Baby, it's cold outside...
In homes across the country, fires are aglow, candles are flickering and the thermals are most definitely on.
Christmas is almost upon us, and, while decorating your home for the holidays might seem a daunting task, we've brought to you six key festive trends to help you deck the halls in 2022 style.
Nature and nurture
Combining beautiful woodland finds – gnarled branches, pine cones, mistletoe, holly and ivy – with more glitzy treasures has been a key trend of the past few years. A nod to the yearning we felt for home and family in Covid times.
This year, it's all about simple snowy whites paired with pared-back foliage, wooden decorations, ceramic trinkets and flickering tea lights.
We love dressing a console table or windowsill with Neptune's Chastleton houses, available in three designs, entwining them with tea lights and moss foraged from the woods. And these white metal stars look spectacular hung above your fireplace or in groups with miniature mirrors on the wall in a hallway.
Baubles filled with dried grasses and LED lights are another key trend this year – as pretty placed in a nature-inspired table centrepiece as they are hung from the evergreen branches of the tree.
Find more inspiration for a wonderful white Christmas here.
Back to the future
Fish and chips, salt and vinegar, Morecambe and Wise... nothing says Christmas like red and gold. And while the past few years have seen pastels dominating Christmas decor trends, red and gold is back with a bang.
We love these stockings in Isla velvet, in Cranberry (pictured) and Finch, the richest of golds. These Emily napkins in Cranberry linen make a table instantly festive, and there are matching runners too. All available in our Neptune store-in-store.
Sustainable Christmas
With more than a nod to Seventies Christmas chic, paper decorations have made a comeback this year – and they've come a long way since the days of metal roller skates, space hoppers and Action Man.
We love these miniature trees by Sass & Belle – we stock them in green, ruby red and gold. There are matching baubles too. Simple fold them out and secure – and when the festivities are over, they fold flat again for easy storage.
Be bold with these huge white paper stars. Gorgeously geometric and intricately stamped, they're stunning hung in groups above a long Christmas table or on a dark wall as a statement piece.
Branching out
There's much discussion about the carbon footprint of real versus faux Christmas trees, but if you're a house with pets or young children, an artificial tree you can reuse year after year might be a sensible choice. Ours come in all shapes and sizes and you'll be hard-pressed to tell the difference between these and a freshly-cut spruce.
No, you won't get the glorious scent of pine filling your home, but you won't get the needle shedding either, and you will get that comforting childhood feeling of Christmas starting with bringing the tree down from the attic.
Let there be lots of light
Candles are king this Christmas. From pretty LED tree candles to safely channel your inner Victorian, to pillar candles in all shapes and sizes and dainty tea lights, our gift shop is full of candles, votives and candlesticks to suit every colour scheme.
And while you can't beat real candlelight, the new generation of LED pillar and taper candles are a sensible choice for a Christmas table if there are little people around. In shades from French grey to olive, midnight to ruby red, and everything in between, they're remote-controlled and as realistic as it gets.
String fairy lights along Christmas tables and weave into garlands on fireplaces and on staircases – you'll find a huge selection in our Gift Shop.
Don't forget the matches, either. While once the Swan Vestas were hidden in drawers, matches now are a thing of beauty. Our glass bottles and beautifully decorated cardboard boxes of cooks' and extra-long safety matches make a great stocking filler.
East, west, homespun's best
No one needs the disappointment of another miniature skittles set or a set of plastic golf tees. Surprise and delight your guests this year with Christmas crackers filled with truly thoughtful gifts – another nod to this year's sustainability trend.
Neptune's make-your-own Francesca cracker set comes with snaps, ribbons, hats and card to write your own jokes and our Gift Shop is brimming with miniature presents for your favourite people, from family games to ceramic trinket boxes, hand cream to wax melts, diffusers and candles in Holloways signature scents and gift vouchers.
And while making all of your decorations might be a step too far this Christmas, creating spectacular garlands and wreaths is easier than you think. Read our step-by-step guides here.
