10 Christmas decorations that deserve a place on the tree
Christmas decorations for 2024 include miniature full English breakfasts, lobsters and embroidered baubles you stitch yourself—ten picks.
From a miniature full English breakfast and a bright red lobster to embroidery and Crystal Art, Christmas decorations are becoming considerably more personal.
The perfectly coordinated Christmas tree has its merits, but there is something rather more interesting about one assembled over time. The decorations brought back from holidays, given as gifts or made by hand tend to be the ones that eventually acquire a story of their own.
This Christmas, that approach can involve everything from vegetables and chilli peppers to embroidery and a surprisingly festive lobster. For those looking beyond the traditional box of matching baubles, these are ten decorations worth considering.
1. Mini Vegetable Bauble Decorations, £20
A carrot, an aubergine and their miniature companions are unlikely contenders for traditional Christmas decorations, which is precisely the attraction. The set of four from Sous Chef brings a little humour to the tree without becoming overtly festive.
2. Festive Favourites Crystal Art Hanging Decoration Kit, £18.99
For decorations that involve a little work before they reach the tree, this Craft Buddy set contains 12 festive designs that are completed by applying colourful crystals. It is as much a December activity as a box of decorations.
3. Christmas Baubles Kit, Set of Six, £75
Paraffle takes a slower approach with a set of six embroidered Christmas baubles to stitch yourself. At £75, it is one of the more expensive choices here, but the appeal lies in making something intended to return to the tree each year.
4. English Breakfast Bauble Tree Decorations, £15
Perhaps the most British proposition on the list. Sous Chef has turned the full English into a set of three Christmas decorations. One for the person whose enthusiasm for breakfast extends well beyond the kitchen.
5. Lobster Bauble Tree Decoration, £10
Christmas trees have accommodated robins, reindeer and woodland creatures for generations. A lobster is a less obvious choice. This £10 decoration from Sous Chef provides precisely the sort of unexpected detail that makes an otherwise carefully decorated tree more interesting.
6. Christmas Buddies Crystal Art Hanging Decorations, £19.99
Another option for those who would rather make their decorations than simply unpack them. The set from Craft Buddy contains six Christmas characters that can be completed with Crystal Art before being hung on the tree.
7. Craft for Cats Christmas Baublito Kit, £20
Cats and Christmas trees do not always make natural companions, but Paraffle has brought the two together in a £20 stitching kit. It is an easy choice for the cat owner who has already accumulated every other conceivable feline gift.
8. Gingerbread House Bauble Tree Decoration, £8
A gingerbread house is comfortably more traditional territory, although this version has the advantage of surviving beyond Boxing Day. The £8 decoration from Sous Chef brings the familiar Christmas motif to the tree without requiring an afternoon of icing.
9. Chilli Pepper Bauble Tree Decoration, £6
At £6, the chilli pepper is one of the simplest ways to introduce something unexpected among the more conventional decorations. Bright, recognisable and decidedly unfestive in subject matter, it is exactly the point.
10. Bauble & Kit Combo, £35
The final choice returns to embroidery. Paraffle combines the finished decoration with the pleasure of actually making it, resulting in the sort of bauble that is rather less likely to be replaced when next Christmas comes around.
The best Christmas trees rarely look as though everything was purchased at once. They accumulate. A handmade bauble appears one year, an absurd lobster the next, and eventually the collection becomes as much a record of Christmases past as it is decoration.
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