A Very Tartan Christmas – Five of the best Christmas Garlands

We are well and truly into the festive spirit here at ScotlandShop and as we pack your parcels we are also busy dreaming up some funky Christmas decorations to liven up our homes. Ali is always desperate to get her tree up as soon as possible and to keep her going until the 1st December we let her write you a story on the blog last week all about her tartan not so paper chains.

Our top Christmas product for 2015 was our Christmas Garland which we keep in stock in your favourite red Stewart Royal tartan. They were flying off the shelves almost as quickly as the ScotlandShop Christmas elves could make them! You can of course choose to have a garland made in the your family tartan for an extra special touch. I had a garland made in beautiful purples and greens of the Troon tartan combined with the perfect pink Lilliesleaf tartan, not so christmassy but I love it so much that I made the decision to keep it up all year round.

Having fallen in love with my own tartan garland, I've embarked on a bit of a mission this year to try and make garlands for some family Christmas presents (let's hope they aren't reading this post!). The plan is to go for something quite traditional, lots of pine cones (I got totally soaked last weekend out foraging for these due to the wonderful Scottish weather), dried oranges and of course some tartan ribbon to finish it off. My main inspiration to go a little DIY this year comes from Jane Means who visited us last year to share her many Christmas gift wrapping and decorating ideas, including a fantastic how to guide on tying the perfect bow to finish off any Garland.

If you're not quite up to making your own Garland (or if my DIY garlands don't go to plan) you may want to go for something a little bit different for 2016. I am tempted by the Shangri-La Bauble wreath by John Lewis, loving the spectrum of colours and their description "inspired the iridescent feathers of wild birds found in the tropics". It might be a long shot but maybe a tropical garland could make for a tropical Scottish Christmas?

We love being able to make gifts really personal so are big fans of the Owl & Otter Personalised Wooden Christmas Wreath which manages to look contemporary and traditional all at the same time, topped off with the extra finishing touch with the name across the centre. Reassuringly not mass produced!