[For Seniors] Let’s Make New Year Decorations by Hand! A Collection of Easy Ideas Using Everyday Materials
How about a craft activity where you hand-make decorations to brighten up the New Year? We’ll share ideas for easy-to-try ornaments using familiar materials—auspicious motifs like senryō (coralberry), the pine-bamboo-plum trio, Mount Fuji, and sea bream.
You can crumple lots of tissue paper, accordion-fold origami, or press clay onto cardboard—great fine-motor exercises, too.
If everyone divides up the tasks and works together, the conversation will flow and smiles will abound.
Once the decorations are finished and hung on the wall, they’ll fill the space with a festive New Year’s atmosphere.
Enjoy a fun crafting time while sending your wishes into the coming year!
- For Seniors: Auspicious Handmade Zodiac Ornament Craft Ideas
- [For Seniors] Recommended Wall Decorations and Crafts for January
- [For Seniors] January Craft Ideas: Boost Your Luck with New Year Decorations and Good-Luck Charms
- [For Seniors] Try Making Your Own Kadomatsu! A roundup of ideas using origami, felt, and yarn
- Lucky Daruma: Craft ideas for decorating January wall displays for seniors
- [For Seniors] January Craft Ideas for Day Service Activities
- [For Seniors] Decorate your January wall with rabbits! Packed with ideas like snowball fights, New Year’s festivities, and rice cake pounding
- Recommended winter wall decorations for seniors: heartwarming ideas
- [For Seniors] Brighten Up Your New Year’s Party: A Collection of Handmade Decoration Ideas
- [For Seniors] Perfect for winter events! Easy craft ideas
- For seniors: Decorate the December wall with a tree. Easy ideas using origami and yarn.
- [For Seniors] Easy Origami Recommended for Winter
- For seniors: Snowman crafts to brighten January wall displays—fun ideas using origami, paper plates, and papercutting.
[For Seniors] Let's Make New Year's Decorations by Hand! A roundup of easy ideas using everyday materials (61–70)
Hanging ornament of fans
Because a folding fan has a shape that widens toward the end, it has long been considered auspicious and is a familiar motif for older people as well.
How about making a hanging decoration with fans for New Year’s? Prepare plain, traditional Japanese-patterned, and gold origami paper, and cut each to the desired sizes.
After gluing, follow the video and fold them in an accordion style.
Once you’ve made two, stack them and staple the bottom.
Open them up, adjust the shape, and the fan is complete.
Attach a string, and you’ll have a lovely Japanese-style hanging ornament.
Battledore decoration made with 100-yen shop items
Hagoita decorations are fun to make with care and attention, aren’t they? How about making them together with older adults using origami and paper? Decorating with colorful cranes and flowers will brighten up the room.
If you’re unsure how to fold something, it’s a good idea to search on video sites.
The finished pieces can be used not only as New Year’s decorations but also in daily rehabilitation.
They’re sure to spark seniors’ creativity and bring smiles.
Handwork that uses the fingertips also supports both physical and mental health.
Let’s make lovely seasonal hagoita decorations together!
New Year’s decoration chopstick rest
As a table-coordination item to welcome the New Year on a pleasant note, we recommend lucky chopstick rests made from origami! Origami is also effective for finger rehabilitation for seniors, so why not give it a try? You can make one chopstick rest from a single sheet of origami paper.
This design combines a fan and a crane: first create the fan portion, then fold the crane.
Because the chopstick rest itself is small, the folds become finer as you go, which may feel a bit challenging.
The final design places the crane at the center of the fan, so it can be used not only as a chopstick rest but also as a decorative accent for New Year’s festivities.
shimenawa tassel
Shimenawa, known as a lucky charm displayed on household altars and at entrances during the New Year, can be crafted into a refined tassel by combining origami and paper cord.
First, prepare origami folded in an accordion style.
Next, fold origami pieces that will become petal parts and arrange them on a backing sheet to create a three-dimensional flower.
Then, wrap the paper cord to form the shimenawa: secure the top firmly and carefully fan out the bottom.
Attach the crafted parts to the finished shimenawa, and it’s complete! Give this New Year’s decoration a try—it’s a great project that encourages creative ideas among older adults.
New Year decorations made with origami and paper flowers
We’d like to introduce a New Year’s decoration you can make with origami and tissue paper—perfect for cozy winter days at home or for recreation at day service centers! It’s appealing because you can make it with familiar materials like origami and tissue paper.
Arrange a tissue paper flower, a fan made by accordion-folding origami, and mizuhiki cords in a well-balanced way.
The key is to attach the mizuhiki to the fan and then secure the paper flower last! Changing the color or pattern of the origami for the fan and the color of the mizuhiki will dramatically change the overall look, so give it a try.
Plum wreath
Here is an idea for making a plum blossom wreath with felt that lets you enjoy a traditional Japanese atmosphere.
Cut slits into a rectangular piece of felt, then round off the ends to create petal shapes.
Thread a string through the slits and gather the felt; after trimming the string, tie it off and shape it into a flower.
Secure it firmly with glue, and decorate with metallic beads or other embellishments to complete each flower component.
Finally, arrange the flowers evenly on a wooden ring and glue them in place to finish a beautiful plum blossom wreath.
Enjoy the soft feel of felt while moving your fingers—it can also help stimulate the brain.
It’s a heartwarming craft that brings a sense of Japanese elegance to your room just by displaying it.
Temari hanging ornaments
Do you know Japan’s three major hanging ornaments? There are various theories, but the famous ones are Sagemon from Yanagawa in Fukuoka Prefecture, Hina no Tsurushi Kazari from Inatori in Shizuoka Prefecture, and Kasafuku from Sakata in Yamagata Prefecture.
Though what’s hung differs, all of them are decorations praying for children’s healthy growth and the prosperity of descendants.
How about trying your hand at decorating with these auspicious temari hanging ornaments? Temari can be made three-dimensionally or folded from chiyogami—either way is great! If you’re enjoying this at a senior facility, it’s nice to have a variety of temari.
Also be sure to use accents, such as decorations featuring the character for “fortune” (福) or illustrations of Otafuku.