Let's make New Year’s decorations by hand! A collection of ideas you can create with everyday materials.
As the New Year approaches, are you thinking about brightening up your space with handmade New Year’s decorations? Store-bought pieces are lovely, but decorations you craft yourself carry a special warmth and sense of attachment.
In this article, we’ll share easy, DIY New Year’s decoration ideas you can try using familiar materials.
From yarn and felt to origami paper, you can create a wide variety of projects with items that are easy to find.
Try making them with your children, or finish them with your own favorite designs for decorations full of originality.
How about preparing for the New Year with heartfelt, handmade items?
- Handmade New Year’s wreaths: A collection of festive ideas using shimenawa and mizuhiki
- Let's make our own shimenawa! A collection of stylish ideas you can create with paper and artificial flowers
- Welcome the New Year! Ideas for Handmade Kadomatsu
- For New Year’s! A collection of fun origami ideas to make, decorate, and play with in childcare
- A collection of handmade ema ideas: easy crafts perfect for New Year’s
- Handmade winter garlands: cute ideas that are easy to make
- Handmade spinning tops with everyday materials! Easy ideas you can enjoy for New Year’s too
- [Handmade Winter Decorations] A collection of stylish, heartwarming creations you can make with everyday materials
- Christmas crafts for adults: stylish project ideas you'll want to display
- Let's make a handmade hagoita! Fun ideas using milk cartons and cardboard
- A roundup of handmade Daruma ideas: making Daruma with various materials
- Simple yet amazing! Handmade New Year’s card ideas that will delight
- [Easy] Practical craft ideas. Great for beginners too!
Let's handcraft New Year decorations! A collection of ideas made with familiar materials (71–80)
Red and white dahlia wreath
Let’s make a stylish shimenawa decoration featuring large red-and-white dahlias as the focal point.
It’s handmade, but don’t worry—you won’t be starting from scratch.
We’ll use a store-bought shimenawa, such as one from a 100-yen shop, as the base.
First, remove any unnecessary parts from the store-bought shimenawa.
Then simply arrange and attach the parts you want to add with a hot glue gun, keeping the balance in mind.
Finally, attach the decorative artificial dahlias in auspicious red and white.
You’ll have a sophisticated, original shimenawa that hardly looks handmade.
shimenawa (sacred Shinto rope)
Speaking of New Year’s traditions, you can’t forget the shimenawa.
According to legend, the first shimenawa was hung as a sacred boundary when the sun goddess Amaterasu emerged from the Heavenly Rock Cave, so she wouldn’t go back inside.
Putting the mythology aside for a moment, why not try braiding your own shimenawa using rope or cord from a 100-yen shop? They last longer than ones made from straw, and the materials are easy to find.
There are plenty of tutorials on video sites, so even beginners can feel confident.
It could be fun to make lots of them—for your front door, your car, or your own room!
New Year’s wreath with a shimenawa base
A New Year’s wreath made with a shimenawa base creates an elegant, distinctly Japanese feel just by decorating it with artificial flowers and pinecones.
For Western-style rooms, adding a lace ribbon is also recommended.
Unlike real shimenawa, it’s lightweight, so it’s easy to hang.
Try choosing materials to match your preferred style.
Make your favorite wreath and enjoy getting ready to welcome the New Year.
Handmade New Year’s decorations will make your home feel much more festive!
Let's handcraft New Year decorations! A collection of ideas using everyday materials (81–90)
shimenawa wreath
Many people decorate their front doors with shimenawa (sacred straw ropes) for the New Year.
Precisely because they’re so commonly displayed, using a stylish-looking shimenawa to express your individuality could be a fun idea.
The base is made by braiding paper yarn into a rope-like form.
Its soft material gives it a gentle look, and you can make it in a variety of colors—that’s a key point.
After that, just add decorations like artificial flowers to finish it off.
Using nandina berries or mizuhiki will give it a traditional Japanese feel, but it might be even more enjoyable to think beyond that and create a decoration that reflects your own style.
Daruma ornament
Let’s make simple and cute handmade daruma ornaments to welcome a lucky New Year.
All you need are an empty milk carton, tissue paper, and a paper tube.
Since you can make them with everyday items, give it a try.
The steps are easy, so everyone from young children to seniors can enjoy making them.
The finished daruma are three-dimensional with unique expressions, adding a cozy touch to any room.
You can also arrange them into animals and other designs.
Use red-and-white or gold origami paper, or make lots in your favorite colors for a lively and festive New Year’s decoration.
art flower arrangement
When you hear “flower arrangement,” it might not conjure up a New Year’s image—if that’s you, we’ve got some New Year decoration ideas you should definitely try.
Using shallow bowls and artificial flowers from 100-yen shops like Daiso, we create decorations perfect for the season.
It’s fun how simply adding things like chiyogami paper instantly shifts the look to a traditional Japanese style.
There is some cutting involved for the base and faux flowers, but the steps aren’t too complicated, so please give it a try!
Felt ornamental cabbage
Ornamental cabbages, which you often see at florists as New Year’s approaches, are also commonly used in New Year’s flower arrangements.
Here’s an idea to craft and display them cutely using felt.
You make the cabbage leaves from felt and roll them up carefully; however, trimming the fine serrations along the leaf edges with scissors might take time and patience.
If you draw in the veins with pastel chalk and add gradients as you assemble it—and decorate with nandina berries and pine needles—it will instantly feel much more like New Year’s!
