Five tips for decorating your alfresco area this Christmas

When it comes decorating your alfresco to create a festive feeling at home, you don’t have to be restricted to your Christmas tree. You can extend festivities from inside your home to your patio or deck, to your garden, and even your bathroom. Make your whole outdoor space festive for your Christmas guests to enjoy when they visit.

Here are some of our favourite alfresco Christmas decoration tips to help you share a bit of Christmas this season.

1. Traditional

Everyone loves the traditional look and feel of Christmas. Red and green are usually the predominant colours, sometimes balanced with gold, silver or white.

An easy way to create a traditional theme for your table is to use white crockery and add red by using a red table cloth and napkins. Then add green by using a traditional wreath as a centrepiece.  You may wish to add a touch of gold or silver with candles or vases used as centerpieces, alternating with the wreaths or placed inside them.

Extend your theme and hang red and green decorations throughout your alfresco, tie a combination of red, white and green ribbons onto furniture, or use coloured outdoor lighting to extend the theme beyond the table.

2. White Christmas

In reality, the chances of having a white Christmas in Australia are pretty low. However you can create your own white Christmas with a winter theme.

White tablecloths with white candles are an elegant and inexpensive option to decorate to your outdoor table. Match with white crockery, and perhaps a touch of silver to add a bit of Christmas sparkle. Decorate your tree and wrap your presents with white and silver to continue the theme.

And finally, solar powered white fairy lights strewn throughout your alfresco and garden areas  create a sparkling effect.

3. Decorate a tree outside

If you have a tree that’s a focus point in your garden, or one that’s incorporated into your alfresco area – turn it into an outdoor Christmas tree.

Simply add outdoor solar powered fairy lights, coloured lanterns, tinsel and/or decorations (preferably weatherproof ones) to your favourite tree outside. Create a festive atmosphere by placing faux gifts under the tree. Simply wrap boxes (plastic outdoor tablecloths are cheap and easy to use), add ribbon and match your Christmas theme from inside the house. Make sure you weigh the boxes down with something inside, so they don’t blow away if there is a windy day.

Remember, it doesn’t need to be a fir or pine tree to create a Christmas atmosphere. Any type of tree, when decorated can transform your outdoors to a Christmas wonderland, particularly if you extend the use of solar powered fairy lights and lanterns to other garden areas and your alfresco area.

And if you don’t have a tree, consider decorating some of your pot plants.

4. Use spare Christmas tree decorations

Your Christmas tree decorations have more than one use – they can become table and outdoor decorations too.

Place baubles in vases, or on platters and place throughout your alfresco area. Wrap tinsel around any poles supporting your alfresco ceiling or hang stars from your alfresco ceiling. Match colours to your Christmas theme to create a continuation of your indoor festive feel to your outdoors.

5. Get creative with small spaces

To create a festive feel in small spaces, you can simply add a small pine branch in a vase. Or grab some pinecones and spray paint them silver and gold, and place two or three together. These are small touches, but enough to give a smaller space like your alfresco kitchen bench, or perhaps your guest bathroom, some Christmas cheer.

We hope these different Christmas decorating ideas inspire you to take your festive decorating beyond the tree and into your alfresco area.