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?
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Let's handcraft New Year decorations! A collection of ideas using everyday materials (81–90)
Mini kadomatsu in a mug
Introducing a mini kadomatsu you can make using a mug—perfect for decorating small spaces.
First, prepare a block of floral foam and cut it to fit the size of your mug.
Once shaped, set it inside the mug.
Trim any parts that stick out to neaten the shape.
Next, cut the stalk portion of the kadomatsu and paint it in your preferred color.
Finally, decorate with flowers and other accents to finish.
By changing the colors and flowers, you can create a modern or even Scandinavian look.
Try making one to suit your room!
Zodiac figurine
To celebrate the New Year, many people likely display decorations featuring the zodiac animals.
Keeping a small zodiac figurine on display can also help you remember which animal represents that year.
Using chirimen (crepe fabric) emphasizes a soft look and adds a sense of warmth and familiarity.
Color selection is also important for New Year’s decorations; incorporating red and white gives an auspicious feel, so it’s recommended.
It could also be fun to add touches like placing the piece on a ceramic dish or setting up a folding screen behind it.
New Year’s decoration using a folding fan
Although “a brazier in summer and a fan in winter” is a proverb meaning something useless, even a fan in winter can become a splendid wall decoration depending on how you present it.
Why not have the whole family make their own decorative fans? To create a festive New Year’s mood, it’s best to use gold or silver fans.
Then add your favorite items to enjoy arranging them—such as cord that imitates a shimenawa rope or artificial pine branches reminiscent of a kadomatsu, spinning tops, kites for kite-flying, and cheerful touches like Okame and Hyottoko masks—all of which you can easily find at 100-yen shops.
Display the decorative fans everyone made in the hallway or living room.
You’ll be able to keep that New Year spirit going for a long time.
New Year decorations made with origami
Introducing New Year decorations made with origami and tissue paper.
They’re easy to make and instantly festive—give it a try! Fold the tissue paper back and forth in a mountain-valley (accordion) pattern.
Secure the center of the accordion-folded tissue with a rubber band, then trim along the ridge of the folds to create a flower shape.
Fluff it out into three dimensions to complete the flower.
Fold a fan with pretty origami paper, add a looped mizuhiki cord, and arrange the flower and fan in a balanced way.
You’ll have a delightfully voluminous decoration perfect for the New Year.
mizuhiki decoration
Mizuhiki are decorative cords imbued with various meanings, used to wrap gifts and the like.
They’re also used for celebratory occasions such as gift money, in which case red-and-white mizuhiki are the standard.
You can find mizuhiki at 100-yen shops, and by using them as a base for embellishment, you can create New Year’s decorations.
Red and white mizuhiki are typical, and for ornamentation, nandina berries or pine needles are common choices.
Despite their simplicity, the key is their auspicious, festive look that makes you want to display them all around the house.