It’s always fun to decorate your house for Christmas, but the same old red-and-green mistletoe-and-holly can get boring when you put it out year after year. Are you getting a little tired of your plain glass ornaments? Do you dread the sight of another candy cane? This holiday season, why not go with an original theme for your decorations? Don’t limit yourself to generic Christmas motifs. Instead, surprise your guests with one of these delightful and creative Christmas themes.

Classic Games

Remember how much fun it was when you were a child and your family brought out a board game to play? Now you can bring back that nostalgia with a classic game Christmas theme. Old classics like Monopoly and Scrabble can be used to decorate your home in a playful fashion. All you need is a glue gun, some wire ornament hangers, and an assortment of games. Playing cards and paper money can be arranged into fan-shaped decorations. Poker chips and Monopoly game pieces can be dangled from your tree. Use Scrabble tiles to spell out holiday messages. Tie it all together with colorful, blinking lights, and you’ll have a quirky decorating theme that’s fun for all ages.

Holiday at the Beach

Does the cold weather have you feeling a little blue? Bring back the sunshine with some tropical trimmings! Get inspired by photos of beachside vacations. Trim your tree with sea shells, colorful fish ornaments, sand dollars, and strands of pearls. Tinsel palm trees make an excellent centerpiece for your seaside Christmas theme. Hang straw beach bags instead of stockings, and use a colorful beach towel for your tree skirt. Hand out floral leis and bright sunglasses in tropical gift bags. This seaside theme will warm your spirits in no time.

Joyful Noise

If you’re a musician (or just a fan), make music the central theme for your holiday decorations. Put up a white tree and drape it in black musical note garlands. Add miniature horns, drums, and string instruments. Make wall hangings from Christmas sheet music placed inside gold picture frames and topped with holiday bows. Be sure to play some tunes of your own in the background, and pass out glittery noise-makers to get your guests involved. Music-note wrapping paper will round out this theme beautifully.

For the Birds

Imagine two turtle doves nestled into the evergreen boughs of your Christmas tree. Birds have long been a popular choice for Christmas decorations. Why not make them the central theme? Craft stores have lots of realistic-looking birds that you can use as ornaments on your tree, wreaths, and swags. Pair them with tiny nests and colorful birdhouses. Nestle real pinecones and berries in between the decorations. You can even toss out some seeds and hang some edible ornaments in your outdoor trees to attract real birds to your yard.

Birthdays

Celebrate your family’s birthdays by hanging up some ornaments in their honor. Birthstone Christmas tree ornaments are full of color and meaning. If you’re into astrology, find or make ornaments that represent your loved ones’ Zodiac symbols. You can give out crystal birthstone angel lapel pins as stocking stuffers. Choose plates, ornaments, and ribbons all in the colors of your family’s birth months. For a really unique look, get miniature trees and dedicate one to each family member. Trim each tree in symbols and colors representative of that member’s birth month. If you’ve got July birthdays in your family, sprinkle in some patriotic decorations. Use hearts and cupids to represent the February birthdays. Your imagination is the only limit for this fun, personalized theme.

Vintage Christmas

An old-fashioned Christmas theme doesn’t have to be bland and unoriginal. Scour local thrift stores, antique malls, and even your grandma’s attic for vintage Christmas decorations. You can also purchase or create vintage-looking pieces such as crocheted snowflake ornaments. Use ivory yarn instead of bright white for an aged appearance. Throw lacy covers over tables and windows and place antique angels and teddy bears on your shelves and mantles. Visit craft fairs or enlist the help of friends to get your hands on authentic hand-made Christmas ornaments. And don’t forget the homemade hot cocoa and apple cider! Anything that conjures up a cozy image of Christmases past will fit just fine in this classic theme.

Photos

What better decorations could there possibly be than photos of your loved ones’ smiling faces? Deck your halls and tree with photo frames. You could choose holiday portraits, pictures from vacations and happy times, or humorous candid shots guaranteed to get a chuckle. Make collages of photos taken in the past year. Send out Christmas cards and party invitations personalized with family photos. Make a Christmas tree skirt out of a large throw blanket printed with a family portrait. If you have kids and pets, all the better! Gather pictures of all your loved ones, big and small, and use them to brighten up your holiday.

Comical Christmas

In “The Night Before Christmas”, Santa laughed until his belly jiggled like a bowl full of jelly. Never let it be said that Christmas isn’t a time for humor. After all the stress of shopping, cooking, and entertaining, most of us could use a good laugh. There are plenty of ways to create a humorous Christmas theme for your home. Go tothe internet to find Christmas decorations online. Whether you want a cowboy Santa or some naughty reindeer, you can find them on the Internet. Play some funny songs like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”, and gather the family to watch a laugh-out-loud Christmas movie. With holidays this fun, who needs weekends?

Christmas is what you make it. If you’re a little tired of the same old decorations you’ve been using year after year, go for something new and fresh this holiday season. Choose a theme that celebrates your unique personality. You could even put it to a family vote. With a little creativity and a playful attitude, you’ll come up with a theme that will be enjoyed – and remembered – by everyone who sees it.