The holiday season is fast approaching. What better way to celebrate the holidays than transforming your home and backyard into a beautiful and festive winter wonderland?
There is just one big problem: the snow.
Many parts of the country hardly experience enough snowfall to cover their rooftops and garden. There are even some regions where snow doesn’t fall at all.
If you have always been dreaming of a white Christmas, the good news is that you don’t have to relocate to somewhere that experiences a generous amount of snowfall each year. You can create a winter wonderland right in the comfort of your home even if you live in a place where you don’t see even a single snowflake.
Transform Your Backyard into a Winter Wonderland
Cover everything with fake snow
The first thing you need to create a Christmas winter wonderland is fake snow and lots of it.
A cheap but efficient manner to pull this off is to get several rolls of Kodel fiber from your local upholstery supply store. Just drape this over your roof and yard and then secure these with some sturdy wires. To make it look even more realistic, sprinkle the edges with some artificial snow that you can buy from your local arts and crafts store. You can also make your artificial snow by mixing baking soda with a couple of tablespoons of water in a food processor until it has the same consistency of real snow.
If you want to go all out with your Christmas winter wonderland theme, you can always invest in renting or buying a snowmaking machine. Aside from covering your home and backyard in fake snow that looks and feels like the real thing, they can also help simulate a gentle snowfall in your backyard to make your winter wonderland Christmas theme come to life.
Add potted winter flower plants
Evergreens aren’t the only ones that thrive during the winter months. Believe it or not, there are also lots of beautiful flowers like witch hazel, winterberry, and poinsettias that blossom and gives a burst of color to your winter wonderland theme.
Get a few pots of these winter thriving plants and place them around your backyard. Add a bit of the fake snow on the petals and leaves to make them look like fresh snow had just fallen on them.
If you used some wicker baskets for decorating your home during Thanksgiving, you could place these pots inside these baskets to make them look more attractive.
Deck your outdoor fireplace with Christmas decors
String Christmas stockings and garlands across the mantle of your outdoor fireplace to make it resemble those fireplaces you see in Christmas postcards. You can also add some pillar candles on the mantle to give your fireplace a cozier and more romantic look. Don’t forget to add the traditional Christmas tree complete with trimmings to complete the entire picture perfect look.
When hosting a Christmas party on your patio, make sure to add a few thick blankets around the fireplace. Throw in also a few pine leaves and pine cones into the fire right before the party. This will fill your patio with a subtle pine scent that will bring you and your guests back to Christmas during your childhood.
If you don’t have an outdoor fireplace, a fire pit is a great alternative. They come in a variety of designs that would still blend with your winter wonderland theme and keep you and your guests warm when hosting evening Christmas parties.
Turn your swimming pool into an ice skating rink
Instead of hiding your swimming pool in blankets of fake snow, why not make use of it by turning it into your very own ice skating rink?
To do this, you will need the following:
- A vinyl pool blanket
- Some sandbags
- Water
Lay the vinyl pool blanket on top of the pool, making sure that it is just floating on the pool’s surface, and its edges just drape on the pool’s deck. Secure these with sandbags to prevent it from slipping into the water.
When the temperature outside starts becoming consistent at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, add four inches of water on top of the blanket. Be careful when you add the water to make sure that the blanket doesn’t dip too much into the pool. Then, let Mother Nature do the rest.
Before turning your pool into an ice skating rink, make sure that you have already winterized your pool. Otherwise, the freezing temperatures and the addition of ice forming on top can cause damage to your pool and your pool’s equipment.
Light things up
A winter wonderland theme wouldn’t be complete without a display of twinkling lights. Wrap them around the shrubs and trees in your backyard. String them on your roof and, of course, your Christmas tree.
Christmas lights come in a wide array of colors. Which to choose depends on the type of winter wonderland look you’re aiming to achieve. If you’re going for the traditional and festive winter wonderland Christmas, choose classic colors like red, green, blue, gold and white. If you want to go for something a little bit more on the classy and sophisticated style, limit the colors to just blue, gold and white.
Keeping Christmas lights open during the holiday season can quickly cause your electrical bill to spike up. One way to maintain the cost down is to use solar strand Christmas lights. These are attached to small solar panels that harness the sun’s rays during the day.
That’s it! You’re all set. So, go out there and create your own so that you and your family can experience what it’s like walking in a winter wonderland.