![[For Seniors] Brighten Up Your New Year’s Party: A Collection of Handmade Decoration Ideas](https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/3ME_BTdyr10/maxresdefault.webp)
[For Seniors] Brighten Up Your New Year’s Party: A Collection of Handmade Decoration Ideas
Why not brighten the joy of welcoming the New Year with festive decorations? New Year’s party décor lifts everyone’s spirits and builds excitement for the year ahead.
From lucky charms like daruma dolls and ema plaques to motifs that evoke traditional Japanese elegance—such as camellia blossoms and the lion dance—you can easily create warm, handmade decorations using origami or craft paper.
There are also plenty of exciting ideas like oversized kagami mochi or a torii gate entrance.
Working together with your hands naturally sparks conversation and brings out smiles.
When all the heartfelt intentions behind each piece come together, your New Year’s gathering is sure to be unforgettable.
[For Seniors] Brighten Up Your New Year’s Party: A Roundup of Handmade Decoration Ideas (1–10)
torii gate
https://www.tiktok.com/@ralphzjayrn/video/7455998629334011143Many people go to hatsumode (the first shrine visit of the New Year), but it can be difficult for older adults to go out and pray in the cold.
So how about making a torii gate as part of the New Year’s party decorations to liven things up? Create a base from cardboard and simply cover it with black and red construction paper to make an impressive-looking torii.
Make a offertory box and a large suzu bell as well, and invite the seniors to offer their prayers.
Just having a torii gate should make the New Year’s party feel like a festive outing!
Pine, bamboo, and plum made from tissue paper
These are decorations of pine, bamboo, and plum made with tissue paper.
Each piece is simple, but arranged together like this, they make the wall look very festive.
The parts aren’t too difficult to make, either.
For the pine, fold the tissue paper in an accordion, fold it in half, cut off two corners, tie the crease with a pipe cleaner to form the branch, then make slits and fan it open to finish.
For the bamboo, fold the tissue paper into a rectangle, fold the left edge up to meet the top edge twice, unfold one layer back, twist the remaining right section, attach it to the folded part, and shape it.
This makes one bamboo leaf; make three and attach them together.
For the plum blossoms, accordion-fold the tissue paper, round both ends, and cut the center (along the folded side) into a triangle.
Then bundle it together with a wire along with the stamen piece made by cutting slits with shredding scissors, and peel apart the tissue layers one by one to shape the plum blossom.
Shichifuku Daruma (Seven Lucky Gods Daruma)
Perfect for New Year party wall decorations! How about making Seven-Lucky Daruma dolls? In this idea, you create the daruma pattern by folding a rectangular sheet of construction paper and making slits along the creases.
The remaining opposite section becomes the daruma’s face—attach a white paper base there and draw the expression with a pen.
The slit sections pop out in 3D, so they really catch the eye when displayed on the wall.
Be sure to make a variety of colorful Seven-Lucky Daruma and decorate them together with New Year-themed elements like plum blossoms.
Wall decoration: extra-large fluffy kagami mochi
At New Year’s, we display kagami mochi as a vessel for the Toshigami deity.
In this idea, we’ll recreate the kagami mochi using fluffy tissue paper.
First, stack several sheets of tissue paper, accordion-fold them, and tie the center with thread.
Then carefully separate the layers one by one, pulling them toward the center.
This will create a half-sphere, flower-like shape.
Make a total of five of these pieces, and create the mikan (mandarin) as well by using orange tissue paper in a slightly smaller size.
Stack these in tiers to form the kagami mochi on the wall.
Cut out the mikan leaves and a sanpō (ceremonial wooden stand) from construction paper to finish it off with a festive touch.
New Year’s decoration of Mount Fuji
Imagine a hanging scroll and let’s make a New Year’s decoration featuring Mt.
Fuji.
First, cover the entire surface of the cardboard base with reversible crepe paper, then attach washi-pattern origami to the top and bottom.
Cut a Mt.
Fuji shape from the reversible crepe paper, create the snowcap with white drawing paper, and layer and glue it on.
Cut a circle from gold origami and glue it onto the base, then attach the Mt.
Fuji on top.
Finally, decorate with rabbit, flower, and ribbon parts, attach a hanging string, and you’re done.
Ema made from an envelope
Let me show you an idea for making an ema (votive plaque) using a brown envelope.
First, place the envelope with the back side facing up, and fold the left corner of the flap toward the center line.
When you do this, make sure to fold it neatly so that the right corner comes to a sharp point.
Next, open the folded section and cut off the left corner along the crease.
Then, fold along the cut line twice, each fold 2 cm wide, and cut off the left side of the remaining envelope to the same width.
Also cut off the glued margin along the bottom, then unfold the parts you folded.
Cut along the crease on the left side where the envelope is still connected and open it up, then shape it into an ema by aligning it with the crease on the flap side.
Decorate it with flowers or Mt.
Fuji made from origami, and your ema decoration is complete! You can also have people write their wishes on it.
New Year’s decorations
Perfect for the New Year! Here are some stylish, bright DIY wall decoration ideas.
In this project, you’ll use origami paper to make a “Happy Birthday” party banner, paper fans, and ball ornaments.
For the banner, accordion-fold origami paper cut into flag shapes and attach letters cut from origami on top.
For the paper fans, fold accordion-folded origami in half, then glue several pieces together to form a circle.
For the ball ornaments, assemble triangular prism pieces made from origami into a sphere.
Use the finished pieces to decorate your wall and beautifully brighten up your space.