Horses find their way into almost every aspect of our lives. Even if we’re not with them, we’re usually talking or thinking about them, so why not incorporate them into your festive celebrations? Here’s four easy ways to add horse-themed Christmas decorations to your festivities.
Horse Christmas decorations: start with DIY baubles
These are an easy addition to your tree. Simply buy plain coloured baubles of whichever colour takes your fancy and set about customising them. Superglue and glitter work well to add horseshoes or create a horse-shaped stencil from some leftover cardboard to add a sparkly horse to your decorations. If you’re feeling ambitious, try adding markings or coat colours to look like your own horse.
Horse-shaped wreaths
My talented mum, Gill Fraser, makes fabulous horse-shaped Christmas wreaths (pictured top). She explains some easy steps to make your own.
“You can use any type of wire or craft wire and bend it into the outline of a horse head to create a frame. Once you have the outline, lattice more wire across the frame — this is what you’ll attach your greenery to.
“Pick evergreens from your garden or buy wreath-making greenery from a local florist. You can also use artificial greenery if you prefer something that will last year on year.
“Thread your foliage through the lattice until your horse head is well covered with green ‘fur’ and choose pointy pieces of greenery for the ears. Attach the foliage with florists wire to secure it to the frame.
“I use different evergreens for the head and the mane and forelock to distinguish between them, and I thread the greenery in different directions to define these parts.
“Thread some tinsel across the head and neck to create a tinsel bridle, and attach pinecones – real or artificial – to create an eye and a nostril.
“If you’re making it with artificial greenery it will last year on year, but make sure to save the wire frame if you choose to use real foliage, as you can re-use the frame next year.”
Holly-clad horseshoes as Christmas decorations
These cute festive decorations are really easy to make, and even better, can be made by upcycling things you may already have lying around. Find a spare horseshoe — perhaps one retrieved from the field or one recently replaced by the farrier – and use this as your base. Give it a good scrub to remove the dirt, and if you want a shiny finish, spray some varnish or paint on before leaving to dry.
Head out to your hedgerows or garden and pick a few sprigs of holly or evergreens to attach to your horseshoe. These can be superglued or carefully tied on with twine for a rustic look. Thread the twine through the nail holes on both sides and tie the ends together in a tidy bow to complete your festive holly-clad horseshoe decoration.
Add a horsey twist to your festive baking
Transform your Christmas baking by adding a horsey twist. There are lots of horse-shaped biscuit cutters and baking tins available to purchase to add an equestrian touch to family favourite recipes.
You could also add a horsey theme to Christmas cakes with icing. Create a stunning snowy scene with white icing as the base, and carefully use coloured icing to create a horse or two. Add icing snowflakes, sprinkles or one of the best horsey cake toppers as a finishing touch to your festive horsey cake.
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