9 Christmas Decoration Ideas: How to Dress Up Your Backyard for Xmas

If you have to say so yourself, your living room is looking super festive, with that fabulously bedecked Christmas tree standing in the corner.    But there is one area you have likely left to the last minute to decorate. It’s your yard.    Save for a colorfully decorated wreath on the front door, your yard is looking anything but festive.    Your deck looks rather plain, and so does your pergola, and your whole backyard, if truth be told.   Santa won’t be too impressed. But not to panic, there is still time. Here are cheap but tasteful yard Christmas decorations to bring festive cheer to your home, starting with the mailbox:   Letterbox Christmas Decorations   As far as holidays go, you wouldn’t immediately think of your mailbox, but that’s exactly where you should start.    Not only is your letterbox the first thing your visitors see, but a cheerfully decorated letterbox is an enduring Christmas tradition and something that will be sure to melt even Santa’s heart.   Not sure where to start decorating your letterbox? We have got a few ideas:   1. Give Your ‘Letters to Santa’ Mailbox a Fresh Coat of Paint   If you have a dedicated ‘letters to Santa’ letterbox sitting somewhere in your garage, it’s time to dust it up for a fresh makeover.    After a quick dust-down, give the old mailbox a fresh coat of paint. You could paint it a color you prefer, but brilliant white and the traditional Christmas red always work a treat.    With the mailbox painted all white, give it a cheerful contrast by inscribing ‘letters to Santa’ in red across the front.   2. Add Colorful Swag to Your Mailbox   Christmas mailbox swags are an old holiday decor idea that never disappoints. You could buy the swag ready-made, or you could make your own.    For your DIY Christmas mailbox decoration, you will need fresh pine swag, which is nothing more than fresh pine cuttings joined by some craft floral wire and made to drape either side of the mailbox.   You will also need:   Shatterproof Christmas balls Ribbon and a couple of pre-made bows Artificial white and red mums flowers Some glue   For the tools, you will need wire cutters, a glue gun, and scissors. Here’s a nice video tutorial on how to bring everything together.   Driveway Gate Christmas Decorations   With your mailbox looking festive, you should make sure your driveway gate looks bang on-theme, too.    3. Double Wreaths for your Bi-parting Swing Driveway Gate     Evergreen wreaths, with a touch of red, are a familiar sight on driveways during the festive period. That’s because they always add tasteful decor cred to your home.   Wreaths work best on bi-parting swing gates. And instead of one wreath, make one for each gate leaf placed centrally and towards the top of the gate.    If yours is a sliding gate, hanging the wreaths directly on the gate will be impractical. Instead, fix them to the pillars on either side of the gate. They will look just as festive.    And for something off-beat:   4. Repurpose Old, Empty Picture Frames Into Colourful Wreaths   You have likely spent a lot of money already on Christmas gifts and decorations. This holiday display trick could save you a few bucks.   Look around your garage for empty picture frames you no longer use and repurpose them into wreaths to hang on your driveway gate.    To fashion the disused picture frames into real show-stoppers, select a few good ones and paint them into different colors.    Paint a couple in white, some in red, and a few others in bright colors of your choosing.    Decorate them as you would your standard wreaths, with red ribbon, and fresh pine cuttings and cones. Then hang them on your gate in any configuration you desire.   Gazebo and pergola Christmas decorations   Weather permitting, you should take your Christmas celebrations outside this year, if only for some time.    As there is likely to be above normal snowfall in Southern Ontario this Christmas, you should still want to be protected from the elements.    We suggest fastening a canvas cloth over your pergola and using the ideas below to turn it into a winter wonderland.      If you own a gazebo, the covered roof will give you better protection from the weather.   5. Light Up the Pergola/Gazebo With Christmas Lights     With some weather protection, your pergola is the perfect outdoor space to enjoy your Christmas dinner. We bet you would also relish the experience of opening your Christmas gifts under the stars.   A fun idea is to arrange some cozy seating, with plenty of plush cushions around the Christmas tree placed in the center of the pergola or gazebo. You will also want to make sure the space is as bright as day, with plenty of lighting.    Hang strings of icicle lights right around the pergola, making sure the light strings hang down to the floor. For even more pop-out cheer, wrap light strings around the pergola’s corner posts.   6. Glowing Wreaths and Garland for a Pop of Colour     Wreaths and garlands really are the utility Christmas decor items. Wherever you hang them, they always look the part.    For something understated, opt for a glowing garland wrapped around the pergola’s posts and under the beams.    As you should also do with the garland, wrap stretches of light strings right around your wreaths. The lights make sure the fresh green color of the greenery and the red decorations come alive in spite of the dark. Deck Christmas Decorations If you have invested in a deck, this is another perfect outdoor place to decorate for the holidays. Here are a few ideas:   7. Take the Christmas Tree Out to the Deck Have you likely always celebrated Christmas indoors? If

7 Ideas For A Festive-Looking Fence

Of all your Christmas holidays, this year’s is one you will happily stay home to celebrate. Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising in Ontario, and the Waterloo Region will be going into a hard lockdown.   With Covid-19 spread indicators worsening, it’s best for everyone to stay home this Christmas. So why not prepare your home and make this Christmas less forgettable than it might be under these difficult circumstances, starting with your wood fence?   So, how do you dress up your wood picket or board-on-board fence to capture the Christmas spirit?    In this article, we will discuss 7 Christmas fence decoration tips for a festive-looking wood fence.   Let’s go.   Christmas fence decorations to consider this festive season   If you have a white picket fence, then decorating it for Christmas will be a dream. For other wooden fence types, the job will be just as rewarding.   Beyond the strings of LED mini lights, scrap wire, decorating materials left over from other DIY jobs, and wire cutters and pliers you likely already have in your toolbox, you won’t have to spend much on these Christmas fence decorations.   1. Drape your fence with a garland of fresh greens   What’s a Christmas fence decoration without a garland of fresh greens?   If you have some plain wire about 1.5 times the length of your fence, some soft tying wire, and access to fresh cypress cuttings, you have all you need to make a garland.    It’s important to make the garland longer than the fence, preferably 1.5 to two times longer because you want it to hang on the fence posts in a ‘smiley’ pattern.    To add that wow factor, decorate some wreaths in a contrasting colour (red works a treat) and hang them on each of the fence posts. Instead of wreaths, you can use red cloths tied around the top of posts in a bow-tie fashion.   If you are not sure how to make one, here’s a short video that shows you how to make a garland:   2. Wish passersby a ‘Merry Christmas’ in lights   A fun idea is to spell ‘Merry Christmas’ in light strings along the length of your wood fence. A board-on-board fence is perfect for this decoration. All you need for this are strings of mini LED lights.    Be careful how you fix the light strings to the fence. Because this is a seasonal decoration that you will soon take down, you don’t want to use big nails that will leave holes that will let in water and cause rot.   You can use tape to affix the mini lights to the fence. If the lights are too heavy, get some plastic hooks and use double-sided tape to fix them to the fence. Done right, this decoration is sure to catch the attention of passersby and help spread that Christmas cheer.   3. Use barbed wire wreaths to decorate country style post-and-rail fences A winter Christmas out in the country, or some large estate whose border is marked by those post and rail fences you see on paddocks, is the stuff of fairytales.   But what’s also true is decorating a long fence lacking in charm can be a bit overwhelming. But a few strategically-hanged, colourfully-decorated barbed wire wreaths can make a big statement.    Making the wreaths is fairly easy, but be sure to wear protective gloves. Use whatever you have on hand to decorate the wreaths, which could be fresh or artificial flowers, green pine/cypress cuttings, and anything leftover from your Christmas tree decorations.   4. Drape your fence with a mesh of icicle lights     An easy and yet eminently fun wood fence Christmas decoration trick is to dress your fence in a drape of white icicle lights.    Right on theme with a winter Christmas celebration, the icicle lights give the appearance of falling snow. This decoration truly comes alive at night and is fairly inexpensive to execute.   Still on the lights theme:   5. Hang candle lamps along the length of your fence     After a year of sorrows and the dark cloud of uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Christmas represents an opportunity for renewal.    And there is no better spiritual symbol of ‘light in the darkness’ than candlelight. Instead of the standard LED light strings, choose the therapeutic and calming energy of lighted candles.   For the lamps, buy a set of glass storage jars and a corresponding number of thick, slowing burning candles. The jars must have a rimmed top so you can tie a hanging wire around them. Also, make sure the jars are taller than the candles so they don’t blow out.   Hang these lamps on the top of your fence’s anchor posts. Light the candles when daylight starts to fade so they can burn through or well into the night.   And now for the driveway gate:   6. Hang snowflake motifs on driveway gate   You were not going to forget about decorating the driveway, were you?   The driveway gate is where your Christmas guests should get an idea of what the evening will be like. It should set the mood for the rest of the night’s festivities. You want to decorate it well, and you have many options.   We like the idea of placing strings of shining stars and glittering snowflakes around your gate’s frame. This is an excellent way to draw attention to your main gate. Even first-time visitors to your home will not miss your gate.   Why not light your visitors’ way right up to your doorstep?   7. Outline your driveway with pathway lights   This one is an easy fix, but it makes such a big difference.    Pathway lights are available in different designs. But what’s more important, especially if your area receives a lot of snowfall, is how high you set your light stakes. If your