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Christmas is often the time for extravagance. Many of us like to go big and bold for Christmas, from presents to decorations. However, bright Christmas decorations seem to have fallen out of style in recent years. Instead, neutral, rustic colours, materials and textures have snuck their way into our homes. And nowhere are these style ideas more embraced than in a Scandi Christmas style. With neutral colours and inspiration from the world around us, we could all benefit from a Scandinavian Christmas. So, here’s how to have a Scandi Christmas no matter where in the world you live.
What Is A Scandi Christmas?
The Scandinavian style originated, oddly enough, in Scandinavia! This region comprises three European countries: Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Following both World Wars, people were searching for a change that would lessen the divide between the luxury of the wealthy and the austerity of the poor. Enter, Scandinavian interior design. Through the establishment of the Lunning Prize in 1951, named for Frederik Lunning, an importer of Danish designs, and the recommendation of Scandi design through the editor-in-chief of House Beautiful magazine, the Scandinavian style reached new heights.
The Scandinavian style has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. Its stripped-back, minimalistic ideals ensure a focus on functionality and natural beauty with little sacrifice on style. Scandinavian people also hold nature in high regard, so this style involves plenty of natural light, woody tones and live plants. So, how does this translate to Christmas?
Well, so many of us focus on going big for Christmas. With a Scandi Christmas, you can scrap the ostentation in favour of natural, cosy decorations that focus on how you feel in a room rather than overwhelming your senses. A Scandinavian Christmas is all about neutral colours, unique ornaments, a comforting ambience, and natural materials for a spared-back festive season you’ll want to repeat!
Ideas For A Scandi Christmas
Now you’re aware of the ideas behind a Scandi Christmas, and if you’ve come this far, you must be interested in styling your own! Well, be prepared for a stripped-back style, cosy enhancements and plenty of natural touches. Here are our tips on creating a Scandinavian Christmas style unique to you and your home.
Make Use of Foliage
The Scandi style focuses on nature and natural materials, so one of the first things you should consider using in your decoration is foliage. A simple trip to the park or even to your garden should be more than enough inspiration!
Pick some festive foliage – sprigs of holly, pine cones, twigs, mistletoe, berries, eucalyptus, berried ivy – anything that catches your attention. Of course, for added interest, you could also include some flowers that bloom in winter, like clematis, jasmine or the Christmas cactus. Then, you could decorate your foliage with metallic sprays or glitter if you’d like.
Once you’ve gathered your foliage, it’s up to you how you decorate with it. For example, you could hang up your foliage sprigs decoratively around the home or on your tree or twist some of the pretty sprigs together to create a garland. On the other hand, you could use the decorations as a centrepiece on the table or mantelpiece or hold your Christmas cards.
Of course, while gathering foliage to use indoors, don’t forget to spread some Christmas cheer outdoors! With Scandi-style wooden garden chairs on your porch or patio, cosy cushions, some sprigs of holly, a small wreath, a Scandinavian Christmas tree, and some neutral fairy lights, you’ll have the perfect outdoor Scandi Christmas scene.
Read More: How To Decorate Your Garden For Christmas
Put Thought Into Your Wrapping
It’s easy to get swept away by the stress of Christmas. You’ve got food to buy, invitations to send out, arrangements to make and presents to pick out. So how will you find time for wrapping?! But a Scandi Christmas focuses on how you, and by extension, your family and friends, feel. So, put some mindfulness and thought into everything you do this year, including your wrapping.
For a genuinely Scandinavian Christmas, most Scandi people focus more on the thought of the present. Often, this includes homemade gifts exchanged during Advent. After all, a Scandi Christmas focuses on friends, family, sharing and spreading warmth. But, of course, if you don’t want to make homemade presents, you don’t have to. However, you can still wrap your gifts in the Scandi style. Choose neutral, monochrome or brown recyclable wrapping paper with an equally minimalist gift tag and finish it off with a ribbon in black, white or a pop of Christmassy red.
Light Your Home With Candles
Scandinavians prefer to do everything as naturally as possible, including lighting their homes. Although natural light is less readily available throughout the winter months, harsh artificial lights don’t fit the Scandi style. So, illuminate your home and natural Christmas decorations with some candles. First, place plenty of pretty candles – decorative taper candles are very Scandinavian – on as many surfaces that will safely hold them to light up your rooms. Then, add a touch of festivity and decoration by spreading winter foliage, pine cones, and holly around the candles or in their holders for an extra Scandi Christmas touch.
Add Some Cosy Textures
Hygge is Danish for fun, although the concept is far more than that. Hygge is about cosiness, warmth and enjoying the best things in life with the people you love. For example, the warm light from a candle is hygge, or cuddling up with someone you love to watch a movie is hygge. Hygge is about feeling comfy and warm and having everyone around you feel the same. Doesn’t that sound just like Christmas already?!
So, try and emulate the concept of hygge in your Scandi Christmas decoration. Include fluffy, cosy textures like faux fur throws, blankets or stockings in your decoration. For example, you could scatter your sofa with soft cushions and covers for a little hygge experience every time you sit with your family. Or you could throw small throws over your dining chairs to feel hygge as you eat your Christmas dinner together.
Don’t Forget Advent Calendars
Surprisingly, Scandinavians pay a lot of attention to their advent calendars. The first day of Advent is very significant in Scandinavian culture as it marks the beginning of the festivities, and the advent calendar is beloved by children and adults. However, you won’t find any large, sweet-filled cardboard boxes here. Instead, a Scandinavian advent calendar tends to be an oversized one that you put small gifts inside yourself. This is often toys and chocolates for children, and adults can fill theirs with almost anything they’d like!
Of course, this is a Scandi Christmas, which means a neutral and stripped-back design. Go for a large, fill-your-own advent calendar – a neutral brown or green fabric would be perfect – and choose a theme for the gifts you’ll put in there. This could be beauty products, figurines, chocolates, jewellery, Lego – anything you’re interested in, you can put in a Scandi advent calendar.
Repurpose Gaudy Ornaments
If you have older Christmas decorations that you don’t use anymore or bold ornaments that you bought in the spur of the moment and never used, you don’t have to leave them out of your Scandi Christmas décor. These are easy to repurpose with a bit of paint and perhaps some glitter and ribbon, particularly baubles.
We recommend using the dip dye technique to repurpose any old baubles to use in your Scandi Christmas decoration. So, all you have to do is dip the old bauble into a neutral paint shade for a brand-new decoration. Of course, you could experiment with colours and patterns here. For example, a marble effect or a half-and-half design would look fantastic.
Make Your Own Decorations
As we’ve established, Scandi decorations tend to be neutral and natural, taking inspiration from nature for a minimalist finish. Although repurposing old ornaments or bringing in new ones from outdoors is perfect for this, you can also make your own Scandi decorations. With a few pieces of arts and craft equipment and a bit of time, you can create some beautifully unique Scandi Christmas decorations.
The opportunities are endless when making your own Scandinavian Christmas decorations! From dried fruit arrangements to plywood greetings signs and twig stars to clear baubles filled with foliage, you can design your own Scandi Christmas ornaments. Find some inspiration online and go mad – mindfully, of course!
Include A Splash of Colour
Although the Scandinavian style focuses on neutral colours and a stripped-back attitude, you don’t have to erase the colour from your Scandi decoration scheme altogether. On the contrary, a pop of colour among the neutrals will show mindfulness in your decoration and make the design more cohesive and fun.
Ideally, you should keep your Scandi Christmas colour palette to a maximum of three or four colours. However, there’s no harm in having one of these colours to make your design stand out. As this is Christmas, we’d recommend including a festive red in your décor. However, blues, greens, pinks, purples and oranges all work beautifully.
Host Your Own Scandi Christmas This Year
You may find that hosting and decorating for a Scandi Christmas is easier than your typical Christmases! The Scandinavian ideas, meaning and décor tie together to make a wonderful, stripped-back festive season that is focused on family, friends and enjoying the festive season to the max. So, why not give the Scandi Christmas style a shot this year? It could change your Christmas!
Do you have any tips for having a Scandi Christmas? Please share your thoughts with us below!
Sources
https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-scandinavian-design-4149404
https://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/highlights/hygge/what-hygge
