30 Outdoor Christmas Decor Ideas for the Most Festive Curb Appeal
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The Christmas season really is the best time of the year. There’s nothing better than spending time in the kitchen baking Christmas cookies, gathering with friends and family around the twinkly Christmas tree, or just curling up on the sofa with a cup of hot chocolate watching Christmas movie after Christmas movie. But first comes the most fun of all...decorating!
Just like flowers in the spring and pumpkins in the fall, your outdoor holiday decor is a fun way to celebrate the season. A front door all decked out with lush evergreen garlands and cheery red bows warmly welcomes your guests and says a festive hello to all who drive by. If you’re looking for outdoor decorating ideas beyond the standard evergreen wreath, below you’ll find inspiration for easy ways to beautifully adorn your home’s exterior with creative garlands, wreaths, planters, and more.
Get even more ideas for outdoor holiday decorating:
Dress Your Windows
Homeowner Landon McAfee drapes his cottage’s front door (painted a holiday-ready green!) with garland of a mix of Leyland Cypress and white pine. As a finishing touch, all of the window ledges get a holiday spruce-up with a layer of greenery clippings.
RELATED: 45+ Gorgeous Christmas Garland Decorating Ideas for Dressing Your Home Up
Adorn Your Statues
As an alternative to a traditional planter, consider placing wreaths around statues that flank the front door. Here, dog statues look extra festive at a Mississippi hunting lodge designed by Richard Keith Langham.
Set up a Seating Nook
At Alyson Morgan’s Wisconsin farmhouse a wreath made with foraged branches and tendrils of dried vines and botanicals takes center stage above a wooden bench loaded up with pillows. An unadorned pine tree in a crock ups the seasonal charm.
RELATED: 20+ Easy Ideas for Beautiful Outdoor Christmas Planters
Add Color With a Charlie Brown Tree
While your garlands and wreaths may be perfect and lush, there’s nothing more charming than a “less-than-perfect” fir tree weighted down with ornaments. A galvanized bucket provides a humble, no-fuss container.
Wrap Porch Columns With Garlands
On this upstate New York farmhouse, all the porch columns are wrapped with Fraser fir garlands—a perfect pairing with evergreen wreaths and festive red bows.
Hang an Arrangement
There’s no rule that your front door “wreath” has to be round. Choose your favorite outdoor-friendly vessel, like this wicker cone, and fill with an arrangement of evergreen and berry-filled branches. Finish with a festive bow.
Put a Tree on Your Porch
“I love the idea of having an outdoor tree, and this is a perfect way to do it,” says textile designer Heather Taylor of the 10-footer on the screened-in porch of her family’s California cabin, where—yes, even during the winter—they bundle up and gather to enjoy time together.
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DIY a Tobacco Basket Wreath
A rustic tobacco basket makes for the easiest DIY wreath! Just add floral wire to fasten greenery, plus a few pine cone accents, some bright berries, and maybe a gingham ribbon to finish it all off.
RELATED: 50+ DIY Christmas Wreaths to Give Your Guests the Prettiest Welcome
Hang Wreaths With Ribbon
Kaley Cutting’s Connecticut farmhouse makes a merry first impression thanks to wreaths hung at each window with layered ticking-stripe ribbons.
Mix Your Greens
For a garland with lots of interesting texture, choose one made with a mix of types of greens, such as pine, cedar, boxwood, or even, like here, olive leaves. Complement the simple, natural look with wood and terra-cotta planters holding a variety of evergreen shrubs.
Decorate for the Entire Winter Season
As if fur-embellished ice skates weren’t wintery or glamorous enough! In this innovative DIY, they’re filled with sprigs of evergreens and finished off with a fluffy pom-pom for a unique “wreath” that will have all your holiday guests buzzing. A few silver jingle bells or miniature ornaments make things even more festive.
Go All Out
If you fall in the “more is more” holiday decorating philosophy, then go for it! This Christmas-loving homeowner went wild with a small tree, wreath, evergreen arrangements in planters, colorful packages, a vintage ski poster, and whimsical flag bunting up above.
RELATED: The Best Small Christmas Tree Ideas With Big Holiday Spirit
Stagger Red & Green Lanterns
Now, here’s a home that incorporates the colors of Christmas in a seamless, beautiful way that doesn’t interrupt their existing decor scheme. These Tennessee homeowners incorporated the merry hues using a swath of cedar branches tied together with red ribbon, a small tree, and other color-coordinated decorations.
Lean a Vintage Sled
A vintage wooden sled or two propped by the door brings a seasonal spirit that can stay all winter long. For extra embellishment add a large bow.
RELATED: 25+ Vintage Christmas Decorations That Will Never Go Out of Style
Swoop Your Garland
Rather than wrapping your porch posts, let the garlands hang down for a more casual farmhouse-style look. It also lets a lot more of that pretty green to show—and pop against a wintery white setting.
Stack up Some Hay Bales
This country Christmas display outside the Junk Gypsies’ Wander Inn, comes together with just a few items, namely hay bales. They used brightly colored lights and galvanized stars as decorations, but you can adorn yours however you like.
RELATED: See more of how the Junk Gypsies Decorate Their Inn for Christmas
Create a Fragrant Door Swag
Is there a more beautiful—or more fragrant!—arrangement than a grouping of dried oranges, pine cones, and fresh greenery? We don’t think so! Add a burlap ribbon, and you have yourself an eye-catching front door decoration.
RELATED: How to Dry Citrus for All Your Holiday Decorations
Bring Out Vintage Favorites
At her Michigan farmhouse, Abby Hoppen brings out her vintage thermoses and coolers to add crusty nostaligia to the front porch. A red metal lawn chair and galvanized feeders add more pops of vintage patina.
Hang Garland Around the House
No porch? No problem! Just drape garland around the exterior of your house or barn for a unique holiday look. Cover the garland with outdoor-friendly ball ornaments of various colors and sizes for extra festive flair
Embellish With Berries
This is no ordinary wreath—but it doesn’t take a ton of elbow grease to create it either. A simple spray of wheat stalks, a pretty ribbon bow, and a few artificial berries make for a gorgeous final look...and don’t forget the tiny silver bells.
Light up an Outdoor Tree
In addition to the one inside, why not also decorate a tree outside?The homeowners of this Midwest farmhouse went retro with Shiny Brites and vintage colored bulb lights on the 15-foot-tall tree in their yard.
RELATED: How to Hang Christmas Lights on Your Tree Like a Pro
Set up an Outdoor Drinks Station
On this rustic front porch, a couple of stacked benches become a help-yourself bar come the holiday season. Here, mulled wine is served from a 1960s Danish muller, but you could do a similar set-up with all the makings for hot chocolate or hot toddies.
Don’t Forget Your Truck
Even an old pickup truck becomes cute outdoor Christmas decor when outfitted with a festive wreath.
Pot Small Evergreens
Put down the tinsel! Sometimes small evergreen trees and shrubs look best au naturel, especially when stationed outdoors on a porch or patio. These minis were placed in a galvanized tub and an orchard basket, while clippings and pinecones were arranged on the table and in the old crate below. (Tip: Ask your local tree farm if they’ll sell you surplus trimmings for a discount.)
RELATED: 25+ Evergreen Shrubs to Plant for Year-Round Beauty
Put down the tinsel. Sometimes evergreens look best au naturel, especially when stationed outdoors on a porch or patio. Serena placed these minis in a galvanized tub and an orchard basket, then arranged clippings and pinecones on the table and in Victoria Pearson
Hang a Vintage Vessel Full of Greenery
Rather than an expected evergreen wreath, tuck greenery and berries inside a vintage trapper’s basket for a farmhouse fresh alternative. Here, at Frank and Andra Mollica’s Connecticut home, a pair of cast cement urns from a flea market also flank the front door.
Accent With Poinsettias
Outside Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer Purcell’s upstate New York home, red and white poinsettia blooms elevate the evergreen garland. If you’re worried about longevity, you can also layer your greenery with a faux poinsettia garland.
RELATED: 10 Simple Poinsettia Care Tips to Make Yours Last Beyond Christmas
Display Your Favorite Hobby
This one is for all you knitters out there! For a unique DIY wreath, wrap Styrofoam balls with yarn, then use a hot-glue gun to affix the balls onto a wreath form. Spray with protective finish to help it better withstand the winter weather elements.
RELATED: 50+ DIY Christmas Wreaths to Give Your Guests the Prettiest Welcome
Hang a Giant Wreath on the Wall
You don’t have to keep wreaths to just doors and windows. At this Tennessee cabin, giant pinecones add a homespun, rustic feel to the giant evergreen wreath hanging on the exterior wall.
RELATED: 30+ Easy Pine Cone Crafts to Spruce up Your Home This Holiday Season
Add Whimsy With Window Ornaments
Take a more whimsical approach to your outdoor decorating with colorful giant ornaments. DIY large ball ornaments, like these pictured here, with plastic bouncy balls and a few more supplies.
Get the tutorial at One Good Thing by Jillee.
Make “Ornament” Yard Decorations
Who needs those giant yard inflatables when you can make your own giant Christmas ornaments from a few hardware store items? To make: Spray paint small tires and use a stencil to add a Christmas-y touch with a snowflake or a Christmas tree.
Get the tutorial at Addicted 2 DIY.
RELATED: 90+ DIY Christmas Decorations to Transform Your Home Into a Winter Wonderland
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