Winter Theme Ideas

by Garnet Greene

Overview

Nearly every culture on earth has an ancient tradition honoring and celebrating winter. Long before Christmas, Hanukkah or Ramadan, early civilizations had rituals and festivals to honor the end of the previous year, or to demonstrate hopes for the new one. Many of these observances occurred in mid-December, near the winter solstice - the longest night and shortest day of the year. Winter themes can be beautiful, non-secular decorating choices for your holiday parties and displays.

Iced Tree
Snow

Snow is the most obvious winter theme. Use fake snow as the base of your winter theme design. Faux snow comes in various forms including: aerosol spray for windows and mirrors, cotton candy like mounds of spun fibers, tiny glass beads, and bags of glitter. You can also make your own fake snow by mixing up laundry detergent with warm water. This "snow" will harden on the surface you pour it on and really look like a snowdrift. However, you must be very careful to only use it on surfaces that won't be damaged. Another faux snow option is flocking. Flocking, traditionally used to make Christmas trees look snow-covered, can be used to create beautiful arrangements of all kinds. Simply gathering a bunch of small branches from a barren tree and spraying them with white or colored flocking can make a beautiful centerpiece.

Light and Mirrors

Hit by light, ice and snow sparkle. A winter motif must include candlelight or artificial light to mimic this effect. Twinkling lights are a holiday standard. Recent developments in light technology have created LED decorative lights that are stronger, cooler to the touch, and more energy efficient (see resources below for Holiday LEDs) than traditional light strings. Twinkling lights become even more magical when paired with mirrored surfaces. Place lights on flat mirrors, or trays, in front of wall mirrors, and use tiny mirrors or reflective silver or gold decorations, to maximize your light show.

Floating Candle on Mirror
Themes and Color

Colors of winter themes can reflect the natural palette of winter: white and the pale blue of a winter sky, browns and grays like the hibernating trees, or the green and red of evergreens, holly berries and cardinals. Another winter theme and color palette could be drawn from winter sports and outerwear. Items like sleds, toboggans, ice skates, knit caps, mittens, and scarves, could become the inspiration for a winter display.

Holly and Berries

Overview