How to Make Your Own Gothic Christmas Decorations

By Amber Seber

Are the holidays a little too bright and shiny for you? Do you crave something a little less innocent and a little more morbid? Try these homebrewed ideas for making your own goth Christmas decorations.

A spooky Christmas tree should be the centerpiece of your goth Christmas. Take an old dried Christmas tree and strip the needles from it. You can leave your tree this way or you can spray-paint it black. Hang strings of black lights from the tree instead of colored lights. Now you have the perfect place to hang all of those spooky Nightmare Before Christmas ornaments you've been collecting.

To make spooky festive pinecones, spray pinecones with a spray adhesive or roll them in a mixture of 2/3 school glue and 1/3 water. Next, sprinkle them with purple glitter. These will go nicely with your black light tree.

Candles are a must for your gothic Christmas. Stock up on black candles during Halloween and make them festive by circling them with fresh evergreen sprigs. Another spooky yet lovely way to use candles is to set black candles inside a dish and then fill the dish surrounding the candles with red holly berries or fresh red cranberries. Red candles can be used in place of black candles. Just surround them with small black stones or evergreen sprigs that have been painted black.

Spooky ornaments are also easy to make. You can re-use those little plastic toys and decorations left over from Halloween. Glue ribbons or string to the top of plastic skeletons, spooky ghosts, and rubber bats and use them to adorn your tree. Ornaments made from sticks to look like the poppets in the movie Blair Witch Project are easily made with twigs, dried grass, and a little hot glue.

Spookify your Christmas punch by adding ice cubes made from frozen grape juice. The red punch will take on an otherworldly look as the dark purple ice cubes melt into the festive red liquid. Ring the bowl with evergreen sprigs or holly sprigs that have been spray-painted black.

Instead of using regular Christmas wrapping paper, invest in some dark purple paper. Plain red paper can also have a spooky yet festive effect. Wrap your gifts in plain dark colors and use black ribbon to tie them.

You can use regular evergreen Christmas garlands to decorate your home and your tree, but use large black bows to tie them up rather than the traditional red bows. This simple touch has a fantastically morbid effect on the old-fashioned decorations.

Do you need a Santa to decorate your special occasion? Save that plastic witch statue from Halloween and outfit her with a Santa costume. You can also make wonderfully frightening Christmas dolls from dried apples.

Stockings can be spruced up to be spooky. Use striped black and white knee-high stockings over the fireplace or if you are good with a needle you can sew some spooky stockings of your own. Give them curled toes with a little bell on the tip or make them from dark fabrics.

With a little paint and glue, it is easy to make any Christmas fit your lifestyle. A little black paint and dark purple glitter will go a long way this Christmas. Happy holidays!

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