How to Display Christmas Cards

November 03, 2022

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and you’re wondering how to display Christmas cards in a way that goes above a jumbled - albeit lovely - collection on your mantelpiece.

With all those charmingly Christmassy designs and thoughtful messages, from friends and neighbours and relatives, there are many, many ways that you can transform a stack of well wishes into some amazing decorations – from the shockingly simple to the beautifully ornate - breathing festive cheer into your humble, wintery abode.

So get the mulled wine heating through, whip up the egg nog until it’s sweet and golden, or simply settle down with a cup of hot chocolate and a mince pie, as we guide you through how to get creative with your Christmas cards.

How to Arrange Christmas Cards in Your Home

We’re starting simple with our list – and first, let’s touch on the simplest thing you can do with your cards: no tape, no tack, just arranging your cards in a beautiful pattern. Here are three simple arrangements to spruce up an existing display.

Arrange by colour pallet – separate your cards into groups of those with complementary colours and place them in different areas of the room.
Arrange in a pyramid shape – on the mantle, arrange your cards with the smallest on either side, progressively getting bigger as they meet in the middle.
Create a wave – alternate between big and small cards to create a wave pattern.

How to Decorate with Christmas Cards

There are a bunch of creative ways for you to decorate your home with traditional Christmas cards – and many of them are as simple as using classic Christmas staples to elevate your display. Here are just a few.

Displaying Cards on a Garland

Garlands are a favourite festive decoration, bristling with faux fir needles and gently frosted with snow. Whether above the mantelpiece, or running down a stair bannister – it’s as simple as attaching your cards to the garland with paper clips for a beautiful arrangement.

Hanging Cards on Your Christmas tree

You can employ the paperclip method here too, if you like. But for an exciting rustic display simply wrap your tree in twine like you would with fairy lights, and attach cards onto the string with clothing pegs. They not only look fantastic, but work as a great supplement for Christmas decorations.

Attaching Cards to a Twig Tree

If you have a decorative twig tree or branch sculpture, you can easily fix your cards onto the arrangement using wooden clothing pegs for a wonderful, rustic effect. Just remember to be gentle when placing the pegs on, and smaller pegs work better.

How to Display Christmas Cards at Home Easily

Stepping it up a level, we’ll be looking at two simple, creative displays you can do using command hooks and sheets. If you’re looking to display your cards on a wall, we’d advise using these tools as opposed to blue/white tack, as they’re unlikely to cause damage if removed correctly.

Creating a Christmas Tree Wall Display

Our first simple display is perfect if there’s a blank area of wall that you’re looking to spruce up a little during the festive season – and if you have a lot of cards. We’ll take you step by step through creating your Christmas tree display.

Find a blank area of wall.
Using command sheets, fix a horizontal line of cards at around knee height, allowing an inch or two of space between them.
Using the centre of your existing line as a start point, create another line a couple inches above, placing cards either side of the centre. Just make sure it’s slightly shorter than the previous one.
You probably get what we’re working towards here – repeat the step above with shorter and shorter lines until they come together to form the shape of a Christmas tree. For the perfect shape, you’ll probably want to end up with a triangle that’s 1 and ½ times taller than it is wide.

Cards come in all shapes and sizes – so you don’t have to stick to these steps as a hard and fast rule – as long as the end product resembles a Christmas tree, of course!

And for one more festive step, place a basket or bucket underneath and use it to store warm blankets or presents.

Creating a Hanging Display with Lights or String

Another easy DIY display that uses nothing more than command hooks and things you’ll likely have laying around the house is a simple hanging display for your Christmas cards. You will need:

String, twine, or a set of fairy lights.
Clothes pegs – wooden pegs have a nicer finish.
Command hooks.
Christmas cards!

You can create your display anywhere that has a blank amount of space – an area of wall would work, but you can use windows as well. You’re unlikely to open them in these frigid winter months anyway!

Place your command hooks either side of a window, or a couple feet or so apart on a wall, depending on how many cards you have.
Repeat at different heights until you have two parallel lines.
Hook your string of lights in horizontal lines across your command hooks – you’ll want to keep them straight to prevent slippage – you can use more hooks if you need to pull it tighter.
Using pegs, attach your cards at various intervals onto the lines.
Switch on the lights – or simply admire your festive hanging design!

If your design is looking a little bare - you can also thread or hook Christmas decorations between the cards, just make sure they’re not too heavy.

And if you’re limited in twine, you can make several, simpler variations of this basic method and place them in different areas around your home. Wall displays and large framed photographs are an excellent place to start, with your display hanging gently over them.

How to Hang Christmas Cards Creatively

If you’ve experimented with our previous top tips and are looking for more creative options – congratulations, you’ve passed! This next level requires a bit more work, but produces some absolutely amazing results. Let’s start with our first festive idea.

Creating a Christmas Card Wreath Using Clothes Pegs

Who knew that clothes pegs could be so versatile! This design creates a lovely wreath that you can attach your Christmas cards to. Here’s how to get started:

Draw a circle on a piece of cardboard with a marker pen, about eight inches or so in circumference. You can use a bowl or plate for a more accurate line.
Draw another circle inside your circle about an inch smaller.
Cut around your circles to form a thin ring.
Paint your ring in a festive colour, a rich red or dark green for the season – you can also use glitter for an exciting finish.
Once the paint has dried, attach as many clothing pegs as you can around the ring, so only a little of the cardboard is showing – with their clamp sides facing outwards. Leave space at the top to fix a bow.
Using a holepunch, make a small hole at the top of the ring and thread some string through it, tying it off over the top.
Glue a bow on top of the hole.
Attach as many cards as you like to the wreath, using the clamp side of the clothing pegs.
Using the string, hang your new festive card holder wherever you like!

Hanging Your Christmas Cards in a Frame Display

Continuing with our intermediate level festive ideas - we’ll be looking at two different creative frame displays that take advantage of recycled materials for a rustic result!

For our first display – you will need:

A large photo frame
Battery powered fairy lights
A glue gun, or strong sticky tape
Clothes pegs

Gather all those items together and let’s get started!

Remove the glass and back panel from a photo frame so you’re left with just the frame itself.
Using a glue gun or strong sticky tape, fix your fairy lights so that they run across the frame in horizontal lines or a zig zag fashion. Make sure that the blotches of glue or parts of tape can’t be seen on the other side of the frame.
Arrange your cards onto the lights with clothing pegs.
Decorate the frame with stars, stickers and other shapes and decorations – if you like.
Hang your frame display up anywhere you like, or lay it onto a table next to a wall for support.
Switch your lights on and admire your festive design!

We’d recommend battery lights for this design as they are less bulky, but feel free to use twine as well, or even a mixture of the two.

We’re going as rustic as possible with our second creative display: here’s what you’ll need.

A large photo frame
Chicken wire – although any kind of mesh will do
Scissors – or pliers for snipping the heavy duty stuff
Clothing pegs
Battery powered fairy lights, for decoration

Yes – chicken wire! And of course those versatile clothing pegs - as always, smaller, wooden ones are better for that rustic look. Here we go!

Remove the glass and back panel from the frame, leaving just the frame itself.
Measure the size of your mesh against the frame, and snip it into shape using scissors or pliers.
Attach the mesh to the back of the frame using a hot glue gun, making sure those blotches of glue can’t be seen from the front.
Run battery powered fairy lights either through the frame, or twirl them over the top.
Attach your cards to the frame using small clothing pegs, or paperclips.
Hang up your new frame anywhere you like, or place it on a table against a wall for support.

There you have it – two expressive festive frame designs that can become a part of your Christmas decoration ensemble for many years into the future.

Taking Your Christmas Cards to the Next Level with Boomf!

Be it beautiful arrangements, wonderful recycled decorations or fantastically festive arts and crafts, we’re all about taking Christmas cards to the next level here on Boomf.

We understand that a card is more than simply a bit of paper, it’s a means of expressing good tidings and well wishes in these often cold, often soggy winter months.

With one of our many fantastic designs, lovingly created by a team of independent artists - you’ll find the perfect way to wish someone a very Merry Christmas.

All our cards are effortlessly personalised, you’ll be able to write a unique, thoughtful message, and easily adjust the font, colour and size of the text with our online tool – so your card is beautiful both inside and out.

But we’re not just about beautiful designs and thoughtful messages, you can spread excitement and cheer with one of our amazing specialist cards! Here are just some of the amazing types we have to offer.

Boomf Bombs! These fantastically shocking photo cubes burst out of their casing with an awesome blossom of confetti, and can be personalised with wonderful wintery designs, your own photos and a custom message of good tidings.
Confetti Cannons! Continuing with our shockingly spectacular confetti cards, our confetti cannons flip open delivering an epic shot of confetti, revealing your card: wrapped in a beautiful design, adorned with a festive photo and a personalised message.
Ta-Dah Cards! A little more refined, but no less wonderful, these confetti cards are an amazing twist on our regular card types, popping open with a gentle confetti shower.
Wild Cards! These creative pop up cards reveal an adorable figurine with creatures great and small to choose from, but why not go for a festive snowman – tis the season, after all!

However you direct your celebrations – we want to wish a very merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. And with these tips, we hope you’ve learned how to display luxury Christmas cards in a way that will spread joy, creativity and festive cheer around your own wintery abode.