[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 familiar materials (81–90)
Chinese zodiac (the sexagenary cycle)
Let’s decorate with the zodiac animal that symbolizes the year and celebrate the New Year! Displaying the zodiac, which is familiar to many older adults, helps them enjoy the joy of the new year and the seasonal atmosphere.
You can easily make zodiac animals with origami, so give it a try! The mood also changes depending on how you display them—such as figurines, wall decorations, or hanging ornaments.
In addition to the zodiac, combining them with other New Year–themed items can help older adults feel even more of the New Year spirit.
A Thai made of origami
How about making a sea bream—an auspicious New Year’s item—out of origami? It’s sure to boost the festive mood for celebrating the new year, and the vibrant red color will give you energy! The trick may be to crease firmly beforehand and then proceed with the folds.
Since there aren’t too many steps, it’s easy for anyone to enjoy, from seniors to children.
Finish by adding the fish’s eye, scales, and fin patterns—and you’re done! It can also be used as a wall decoration, so it’s recommended for craft activities in senior care facilities.
An ema of Mount Fuji made with origami
This is an ema plaque made by layering origami, with a large Mount Fuji placed prominently in the center.
Not only the base and Mount Fuji are made separately, but also the decorative parts around them, and layering these pieces creates a three-dimensional feel.
The base is finished as a pentagon by folding the edges inward; by stacking these folds firmly, you can achieve a soft look.
Mount Fuji is made from a triangle as the base, folding back the edges—using the white on the reverse side is a key point.
Other classic decorations include pine trees and the sun, and it could be fun not only to attach parts but also to draw illustrations.
origami ema (votive plaque)
Let’s make an ema—prayer plaques essential for New Year’s—using origami.
It’s important to keep symmetry in mind and form the corners crisply.
The colored side of the origami and the string attached at the top will be the front, while the back will remain white, so it could be fun to have people write their wishes on that white area.
If you’re writing wishes before folding, try adding more small reverse folds so the white area ends up larger.
For the front, it’s recommended to draw patterns or add decorations to give it a New Year’s feel.
Origami Japanese style
We’ll show you how to make a very festive, New Year-style Japanese origami decoration.
Take three sheets of origami paper, accordion-fold each one, then fold them in half to form fan shapes.
Connect the three fans together to create a round ornament.
Using three different colors or mixing in patterned paper will make it even more eye-catching.
On top of that, make decorative pieces resembling a crane, plum blossoms, and pine needles, and add them as embellishments.
Incorporating mizuhiki cords lavishly will make the decoration stand out even more.
It also looks wonderful when made larger with construction paper.
Lucky Cat New Year Wreath
New Year decorations that wish for the health and happiness of your family—how about making them with origami? This time, we’re introducing a particularly cute one: a “Maneki-neko New Year wreath.” First, combine four sheets of origami to create the wreath portion.
Using patterned origami gives it a pop and lively look.
Once the wreath is complete, fold a Maneki-neko and attach it to the wreath.
Feel free to change the cat’s expression to your liking.
This way, a New Year decoration that is already auspicious will feel even more lucky.
[For Seniors] Let’s Make New Year’s Decorations by Hand! A Collection of Easy Ideas Using Everyday Materials (91–100)
Cute ema made with finger stamps
This activity involves pasting a large illustration of the zodiac in the center of construction paper cut into the shape of an ema plaque, then decorating around it with paint.
By applying the paint with your fingers, you can add softness and a sense of depth.
Consider how to arrange auspicious, New Year–themed elements and decorate your ema with your own design.
Since the unique feel comes from not using a brush, if you’re uncomfortable getting paint on your fingers, try using familiar tools instead.
It’s also fun to observe how the paint looks different depending on the method you use.