9 Easy Last-Minute Christmas Decorating Ideas
When you just need a few extra Christmas decorations in your home and you are running late on time, here are 9 easy and pretty Christmas decorating ideas that will take you less than 15 minutes to put together.
Would you still like to add a few more Christmas decorations to your home but need easy ideas? Then you will want to read this! I’m sharing 9 last-minute Christmas Decorations you can put together in less than 15 minutes or less!
These decorating ideas are less DIY and more last-minute decorations that you can assemble! You don’t have to be crafty or have an interior design eye to create beautiful holiday decor!
FRUIT IN A BOWL
One very easy and also quite economical last-minute Christmas decorating ideas is to add fruit to a bowl. Yes, it is that simple!
It looks fresh and Christmassy and it will last about a week depending on the fruit you choose!
Use fruit alone or embellish it with a few sprigs of faux greens or a spray or two of berries.
Here’s What You Will Need
Use one kind of fruit like pomegranates or oranges that are larger and makes more of a statement.
You can tuck faux greens around the bottom of the bowl for an added festive look.
LEFTOVER ORNAMENTS
Leftover ornaments are a designer’s Christmas gift! There are just so many different ways to use them! But here’s my favorite way to create a WOW factor centerpiece!
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Put all those pretty ornaments in a bow with a string of fairy light and a few tiny sprigs of faux greenery.
If the bowl you are using is too deep don’t use your pretty ornaments in the bowl. Use pinecones (my favorite filler) or plastic bags or bubble wrap to fill the bottom of the bowl.
Don’t have a lot of extra ornaments. That’s okay! Just one beautiful ornament sitting in a nest of faux greens will look stunning too.
Here are a few variations…
A FESTIVE CANDLE
Candles and Christmas are the perfect match. As the evenings get darker and longer adding the soft glow of candlelight to your decor will up the ambiance in your home. And this pretty last-minute Christmas decorating idea is so easy to assemble.
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If you have faux snow, put it in the bottom of the hurricane candle holder and nestle a chunky candle in it. Make sure the snow does not come up more than about a quarter of the candle. I like to use battery-operated candles on timers so I don’t have to worry about blowing them out when I leave the house or go to bed!
Put the wreath on any flat surface like tables or kitchen counters and place the hurricane candle holder in the center of the wreath.
I use very little real Christmas greens in our home, but I like to make this super easy centerpiece about 10 days before Christmas using a wreath of real greens.
If you don’t have a wreath you can arrange sprigs of fresh or faux greens around the candle.
Here are a few variations…
GROUP A FEW CHRISTMAS COLLECTIBLES TOGETHER
Christmas decorating can be as easy as grouping some holiday items together! I collect little trees of all shapes and sizes and love to group some of my collection together in a spot that needs a bit of holiday cheer!
For this grouping of trees I added a bit of real seeded eucalyptus.
This last-minute Christmas decorating idea is so attractive and it looks so pretty!
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If you have 3 things that are alike then you have a collection! But what if you have two?
If you only have a couple items that are alike you can embellish them to make something special by adding leftover ornaments and a few sprigs of greens.
Here are a few more variations…
PINECONES IN A BOWL
Pinecones are such a workhorse. They can be the star of a Christmas arrangement, work as supporting cast in an arrangement or vignette or even work behind the scenes in the bottom of the bowl to hold up other decor.
I use pinecones all fall, Christmas, and winter. These little funny-looking gems are such a gift of nature.
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This is such a simple arrangement like the rest of the last-minute Christmas decorating ideas, but it has a stunning wintery look.
For this simple arrangement, I used a fluted pedestal bowl and filled it with pinecones and my favorite snow (see the bottom of the post for a source link).
Keeping it all white except the pinecones is the secret to making this last-minute Christmas decoration look elegant!
Here are a few variations…
EASY FAUX GREENS HOLIDAY VIGNETTES
You can create a really beautiful Christmas vignette for a table or any flat surface with just a few items.
Grab a tray or low-sided basket and line it sparingly with bits of faux greens. Then add a few votive candles to the vignette and some of your prettiest leftover ornaments.
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This is my favorite way to make a Christmas vignette!
There are so many ways to interpret this sweet and easy vignette. It will look particularly festive it you use the ornaments in your Christmas colors.
Here are a few variations…
USE A HOLIDAY WREATH IN NEW WAYS
Wreaths can be hung or tucked into so many places to add quintessential Christmas decor to your home!
Hang holiday wreaths from a mirror or a doorknob. Add them to a gift or tuck them into a bookshelf!
Make sure to use pretty ribbon to hang them from or tie a pretty bow and add it to a wreath.
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This is such a simple and quick way to decorate for Christmas.
Other ways to use a wreath indoors…
ADD A BOW TO THE STAIRS
Instead of adding garland or stockings or other things to your stairs, add a big beautiful bow to the newel post with greens. This is a stunning look that only takes a few minutes to create. So much easier than wiring greens to your staircase!
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The first thing I did to make this Christmas decoration for our stairs was to make a big floppy bow from two coordinating ribbon.
I also took a few long lengths of ribbon and tied a leftover ornament to each of the ends of the ribbon. Then I gathered everything up and tied a pipe cleaner around it to hold everything together, including a long length of thin ribbon.
Lastly, I tied everything on the newel post, with a thin ribbon.
Just think of all the options!
WRAP A GIFT AND USE IT AS A CHRISTMAS DECORATION
This is such an easy Christmas decoration! Use a wrapped gift as part of your Christmas decor.
I like to wrap a few “fake” gifts with Christmas wrap that works with my Christmas color palette each year and add them here and there throughout the house.
This year I added a very small dose of red to our Christmas home, but had very little red Christmas decor so I used gifts wrapped in red and white plaid giftwrap and tied them up with a white bow where I thought a bit of red would look nice!
This year I also put a couple of wrapped gifts on top of a wreath and I think it was one of my favorite easy Christmas decorations!
Even if it is a bit late for a big holiday season decor extravaganza you can have a beautiful home by adding a few of these easy and creative last-minute Christmas decorations!
Here’s What You Will Need
To see how to wrap my favorite and super easy Christmas bow go HERE
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
OTHER CHRISTMAS POSTS
Make your home magical with all the easy Christmas ideas in the posts below!
MERRY AND BRIGHT CHRISTMAS TOUR
HOW TO CHOOSE THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS COLOR PALETTE
HOW TO DECORATE A TABLETOP TREE
HOW TO DECORATE WITH FAUX CHRISTMAS GREENS
Another great year with you…….
Yay! Merry Christmas
You are amazing! Always something simple but lovely. Plenty of ideas and they are beautiful, too. Something for everyone. So appreciate your enthusiasm and instructions. Thank you.
I think over the years I have probably done all these things; so fun and simple.
So simple and so pretty.
Yvonne
I love the simplicity of a pinecone a sprig of evergreens and a candle vignettes. They can be glitzed up for Christmas and New Year’s. Than simply displayed through out the winter.
In one photo you have a lovely lamb with a crown. Is it possible to share where you got it. I’m trying to find lambs for my new nativity set and finding it difficult to find quality lambs.
I’ve had this little lamb for years. I found it on a blog shop here:https://www.etsy.com/shop/edithandevelyn
Thank you Yvonne for the link. While I didn’t see the lamb it is a lovely shop. I know I’ll find many beautiful things
Merry Christmas ✝️
Yvonne, thank you for this great post today. So needed and appreciated. As was this past Sunday’s story. Truly needed.
Susan
Merry Christmas,Susan.
Yvonne
I love your decorations. This year I actually used your idea for decorating the mantle. Merry Christmas
Oh, I’m so glad I’ve inspired you! Merry Christmas, Karen!