Christmas Staircase Decorating On a Dime
Besides a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, nothing says Christmas more than a festive Christmas staircase garland that doesn’t require many yards of pine or cedar garland. In fact, I am going to show you how to decorate a staircase for the holidays that doesn’t require long lengths of Christmas garland at all.
When it came time to decorating the staircase in my house for Christmas I went back and forth with ideas. In my previous house I had a big staircase that wrapped around a two story foyer.
I have similar stairs in my current home in a two store open foyer entryway. I used to drape garlands, both real and fake around and down the previous one. Using lush garlands is a classic way to decorate a staircase for Christmas, but it is also time consuming.
This year for my Christmas stairway I was looking for something simpler.
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When it comes to home decor for the holidays, I like fresh garlands. They look beautiful, but they also dry out way too fast, make a mess, plus fresh greenery garlands are not cheap and when you need 30 feet or more it can become expensive.
When I used fake garlands, it was buy once and then use for years. They take time to fluff, make bows, add lights and then find big boxes to store them all when not in use. When we moved I made the decision to throw them out since they were getting old and dusty.
So this year instead of getting stressed out about decorating my staircase and thinking I should buy new garland and spend hours draping it just so along the banister, I did something completely different.
How to Decorate a Staircase for Christmas Using Garland Ties
Instead I got a design idea that I decided to go with. It took me 27 minutes to do my very lengthy staircase and cost me less than $10 since I also used Christmas ornaments I already had.
Instead of using garland to decorate the foyer staircase, I used garland ties.
What are Garland Ties?
If you are not familiar with garland ties, they are long wire ties that look like pine branches. Their purpose is to tie garlands to staircase railings. You can buy them at Walmart, the craft store and on Amazon.
I have bought a few different types over the years. Some of the garland ties are thinner and are slightly different shades of green. I bought mine for only $1.97 for a pack of 10. I needed 3 packs and bought an extra one to use for other creative purposes like I shared in this post Christmas Decorations Using Garland Ties
Each garland tie is 12″ long.
The perfect length to wrap the ends between two staircase balusters and then hook an ornament on using a simple wire ornament hook.
How to Attach a Garland Tie to a Staircase
It is very easy to attach the garland ties to the balusters. I simply wrapped one end of one garland tie on a baluster, made a little dip in it by bending the middle of the tie with my hand and then wrapped the other end of the tie around the next baluster to secure.
Going up the staircase, I stair-stepped the placement of each garland tie…
….and used my stash of red Christmas tree ornaments. I didn’t have enough ornaments, so I spaced a few silver ones in the line up every so often.
I may switch them out with some red ornaments that I have in my living room, but I kind of like the mix of colors and shapes.
Other Elements and Accents to Hang on Garland Ties
Use ornament hangers to attach these items to make a festive statement in your home.
- Pinecones for a natural look.
- Jingle Bells that will make a sound when you walk up and downs the steps.
- Mini-wreaths will create a monochromatic color scheme.
- Small wrapped gifts with numbers to use as a countdown to Christmas calendar.
When I got to the railing on the second floor, I lined the ties up in a line 6″ below the railing.
Decorating the staircase for Christmas this way was fast and easy, plus no dragging out big boxes of garland from the attic or having to deal with the mess and expense of fresh garlands.
The garland ties and ornaments add just enough Christmas staircase decoration to make the space look festive and holiday ready.
On the desk/sideboard in front of the staircase, I placed smaller red and two large mercury glass ornaments on a plate to tie into the red, green and silver color scheme I was going for.
No mess, simple and easy to do.
When it comes time to take the pine garland ties and ornaments down, it will take no time and all. Best of all no more big boxes to have to haul back to the attic or mess to dried greenery to clean up. :-)
More Christmas Stair Decor Ideas
Here are a few more ways to create festive stair decorations for the staircase handrail in your home.
Tie small boughs of faux greenery onto a stair banister using a garland tie. Use another garland tie to attach a Christmas stocking. Repeat up the staircase using the amount of stockings you need for everyone in your family.
You can also use ribbon to tie little wrapped presents along the banister.
Or tie-on the Christmas cards you receive. Use a paper hole punch to make a hole in the top corner of each card to thread a ribbon or garland tie through.
If you have an electrical outlet near the banister, you can add twinkle lights that will make one pretty stairway.
Decorating Resources:
- Garland Ties or much cheaper if you can find them in Walmart
- Stacked books covered with this Free Printable of French Script
- Small trees
If you are new to my blog, this staircase got a big makeover. You can see the before and after and how we created a hidden door under the staircase in these posts:
Even if you’re not new to my blog, I invite you to spend some time checking out all of the Christmas projects and ideas in my Christmas project gallery.
Christmas Decorations Using Garland Ties
