Christmas Stores in Plano, Texas

Every year, consumers find themselves overwhelmed with the amount of Christmas décor being offered to them. It seems that Christmas decorations hit the shelves earlier each year; with this, shoppers have longer to find good deals and reliable Christmas stores to make their purchases at before it is time to deck the halls and put up the tree. There are multiple stores in Plano, Texas that offer Christmas decorations, but these are some of the best places to find great merchandise.

Michaels - There are several locations all over Plano, but I frequent the one at 6401 West Plano Parkway. (For more locations, visit www.Michaels.com). This store has everything you could hope to find to decorate your home.

They have an entire section devoted to materials that you can use to decorate a wreath or tree. I am a big fan of their Christmas picks; these are literally craft picks with some sort of Christmas décor attached to the end - presents, small ornaments, berries, etc. You can use them to add some variety to your tree (other than the typical round and themed ornaments.) Or, they are great to put together a wreath. You can also find inexpensive wreaths here, along with various types of Christmas ribbon. If you have a color palette in mind, you will easily be able to find wire-edged ribbon to match. These items all make for an easy way to assemble a wreath - wrap the ribbon around a wreath and stick in some craft picks - voila! You have a great, festive wreath to hang on the front door, or somewhere in your home.

They have a few Christmas trees at this Christmas store, but the variety is a bit limited. But, they do have quite a few sections of different colored ornaments; you can easily find themes (woodsy, candy, etc.) and ornaments in every color. My favorite new colors they've added this year are a turquoise and light brown; they make for a new and fun way to decorate your home!

They also have a small selection of wrapping paper; their paper is more "artsy," so if you want your presents to look pretty, you will easily find something to suit your needs. They do not have any type of character paper though (no Mickey Mouse, Superman, etc.)

This store is great if you want to make some sort of Christmas craft, too. They have multiple sections devoted to un-finished wooden and glass ornaments and wall hangings. Along with the Christmas décor, you will find anything you need to craft (paint, brushes, themed paper, etc.) I have also bought a Wilton gingerbread house kit from Michaels; granted, my house turned out horribly, but blame the person in this case and not the product. Nevertheless, it was a ton of fun to do, and I would highly recommend purchasing a kit if you stop at this Christmas store.

If you are interested in baking something special for the holidays this year, they also have an entire section devoted to Wilton's cake material. You can find special shaped baking pans (gingerbread men), sprinkles and frosting dye in every color, and serving trays (festive plates, tiered servers, etc.)

One of the best parts about Michaels is that they always have sales going on; through the month of December, they typically have their Christmas items 40%-50% off, and you can always find some sort of coupon in your Sunday paper. Plus, most locations have a $1.00 bin where you can find small pads of paper, soaps, and other random trinkets that make for great stocking stuffers, or little wooden items that you can paint to put out as décor. I recently bought a wreath, Christmas picks, a door hanger for the wreath, and ribbon for under $10.00 because everything was on sale; for such a low cost, we have a great decoration welcoming our guests to our home this holiday season!

Hobby Lobby - This is actually my favorite Christmas store. (Check out www.HobbyLobby.com and search Plano to find a location near you.) They always have the largest variety of anything Christmas décor related.

Every time I go during the holiday season, it seems that they always have something new. They typically have two or three aisles devoted entirely to various colors of Christmas bulbs; I found glass footballs here that I had been searching for everywhere when I did a special tree for my husband this year. And, they have colors that are typically hard to match. (I went to almost ten other places before I finally found a color here that resembled Steelers' gold.) Their boxes of bulbs are typically $6.99 to $9.99, and they normally run some sort of special. Lately, they've had them all marked 50% off. On these aisles, you can basically find any type of ornament in a specific color - purple, blue, pink, black, etc. They have snowflakes, icicles, various size bulbs, etc.

There are normally two more aisles devoted to "themed" ornaments; these aisles are where you will find character type ornaments - dogs, cats, Santa Clause, candy, reindeer, penguins, etc. You name it; you will most likely find it in some various type of material (glass, wood, plastic, etc.) My sorority mascot is a squirrel, and even though I am no longer an undergraduate, I still keep my eye out for squirrel ornaments. This is the only Christmas store that I know I can rely on every year to find something squirrel related because they have such a huge variety.

Hobby Lobby also has a large assortment of stockings and tree skirts; they typically do not have specific characters, but if you want something festive, they'll have it (blue, red, silver, pink, etc.) And, you'll probably be able to find a stocking hanger/hook on the next aisle over to match.

They also have a decent sized selection of fake Christmas trees - various widths, heights, pre-lit, or not pre-lit. Like to collect different looking Santas? You will definitely find some here; they come in different colored suits, with various themes (football, soccer, Victorian-era, and so on.) If you like to pick up some of those holiday knick-knacks/collectibles (figurines, snow globes, paint-it-yourself ceramics), this is the place to go.

Like most other craft stores, they have a wide variety of Christmas picks to make crafts and a ton of different styles of Christmas ribbon. If you are looking for great décor at amazing prices, this is the Christmas store to check out. You can sign up for their online mailing list; they will send you a new ad and a coupon every Sunday. So, give yourself time to watch the sales as they rotate on different items weekly, and you will be able to get more decorations for your dollar here than anywhere else.

Decorator's Warehouse - This Christmas store has one specific location in Plano. (2819 West 15^th Street Plano, Texas 75075.) I stopped by this store on a whim when I first moved to this area a couple years ago.

They definitely have a large selection, and at Christmas time, the whole store is devoted entirely to Christmas decorations. They have very elegant decorations; if you are going for a more grown-up and classic look, they will definitely have something to suit your wants. There are rows of baskets containing various ornaments, picks, and other materials used to decorate a tree.

They also have multiple Christmas trinkets - statues, wall hangs, blankets, etc. You can spend hours in here just walking around and looking at all of their options before you actually make a decision on what to purchase. To be honest though, I thought the prices were pretty high. I went in thinking this was going to be a wholesale location as the name suggests, but in my opinion, it definitely was not. If you give yourself time to shop at other stores, you can watch for sales that would be more budget friendly than shopping at this location.

But, if you do not have a limited budget and want a wide selection of Christmas décor that you know will always be stocked as that is what they specialize in this time of the year, check them out. You may also find something that you have been trying to find elsewhere without any luck; just be prepared to pay more than you would if another Plano Christmas store is running a sale. Or, just go walk around for a bit; you will be sure to see some very pretty Christmas pieces that might change your mind on how much you want to spend to decorate your house this year!