People who live in the arid, desert areas of the country sometimes look with longing at the family and friends who are “blessed” with a white, snowy Christmas. If you live in the snow-filled areas of the country, you may want a white holiday season, but as anyone who lives there knows… the snow and cold are daunting after a time.
If you live in the part of the country that doesn’t see snow, you can still decorate your backyard to look like a wintery snowscape for the holidays with your family. Sure, you may be swimming and have a “snow-covered” gound, but that’s half the fun, right?
You Don’t Need To Live In Snow Country To Have A Wintery Backyard
Are you ready to turn your backyard into a winter wonderland? We have some tips to help you make it happen. All it takes is imagination and fake snow (depending on where you live!)
Snow
Sure, if you live in the northeast or midwest you may be walking through snow already and will be for months to come, but if you live in Arizona or California, how will you get snow? Know that you don’t have to relocate or swap houses with your snow-laden friends and family. You can create a snowscape even if you have never seen a snowflake in your region.
There are a couple of ways to get it to snow in your backyard:
- You can purchase something called Kodel fiber from an upholstery supply store (or online). Drape this white material around your roof, over the trees in your yard, on the ground and over picnic tables and other outdoor accessories. he first thing you need to create a Christmas winter wonderland is fake snow and lots of it. We will warn you — it won’t look like snow, naturally — but it will give the impression of a “white” wonderland. You can make the fiber look a bit more realistic by snipping the edges so they aren’t straight, then sprinkle or spray the edges with artificial snow. Artificial snow can be made at home by mixing a couple tablespoons of water with baking soda and blending it in a food processor until it has the consistency of snow.
- Rent a snowmaking machine. These machines shoot out fake snow into the backyard to simulate snow. It will make your yard look as though it experienced a light snowfall and it can be gently snowing upon your friends and family while you’re enjoying time outdoors.
Decorate in winter themes with plants
- Christmas cactus lend a bright pop of color no matter where you live. Invest in some of these beautiful plants — which are known for blooming in the winter, hence their name.
- Poinsettias are the quintessential Christmas, holiday and cold weather and seasonal plant. These add a pop of color to your backyard winter wonderland theme — remember though these plants will not thrive if you leave them outdoors in the cold and snow. Also, know that they are poisonous to your cats.
- Winterflowers like winterberry and witch hazel also give a burst of color to your backyard winter decorating.
- Evergreens — you can buy potted evergreens in a myriad of shapes, sizes and varieties. Decorate them and place them around your backyard. If you either have snow or are making snow, these potted trees are beautiful when lighted at night with a covering of snow over them. If you don’t have snow you can spray fake snow on the branches.
- Pumpkins and other gourds and winter squash varieties draped or surrounded by pinecones and evergreen branches are beautiful and understated decorations
Decorate the outdoor fire feature
If you have potted trees or outdoor fire heating features that surround your swimming pool, consider draping them with garland, Christmas stockings and other Christmas and winter decorations you enjoy. Remember, don’t start a fire if you’re decorating the fire feature.
Buy a full-sized Christmas tree and have a decorating party in your backyard to truly make the area festive.
Hosting a winter wonderland party
If you’re having a swimming pool party, make sure you have warmed, toasty bath rugs and towels available for your guests. Even if you live in Arizona or California, the nights get cool and your guests will welcome a warm towel.
Those who live in the truly frigid areas of the country, may not have a pool water heater or it is just too cold to heat the water effectively so your pool will be a guest at the party, but won’t be active!
When hosting a winter wonderland party in the cooler climates, consider this:
- Use space heaters to warm the area
- Rearrange the furniture so it is surrounding the heaters
- Have a lot of thick woolen blankets available
- Start a fire in your fire feature or fireplace
- Fill the space with Christmas decorations
- Decorate the tables with pine cones and pine boughs and wrapped decorative gifts
- To block out the wintery wind erect a tent around the outdoor living space
- Offer your guests comfort foods and hot cocoa, mulled cider and other drinks and food to keep them warm
Create a skating rink
Ice skating is a wonderful and fun winter activity. If you don’t live in an area of the country that it is cold enough to do this, we do apologize for what you’re missing!
To make your own skating rink you will need:
- Sandbags
- Vinyl pool blanket
- Water
- Pre-planning
Lay the vinyl pool blanket on the ground on top of sandbags that you’ve placed in a circle. Make it large enough to accommodate skaters. Pull the liner over the top of the sandbags to make an indentation. Fill that indentation with water and let freeze. Add about four inches of water as that can freeze quickly and will be an ideal depth for skating.
Don’t forget the lighting
One of the most beautiful parts of winter and your winter wonderland design is to light up the night and the area. A Christmas backyard party wouldn’t be a party without the twinkling of lights in the trees, shrubs and draped over any other space you want in the backyard.
Choose Christmas lights in colors of the winter wonderland look you want. You may want to stick with simple white lights or you might want to light up the night with multicolored, twinkling lights.