Easy Christmas Decorations for Your Fireplace Mantel

The fireplace mantel is one of the easiest and most beautiful places to decorate your home for the Christmas holidays. A mantel decoration also makes the perfect complement to Christmas stockings hung over the fireplace. Here are some quick, inexpensive and easy mantel decorating ideas for the Christmas holidays.

Poinsettia Decoration

Arrange poinsettia bracts in slender clear vases and place them on your fireplace mantel. For a reusable Christmas mantel decoration, use artificial poinsettia bracts instead of fresh. Add other decorations such as pine cones or large acorns to accentuate your Christmas mantel design.

Wreath Decoration

Assemble an easy wreath from evergreen boughs such as pine or balsam. You can also purchase a pre-made fresh or artificial wreath for your mantel decoration. Attach glass ball ornaments, silk flowers, pieces of Christmas candy, apples or other decorations with hot glue. When choosing your wreath ornaments, be sure to select colors that complement or match the colors in your Christmas stockings.

Ornament Decoration

Choose some ornaments from your collection to display on your mantel. Vintage or antique ornaments in Christmas colors such as red, green, blue, gold and silver would create a particularly beautiful mantle decoration. Arrange a fresh or artificial garland across the mantel, then nestle the ornaments in the garland. If you like, you can substitute a mantel runner for the garland in this Christmas mantel decoration.

Candle Decoration

Collect some Christmas candles in various sizes and shapes, including tapers, votives and pillar candles. White and cream colored candles make attractive decorations for a mantel, as do red, green and gold. When choosing candles, select Christmas scents such as vanilla, cinnamon, pine, pumpkin pie and sugar cookie. Place the tapers and votives in decorative candle holders that match your chosen color scheme.

Lighted Garland Decoration

Find either a fresh or artificial Christmas garland. Carefully weave a string of battery powered LED Christmas lights into the garland branches. For a more subtle lighted garland mantel decoration, use white lights only. For a more festive decoration, use multi-colored lights or select lights in odd shapes or sizes. You can drape the garland across the mantel or secure it at each end and allow it to hang down in a swag or festoon.

Christmas Flower Decoration

Drape an evergreen garland over your mantel. Then get some fresh or artificial winter flowers such as lilies, roses, tulips, carnations, chrysanthemums and orchids. Work the Christmas flowers into the garland in a decorative pattern. If you prefer, you could also create miniature Christmas flower arrangements in small vases. Add some Christmas greenery such as evergreen sprigs and eucalyptus and arrange them at intervals over the mantel.

For more ideas, read Cheap Outdoor Holiday Decorations for Your Yard and Homemade Outdoor Holiday Decorations Made with Rope Lights.