For Seniors: Wishing for Good Health — Handmade Setsubun Decoration Ideas
This time, we’re sharing handmade Setsubun decoration ideas for older adults.
Since Setsubun is a traditional event passed down through the ages, many of you have probably celebrated it before.
Setsubun marks the division between winter and spring.
People pray to “stay healthy for the year,” eat ehomaki to ward off misfortune, and throw beans to drive away evil.
When making Setsubun crafts, put your heart into wishing for good health, and have fun creating them together—chatting and laughing—with everyone at the nursing home or day service.
- [For Seniors] Fun and Easy Oni Crafts to Liven Up Setsubun: Simple, Enjoyable Ideas
- Recreation Ideas for Seniors: Perfect for Setsubun and Bean-Throwing Activities
- [For Seniors] Fun February Crafts: Ideas Inspired by Setsubun, Valentine’s Day, and Other Events
- [Day Service] Setsubun decorations that bring smiles. Ideas for enjoying them with a variety of materials.
- [For Seniors] February Wall Decorations: Setsubun-Themed! Fun Ideas with Oni Demons and Ehomaki Sushi Rolls
- [For Seniors] Liven Up Setsubun Crafts! Handmade Ideas Using a Variety of Materials
- [For Day Service Centers] February Craft Ideas: Decorations for Setsubun, Valentine’s Day, and the Feeling of Spring
- [For Seniors] Recommended Wall Decorations and Crafts for January
- [For Seniors] Brighten Up Hinamatsuri: Wall Decoration Ideas
- For Seniors: Simple and Lovely Crafts – A Collection of Take-Home Project Ideas for Day Service
- [Day Service] Excited for Hinamatsuri! Craft ideas to brighten up your room
- For Seniors: Wall Decorations to Brighten Up February — Festive Ideas for Setsubun, Valentine’s Day, Plum Blossoms, and More
- For Seniors: Auspicious Handmade Zodiac Ornament Craft Ideas
[For Seniors] Wishing for Good Health: Handmade Setsubun Decoration Ideas (21–30)
Hanging decorations for Setsubun made of felt
Felt Setsubun decorations are items that gently warm up your room with a cozy vibe during the cold season.
This idea features three handmade motifs: an eho-maki sushi roll, an oni (ogre), and a holly-and-sardine charm.
Once they’re finished, place felt balls between them, line them up, and attach them to a string to make a hanging decoration.
Since you only need to cut and glue the felt, it’s an easy project even if you’re not good at sewing.
Give it a try for inspiration, and brighten up your room beautifully.
Origami Setsubun hanging decoration
Why not make a hanging decoration using origami creations? We’ll introduce five types: an ogre (oni), an iron club (kanabō), Otafuku (a smiling woman mask), a kusudama (decorative paper ball), and a tassel.
You’ll make two versions of the oni with different horns.
There aren’t any complicated folds, so as long as you crease carefully and firmly, even beginners can make them.
However, the kusudama takes a bit more time since it’s assembled from several parts.
If you divide up the work, you can enjoy the process together while completing a wall decoration, so please try making it cooperatively with everyone.
[For Seniors] Wishing for Good Health: Handmade Setsubun Decoration Ideas (31–40)
Yarn: Making a Friendly Oni Wall Hanging
Decorate your room with an Oni theme to bring a Setsubun vibe.
In this idea, you wrap yarn around thick paper, then attach felt parts for the face and horns to make the oni.
After making a red oni and a blue oni, glue them onto a base; add holly leaves and a paper label with the word “Setsubun” to finish.
Decorate the four corners of the base with washi-pattern origami or tape, and place gem or pearl stickers in the empty spaces.
The impression changes depending on whether you use the square base as-is or rotate it into a diamond shape.
Punch a hole in the base, thread a red ribbon through, and finish it so it can be hung on the wall.
Setsubun origami wreath wall decoration
It’s long been said that displaying holly and fish heads at the entrance wards off evil.
Let’s make a fun, decorative wreath out of origami—perfect for Setsubun.
We’ll create each part in origami: the sardine head, the bone section, holly leaves, an Okame mask, a red oni, and a blue oni.
The key is to carefully fold creases and balance facial expressions to add a sense of depth.
For the wreath base, using washi-patterned origami paper will enhance the seasonal feel of Setsubun.
Give this seasonal Setsubun wreath a try!
Cute hanging decorations for Setsubun
Hanging decorations that you make and display while enjoying the Setsubun festivities add an original touch and can create a lovely space.
Use an awl to make a hole through the center of a round polystyrene foam ball, then wrap thread around the ball.
Make slits and cut the ball in half, and start attaching fabric to the halves.
Carefully adhere the fabric, aligning it with the slits.
Glue two strands of yarn over the slit area and tie them like a ribbon.
Thread on pom-pom balls or flowers, and your hanging decoration is complete.
Prepare a variety of colors and try making bright, cheerful hanging ornaments.
Setsubun decoration: holly and sardine (hiiragi-iwashi)
Hiiragi iwashi, displayed during Setsubun, has a distinctive look: a sardine head pierced onto a sprig of holly.
It’s said to ward off evil because demons dislike the smell and the prickly leaves.
Using this idea, you’ll make a sardine head, two holly leaves, and a stick.
For the sardine, fold an origami square into a triangle to make a crease, open it, then fold the two left edges to the center crease.
Use the opposing corners of the folded section to form the mouth, and shape the rest into the head.
For the leaves, take small origami squares, fold the diagonal corners to create a leaf shape, then accordion-fold to finish.
For the stick, cut a narrow strip of origami paper and fold it gatefold (both long edges in to meet at the center).
Setsubun! Oni head
Let’s decorate the February bulletin board using various parts.
In addition to ogre hair made from tissue paper and origami ogre pants, we’ll also make holly-and-sardine talismans, ofuda charms, and plum blossoms.
Crumple paper to add wrinkles for texture, open thin tissue paper sheet by sheet—these are easy crafts that also exercise fine motor skills.
Arrange the layout with the ogre hair as the main feature and decorate around it with the other parts.
Make the ogre hair in a variety of colors, and write “Oni wa soto” (Demons out) and “Fuku wa uchi” (Fortune in) on the ofuda.