware and craft store are all you need.
Get the How-To: How to Make Giant Christmas Ornaments
Craft a Monogrammed Doormat
Spruce up your entryway with this personalized budget-friendly doormat that looks like a pricey catalog find but is actually an easy DIY project.
Get the How-To: Make a Monogrammed Holiday Doormat
Craft a Snowy Wreath
Add faux greenery, flowers, berry sprigs and glittered pinecones to a grapevine wreath then cover with faux snow to give your front door a cheery update during winter months.
Get the How-To: Easy Upcycle: Turn a Dated Floral Wreath Into a Snowy Winter Wreath
DIY Advent Calendar Ladder
Go big this holiday season with an oversized outdoor Advent calendar. Using only a ladder, garland and address numbers, this handmade decor piece is the perfect addition to your outdoor sitting space.
Get the How-To: Make a Giant Advent Calendar With a Ladder
Add Some Sparkle
These gorgeous, glittering votives only look expensive. Using glitter, glue and an empty jar, you can easily craft them yourself on the cheap.
Get the How-To: How to Make Glittered Mason Jar Lanterns
Treat Forest Friends
Delight wildlife with frozen fruit ornaments that are both beautiful and beneficial.
Get the How-To: Make Outdoor Ornaments for the Holidays
Make a Melt-Proof Snowman
A sturdy wooden support + 3 faux evergreen wreaths = a friendly outdoor snowman who won't melt, making him the perfect decoration for snow-free climates. Plus, using faux wreaths, rather than fresh, means you can display him year after year.
Get the How-To: How to Make a Life-Sized Wreath Snowman
Craft Woodsy Luminaries
Add a woodsy glow to your entryway with a grouping of birch log luminaries. To create them, cut the branches into varying heights with a circular saw. Next, drill holes into the top of each log using a 1-1/2" paddle or spade bit just deep enough to accommodate a votive. For kid- or pet-proof illumination, pop a battery-operated votive into each.
Freshen Up Your Wreath
Cover a straw wreath form with moss and garlands of fresh cranberries for a colorful holiday decoration that can be used as either a traditional front door wreath or, laid flat on the table, as the base for a Christmas centerpiece.
Get the How-To: How to Make a Moss and Cranberry Holiday Wreath
Make a Twig Garland
Give a real or faux evergreen garland a rustic, woodsy touch by layering on a twig garland. Making one is easy, just gather small branches from your yard, use clippers to cut them into sections that are approximately the same length, then knot the twigs together with jute twine or yarn.
Craft This Cute Wreath
Create a wintry forest scene for your front door by adding bottlebrush trees and mini ice-skating figures to a foam wreath that's been wrapped in holiday fabric.
Get the How-To: How to Make a Whimsical Bottle Brush Tree Wreath
Repurpose Old Jars
Expecting guests? Use assorted glass jars to give your front porch banister a festive glow. For an opaque, frosty look, add a mercury-glass effect by first misting the jars' interiors with water then immediately spraying on looking-glass paint.
Get the How-To: Easily Make Your Own Mercury Glass Votives
Upcycle Your Way to a Funky Front Yard Sculpture
If you have a stack of old lumber or shipping pallets hanging around, this project is a clever way to upcycle them into a modern take on an illuminated tree. Use paint in assorted colors or just one color but various patterns to make your tree truly one-of-a-kind.
Get the How-To: How to Make a Wooden Christmas Tree
Holiday Up Your Outdoor Rug
Does your outdoor living space need a holiday update? It's a snap to add a festive touch to a plain sisal rug with a basic tree-shaped stamp made from a baking potato.
Get the How-To: Make a Festive Potato-Stamped Rug
Deck Out the Landscape
Craft these oversized twine ornaments to brighten up your evergreens. Made from inexpensive materials, it's easy to make a whole bunch while binge-watching your favorite show.
Get the How-To: Holiday Craft: DIY String Ornaments
Craft Woodsy Stars
Get the kids to help you out with this easy project for turning inexpensive yardsticks and backyard twigs into large, rustic stars.
Get the How-To: Create a North Star Wall Hanging With Yardsticks
Spell It Out
Try this playful twist on a standard holiday wreath. Just wrap sections of rope with fine-gauge wire, working it between the rope's twists, then shape into letters to spell out a favorite holiday sentiment.
Turn Summer Souvenirs Into a Wreath
Tired of traditional holiday decorations? Go coastal and embellish a fresh evergreen wreath with shells gathered at the shore. To attach them, add a short length of wire to each shell with quick-dry epoxy then just wire them on. Instead of a ribbon bow, wrap the bottom of the wreath with textural yarn or rope and top with a few starfish.
Wrap It Up
Craft a colorful holiday decoration by painting lightweight wooden boxes (available at your local craft store) in assorted colors with acrylic paint. Once they've dried, top with ribbon bows then secure in a grouping with metal L- or flat braces and add a sawtooth or D-ring hook for hanging.
Turn Every Day Into Holiday
Designer Erinn Valencich gives her front porch lanterns a wintry update with artificial sprigs of berries and snowflakes she applied using a craft-store stencil and spray snow.
Easy Holiday Update for Planters
Galvanized metal buckets are handy for oh-so many reasons -- and here's one more: they make a great cover-up for plain pots. To add a wintry touch, first add a punched snowflake design using a hammer and nail.
Turn Craft Store Supplies Into a Snowman
Small, medium and large grapevine wreaths stacked, then held together with twine or wire form a woodsy snowman you can make in a jiffy to add holiday cheer — indoors or out.
Make a Fabric and Evergreen Swag
For a trendy twist on a standard holiday wreath, dress up your front door with a holiday swag made from fresh greenery, fabric branches and glittering pinecones.
Get the How-To: How to Make a Fabric and Evergreen Holiday Swag
Craft a Chalkboard Silhouette
Welcome holiday guests with this trendy chalkboard sign. To make it, trace a reindeer silhouette onto a 24" x 24" piece of plywood, cut it out with a jigsaw and apply two coats of chalkboard paint. Add screw eyes and a wire to the back so you can display your finished sign either indoors or out.
Light Up the Night
Turn hardware store wire mesh and vellum into these high-end looking luminaries to light the way to your front door for holiday guests.
Get the How-To: How to Make Wire Mesh Luminaries
Whip Up an Outdoor Pillow
Cozy up a front porch chair or bench with this adorable reindeer pillow. With a few basic supplies and our free printable template, you can stitch up one of your own in just a few steps.
Get the How-To: How to Make a Reindeer Pillow for the Holidays
Craft a Colorful Tree Silhouette
Painted wooden dowels and a bit of wire or twine are all you need to make this minimalist Christmas tree that can withstand winter's wet weather.
Get the How-To: Make Christmas Tree-Shaped Window Dowels
Give Topiaries a Holiday Makeover
Festive up your front porch by flanking the door with a pair of faux or fresh boxwood topiaries embellished with wired burlap ribbon and garlands of fresh or faux berries.
Make It Personal
For a twist on a standard front-door wreath, layer fresh greenery with a pair of vintage children's ice skates.
Rethink Wreaths
Evergreen wreaths aren't just for your front door. A small wreath laid flat is a great way to add more holiday color around the base of a small outdoor planter or lantern. This trick also works indoors, where a wreath around the base of a pillar candle or centerpiece adds a festive touch.
Ways to Decorate Outside for Christmas
Source: https://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/crafty-outdoor-holiday-decorating-ideas-pictures