A mantelpiece is the easiest place in the house to decorate for Christmas, and the easiest to overdo. It is one long shelf at eye level, often with a mirror or a picture above it, and it can take a garland, a few small groups of ornaments and not much else. These Christmas mantelpiece ideas work within that limit, with a section on the sideboard for homes where the fire is lit or there is no mantel at all.
Before you start: is the fire below lit?
This one question decides everything else. Warm air rises, so the shelf above a working fire gets hot, and anything hung along its front edge sits right in that heat.
Our rule is simple. Dress a mantelpiece with our decorations only when the fireplace below is not in use: a blocked or purely decorative fireplace, or one you will not be lighting over Christmas. A gas fire, or an electric fire with its heater on, counts as in use. Never put them above a wood burner or stove, even one you mean to leave cold, because it only takes one chilly evening. Keep every piece well away from candles, open flames, heaters and hot bulbs, which also rules out candles and tealights on a decorated shelf.
If you do light the fire, leave the mantel plain and move the display to a sideboard, a shelf or a wall. All three are covered below.
How to decorate a Christmas mantelpiece
Work from the back of the shelf to the front, and from the largest piece to the smallest.
- Clear it completely. Take off the clock, the post and the photographs. Decorations added to an everyday mantel look like clutter; on an empty one they look planned.
- Set the backdrop. A mirror, a framed print or a wreath on the wall above gives the shelf a centre.
- Add the long line. This is the garland. Run it along the front edge, or fix it at each end and let it dip below the shelf in a loose curve.
- Group in odd numbers. Three groups, left, centre and right, or one off-centre group of three things at three heights. Evenly spaced objects look like a shop shelf.
- Stop sooner than you think. Sit on the sofa, look at it, then take one thing off. A mantel is read from across the room, so a few strong shapes beat a crowd of small ones.
Simple Christmas mantelpiece ideas
- One garland and nothing else. A single garland across an empty shelf is a complete look, and the quickest to put up and take down.
- Greenery with a few hanging ornaments. Lay real or artificial pine along the shelf and hang a handful of ornaments from it so they drop just below the edge. Our set of six Christmas bell ornaments, white with bands of red dots, suits this: six is enough to punctuate the greenery without crowding it.
- One colour story. Pick two colours and keep everything to them. Red and white reads as traditional; green and white is quieter. Our goose, drum and bauble set is mostly green and white with a touch of gold, in four pieces: two geese, a drum and a bauble.
- Something cheerful at one end. Our red and white toadstool ornaments, a set of four, tucked into the greenery at one end, loosen up a formal line of pine.
What is a Christmas garland?
A garland is any decoration made in a long length to hang or drape: pine and ivy, beads, bells, or ornaments strung along a cord. A wreath closes into a circle; a garland has two ends, which is why it suits a mantelpiece, a banister or a window.
Christmas garland vs tinsel
Tinsel is one kind of garland: thin strips of shiny film twisted round a thread to catch the light. It is about sparkle, and it tends to live on the tree. A garland of greenery, bells or ornaments is about shape and colour, and it holds a mantelpiece better because it has some weight and drapes in a clean curve.
A Christmas garland for the mantelpiece
Decide first how you want it to hang. Pulled straight along the front edge, a garland reads as a crisp line. Fixed at each end and allowed to dip, it looks softer, and it is far more forgiving if the garland and the shelf are not quite the same length.
Our colour-block bell garland (£49.99) is the one we would hang here. The bells are made by hand and come in bold colour pairs, such as navy and white, red and maroon, or yellow and sky blue, so it suits a plain white or painted mantel that wants colour rather than more greenery. Hang it from a hook or nail at each end. It is sold as one garland; two side by side make a fuller display. And because the colours are not only Christmas colours, it can stay up after Christmas, above a bed or a console table, instead of going straight back in the box.
Christmas garland without lights
An unlit garland means no cable trailing to a socket and no batteries to change. The bell garland has no lights, and we would keep it that way: do not wind fairy lights through it or lay it over a pre-lit garland, because like all our Christmas pieces it is meant to stay away from heat and hot bulbs. Let the colour do the work.
Sideboard decor for Christmas
A sideboard is the natural home for Christmas when the fire is lit. It is deeper than a mantel, it sits lower, and there is no fire underneath it. If a radiator sits right beside it, keep the decorations to the far end. Then use the same three-height rule that works on a coffee table.
- Something tall at one end. A framed print or mirror leaning against the wall, or a tall jug of dry winter branches with two or three ornaments hung from them.
- A bowl in the middle. Fill it with whole clementines or apples, with pine cones, or with ornaments piled loosely rather than hung. Our set of nine ornaments, with its red polka-dot bauble, stars, striped candy cane and gift box with a red ribbon, suits this: a mix of shapes looks good in a heap.
- Something low and flat. A short stack of books or a tray, to anchor the group.
For the bowl itself, our paper mâché bowl with organic rim is a chalky, matt off-white with soft lobes around the rim, so it sits quietly behind bright ornaments. It is made by hand in Jaipur from recycled paper and painted by hand, so each one varies slightly. It is for dry use only and not waterproof: nothing cut, peeled or wet goes in it, and it never goes in a dishwasher. Wipe it with a dry cloth. There is more in how to look after paper mâché, and more filling ideas in what to put in a decorative bowl for Christmas.
The bell garland works on the wall above the sideboard, too, framing the display well away from the fire.
Christmas decorations without a tree
Plenty of homes skip the tree. You can still bring Christmas into the room.
- A branch tree. Bare branches in a tall jug or vase, hung with ornaments. It takes a fraction of the floor space and comes down in minutes.
- A garland across a window or wall. Choose a window that does not run with condensation in the mornings, because our Christmas pieces need to stay dry.
- The sideboard on its own. The set-up above needs no tree at all. For the dining table, see our Christmas centrepiece ideas.
- Single ornaments on hooks. One ornament on a wall hook, a shelf hook or the end of a curtain pole, repeated through the house.
Wherever they go, these are decorations, not toys, so hang them where young children and pets cannot reach them.
When it all comes down
Lay the garland in loose loops with tissue between the bells so they do not knock together. Everything else packs away as set out at the end of how to decorate a Christmas tree: dusted, wrapped and boxed somewhere dry.
You can see more in our handmade Christmas decorations, and the bowls in our paper mâché bowls collection.
