The best Christmas garlands: 13 ways to deck your halls

Christmas garlands are super effective, but super easy well to decorate your home – here are our top picks and ideas...

The best Christmas garlands
(Image credit: Hill House Vintage x Wayfair)

No festive decorating scheme is complete without a Christmas garland. Whether you're looking for a discreet and minimalist design to wrap around a bookshelf, or are going all out and covering every visible surface with festive folliage, we have a range of options, from realistic foliage to abstract designs. What will take your fancy?

Oh and as it's Black Friday weekend, we have found some great deals too that will save you £££s on your garlands so don't miss out on those. Plus if you are looking for more Christmas decorating ideas? We've got loads more festive fun in our Christmas decoration ideas feature so be sure to check that out too. 

The best Christmas garland Black Friday deals 

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Argos Home 2m Winters Hibernation Christmas Garland | £25 £18.75 at Argos

Argos Home 2m Winters Hibernation Christmas Garland | <a href="https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-8446686-15618761?sid=hawk-custom-tracking&url=https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8518879?clickSR=slp:term:christmas%20garland%20with%20lights:6:23:1" data-link-merchant="argos.co.uk"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">£25 £18.75 at Argos

This wintery garland has everything you could want – fir, eucalyptus, pine cones, and a very light sprinkling of snow. We think it looks very chic and way more than £18.75! It's pre-lit too!


Durango Garland | £38.99 £32.99 at Wayfair

Durango Garland | <a href="https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-8446686-14009594?sid=hawk-custom-tracking&url=https://www.wayfair.co.uk/christmas-decorations/pdp/the-seasonal-aisle-durango-garland-hoai7450.html" data-link-merchant="wayfair.co.uk"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">£38.99 £32.99 at Wayfair

If you are looking for a simple, very realistic fir garland that you can jazz up yourself, this is it. It's pre-lit and would be really simple to use a bit of wire to add in decorations, pine cones, berries and more – choose really greenery to make it look even more authentic. 

Enchanted Christmas Gold Foliage Garland | £15 £11.25 at Argos

Enchanted Christmas Gold Foliage Garland | <a href="https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-8446686-15618761?sid=hawk-custom-tracking&url=https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8385349?clickSR=slp:term:garland:9:23:1" data-link-merchant="argos.co.uk"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">£15 £11.25 at Argos

If you prefer gold to greenery, this gorgeous wreath is for you. It almost looks like you could have made it yourself by spray sprigs of eucalyptus. This one is going straight in our baskets...

1. Go for a simple homemade fir garland

Neptune Christmas

(Image credit: Neptune)

A classic Christmas garland is always the best in our eyes, simple, stunning and, if you can DIY one yourself, totally free. Head into your garden (or local woods) and scout out a mix of evergreen folliage – look out for ivy, fir and pinecones. You can also usually pick these up in bunches from florists or a Christmas tree farm should have plenty going spare. 

Use a wire as the base of your garland and just start wiring your greenery around it, securing it in place with that same thin green wire. Work in short segments and join them together to get the length you want. 

2. Or go for a really realistic artificial one

The White Company Christmas garland

(Image credit: The White Company)

Oh, this is the mantlepiece of dreams! And that gorgeous garland? Well forget slaving away all weekend making one – this is from The White Company and you can order it online right now. Annnd, it's pre-lit so no faffing around untangling the lights, plus there is a matching wreath too if you want to recreate this look.  

Love this look? Check out our traditional Christmas decorations feature too.

3. Find an alternative way to use baubles – as a garland

Two Whitewashed Glass garlands from Cox & Cox

(Image credit: Cox & Cox)

Perfect either in lieu of or in addition to a Christmas tree, displaying your cutest baubles on a string is a really quick and easy idea. We love the rustic look of using brown string and 'aged' baubles and hanging them up above a door frame of along a mantle. If you like this distressed effect, you can achieve something similar by sponging white chalk paint onto metallic glass baubles and rubbing it away in places. 

4. String understated greenery above your windows

The White Company garland

(Image credit: The White Company)

You could recreate the gorgeous Christmas garland idea with fake or real foliage  – we just love the simple clean vibe here, the greenery is the focus, no baubles, no tinsel, no fussy, but still suitably festive!

Find more Scandi Christmas decorations in our feature.

5. Bring that idea to your kitchen to add some festive feels

Lights4fun Christmas garlands

(Image credit: Lights4fun)

Despite being the heart of the home at Christmas time, the kitchen does tend to get a bit neglected when it comes to decor. We know it might not be that practical to have a full on tree in your kitchen but a garland takes up zero room and brings in just as much of a festive feel. These garlands are from Lights4fun, they have loads of lovely garlands this year from the super simple to super decorative. 

6. Make more of a feature of your garland

Lights4fun Christmas garlands

(Image credit: Lights4fun)

We have said it before and we will say it again, an undecorated mantle at Christmas is a sad mantel. This sparkling look takes the garland on the mantle to the next level – add some candles for a soft glow in the evenings and take the decor up the wall too with this fab star lights. We would be tempted to keep these up all year round!

7. Swap traditional fir branches for stylish magnolia

Magnolia garland

(Image credit: One Kings Lane)

Whether as part of a traditional Christmas look or a more contemporary Christmas decorating scheme, a Christmas garland made of magnolia? LOVE IT! This gorgeous creation is from One Kings Lane and we reckon you could definitely leave this up all year round.

8. Create an asymmetric by mixing your garland with plants

Christmas decorating ideas

(Image credit: Annie Sloan)

Love this quirky look – it's traditional but then that fiddle leaf fig just adds something unexpected and takes a string of ivy from being cute, but not that noticeable, to a mantlepiece that becomes a real feature of the room. You could switch out the fiddle leaf for a mini Christmas tree if you are more of a traditionalist too.

9. Go for minimalist charm with a eucalyptus garland

Cox & Cox gold garland

(Image credit: Cox & Cox)

For an understated, go-with-anything look, go for a eucalyptus garland, which will look especially lovely against woven up your stairs. You could go for the classic green, which also looks lovely with red berries if you are more of a traditionalist but we love this gold option from Cox & Cox

10. Use a garland to decorate your shelves 

Dunelm Christmas garland

(Image credit: Dunelm)

Oooh, this is how we are doing Christmas garlands this year! We love how they look trailed along some open shelving, definitely an idea we are going to be pinching. If you don't want the shelves to become totally unusable because they are basically a forest, pick more slimline garlands like this Berry Twig Garland from Dunelm.

11. String up the classic paper garlands

Gold leaf garland £40 Recycled glass baubles £5 Star and twig glitter wreath £22, The National Trust

(Image credit: National Trust Shop)

The easiest garlands going! You can spend a lovely afternoon making these with the family and stringing them up from the ceiling, around the bannister and over the mantle. You can obviously also buy paper chains from Amazon if you don't fancy cutting our loads of strips.

Check out more DIY Christmas decorations.

12. Add drama with dark green foliage 

The White Company garland

(Image credit: The White Company)

To add festive drama to a neutrally painted room, choose dark green foliage with distinctly shaped leaves. Eucalyptus is always a good choice, or a combination of different herbs and fir. What you want is plenty of interestingly shaped, spiky branches that will frame your mantelpiece or window. 

13. Add a splash of colour with a red berry garland

Next Christmas garland

(Image credit: Next)

We can't stop looking at this delicious Red Berry Garland from Next: the berries are so shiny and pretty, it's almost good enough to go on the tree on its own, instead of baubles. Of course, it will also make the perfect accompaniment to a traditional, red-green-and-gold decorating scheme. 

Hebe Hatton

Hebe joined the Real Homes team in early 2018 as Staff Writer before moving to the Livingetc team in 2021 where she took on a role as Digital Editor. She loves boho and 70's style and is a big fan of Instagram as a source of interiors inspiration. When she isn't writing about interiors, she is renovating her own spaces – be it wallpapering a hallway, painting kitchen cupboards or converting a van.

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