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's Decorations! A Collection of Ideas Using Everyday Materials (91–100)
New Year decorations made of paper
At first glance it looks like a New Year’s decoration—a small wreath—using mizuhiki on a shimenawa, but in fact not only the shimenawa, the mizuhiki, and the decorative Phalaenopsis orchid are all made of paper.
The mizuhiki is made by cutting red and white paper into thin strips and rolling them, the fan is an accordion-folded sheet of washi-pattern origami, and the pine is created by making slits in green origami and bunching it along a wire—everything can be made from colored paper.
For the base shimenawa, you simply unravel brown paper twine and twist it together.
Unraveling the paper twine might be the most patience-testing part of the process.
Hagoita (decorative battledore)
This is a stylish hagoita arrangement that blends Japanese and Western elements.
The look changes dramatically depending on the fabric you choose, so you can really showcase your original sense of style.
You can get almost everything you need—wood glue, string, paste—at a 100-yen shop.
Adorn it with your favorite flowers, like chrysanthemums or hydrangeas, let the colors shine, and then finish with a quick spritz of gold glitter spray.
That instantly adds an eye-catching accent.
It’s great not only for New Year’s, but also as a gift for a Japanese-style wedding or for Hinamatsuri, which is a nice bonus!
Shimenawa decoration made from colored construction paper
Let’s introduce an idea for a shimenawa decoration using colored construction paper.
First, prepare red construction paper.
Fold it like an accordion, pinch the center and secure it with masking tape to create a bow shape.
Next, make a second one the same way, then offset it by about 5 cm and stick them together.
With that, the base is almost complete.
After that, use a glue gun to attach a store-bought shimenawa, and decorate it with items like white weeping plum blossoms.
Of course, you can change the color of the paper and the flowers as you like.
Kokedama-style arrangement
There are actually quite a few celebrities who grow moss—comedian Tanaka from Ungirls, Nogizaka46’s Marika Itō, and actor Masato Sakai are all moss enthusiasts.
So how about arranging a moss ball (kokedama) with a New Year’s vibe and displaying it on your dining table or in the living room? Even a touch of greenery indoors will surely make for a soothing, enriching New Year.
The base for the kokedama can be a chrysanthemum-shaped moss ball sold at 100-yen shops.
Then just insert senryo (Sarcandra) or seasonal flowers.
Adding small New Year-themed ornaments would also set the mood nicely.
It’s easy, so give it a try!
kagami mochi (traditional Japanese New Year rice cake decoration)
Kagami mochi is an essential New Year’s decoration in Japan.
The classic style features stacked rice cakes topped with a mandarin, and its cute appearance is part of the charm.
Here’s a simple craft inspired by that adorable kagami mochi.
Since it doesn’t use any food, you’ll have more options for where to display it.
Make the sanpō (the ceremonial stand) by layering washi paper over a base of thick cardstock, and create the mochi by sewing chirimen fabric together to wrap around thick cardstock.
A key tip is to cleverly hide the chirimen seams to make the mochi look soft.
