If you love the look of vintage Christmas, but don’t know where to start, check out our family room full of old fashioned Christmas decorating ideas.
Each Christmas season I like to share my family room decorations with you.
It is my way of showing you how you can create new looks with things you own, year after year. Of course, I do add or make new items each year for my decorating, but many of the items I decorate with at Christmas time are used every year in my decor and I come up with new themes and ways to display them.
This year I decided my theme would be old-fashioned Christmas decor. I wanted to be able to use some of my favorite vintage decor my grandma handmade for me, as well as some newer vintage looking items to create a warm and cozy feel in my home.
This included adding some handmade, natural items too.
If you are looking to create your own Old-Fashioned Christmas theme, here are a few old fashioned Christmas ideas.
Old-Fashioned Christmas Decorating Ideas for Your Tree
1. Handmade or Vintage Ornaments
My grandmother handmade a ton of ornaments for me when I was a girl. Though they aren’t quite vintage, the fabric angels, gingerbread men, Santas, and snowmen on my tree remind me of her and they have an old-fashioned look to them.
Displaying ornaments from a special family member can bring them closer during the holiday season.
If you don’t have any vintage ornaments, take a look at the thrift store for shiny brite ornaments to add a vintage element to your tree.
2. DIY Ornaments
Making your own ornaments can be a great addition to your holiday traditions. Our kids receive a new ornament each year from us, so that by the time they are on their own, they will have enough ornaments to start decorating their first Christmas tree. I made these blackboard star ornaments for them a few years ago and they are the perfect vintage look for the theme this year.
3. White Lights or Candles
Adding white Christmas lights to the tree gives your tree a vintage look since they give the feel of lit candles. Using white lights instead of colored will give your tree an old-fashioned feel.
Though my kids prefer colored lights, they agreed that this year’s theme worked well with white lights and let me use them, as long as I promised to use colored next year.
4. Cranberry & Popcorn Garlands
Adding natural elements into your decorating automatically gives it an old-fashioned feel. It is the simple things that give your home a cozy feeling.
Creating your own cranberry & popcorn garlands is an old tradition and a fun family activity that adds holiday cheer to your home. It touches on a simpler time when there wasn’t so much craziness surrounding the holiday. It’s a great way to spend quality time together while you create decor for your home.
The festive white and red garland contrasts beautifully with the tree and pine boughs on our mantel too.
5. Dried Orange Slices
Dried fruit can be a colorful addition to your old fashioned Christmas tree. Creating a fruit garland or hanging the slices as ornaments on the tree and mantel adds beautiful color to your home while giving an old fashioned feel to your decorations.
Old Fashioned Christmas Decorating Ideas for Your Mantel
6. Antique Store or Flea Market Finds
An Old-Fashioned Christmas theme is the perfect time to use the vintage pieces you have lying around your home. Adding an old wooden crate, box, or wooden alphabet blocks to your Christmas display is a fun way to create a vintage feel to your room.
If you don’t have vintage items, you can find them at flea markets, thrift stores, and antique stores.
7. Vintage Looking Santas
We purchased the Santas on our mantel during Christmas clearance last year and even though they aren’t old, they look like they are. Christmas clearance is the perfect time of year to keep your eyes open for new holiday decor that you can use for your home decorating.
8. Old Fashioned Signs
Again, there are a lot of signs for sale that look vintage. Displaying a few nostalgic Christmas signs on your mantel or walls is the perfect way to add a little fun to your Christmas display.
9. Snow Globes
Snow globes are a simple decoration that also look old fashioned. I added bottle brush trees to upcycled pickle and mason jars to create a snowy landscape to tie into my other decor. These small trees fit wonderfully in the vintage crate on the hearth. Though they aren’t the traditional snow globe, they give the feel of a winter wonderland and are so simple to put together.
10. Greenery, Dried Fruit, and Fake Snow
Adding fake or fresh greenery along your mantel along with your stockings can give a festive look to your fireplace. The mix of fake snow, and dried fruit might be my favorite way to decorate my fireplace. Each year I have tried different things on my mantel, but this is the best combination so far.
11. DIY Wreaths
Making your own small wreath for Christmas can be another fun old fashioned decoration. This DIY mesh and burlap wreath adds a pop of color behind my Christmas tree and is the perfect wall decor for my theme this year. This wreath was designed to be used for multiple seasons and it has become one of my favorite DIYs.
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Looking for similar items to the ones I suggested or used? Take a look at these ideas you can purchase online.
Other Old Fashioned Christmas Decorating Ideas
There are a lot of other fun vintage decorating ideas you can do for Christmas. The best part about old fashioned decorating is that there are so many different ways you can arrange your decor and different things you can use to create a warm and cozy old fashioned feeling.
Below are a few more ideas you can use in your old fashioned decorating. Some of them I have done in the past, some of them I didn’t do, but thought I would share the idea since they would make a great addition to an old fashioned Christmas theme.
12. Pine Cones
Adding pine cones into decorations is a great way to add an old fashioned look to your decor. Create pinecone garland on your curtains, or a pinecone tablescape for an old fashioned feel in your dinning room.
13. Paper Stars
Making your decorations out of paper is a great way to create a little bit of old fashioned fun. Make twisted paper stars or paper snow flakes to decorate your living room windows for another great old fashioned idea.
14. Cardboard Christmas Trees
You can create simple Christmas trees out of cardboard. Wrap them in brown or white paper and hang your Christmas cards or simple paper snowflakes on them as a fun vintage decoration.
15-23 Other Fun Ideas for Vintage Decor
- 15. Cinnamon sticks for ornaments – Not only are these vintage looking, but they smell great too!
- 16. Vintage cookie cutters – hang them on the tree or use them in a display on your mantel or shelf.
- 17. Ceramic Christmas trees- Now is the time to bring out those ceramic Christmas trees and incorporate them into your decorating.
- 18. Old fashioned oil lamps – These beautiful lamps are the perfect way to make your home feel cozy.
- 19. Gingerbread houses – Make your own gingerbread house to display! It’s a fun way to spend time together and create an edible decoration.
- 20. Gingerbread cookie ornaments
- 21. Vintage Christmas Cards hung on the walls
- 22. Christmas music or a favorite Christmas recipe in a frame – Display your favorite Christmas song or hand written family recipe for a special Christmas collage.
- 23. Christmas village items -Christmas villages are designed to look old fashioned so scatter those village pieces into your decorating displays to add some fun.
24. Old Fashioned Wrapping
If you are looking to continue the vintage feel into Christmas morning, create homemade gifts and wrap them in brown paper with colorful string and sprigs of pine.
Favorite Vintage Christmas Decorations
I hope that these ideas will inspire you to keep your eyes open for vintage finds and create your own Christmas theme or family tradition next year. Finding different ways to display your Christmas decorations each year can be a rewarding challenge as you explore each great idea and find new ways to use your decorations.
If you are interested in seeing some of my previous Christmas decorations, take a look at these themes:
Want to remember this idea? Save it to your favorite holiday decor board on Pinterest.
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