Top Christmas Trends for 2018

I don’t normally do a lot of seasonal content here as you may have noticed, and I’m particularly bad when it comes to Christmas. I’ve begrudgingly done the odd gift guide before but that’s about it. I’d love to be able to say the reason for this is that I’m too busy enjoying the festive season to blog about it, but a more realistic answer is that I’m too busy stressing about everything that needs to be done. All our family birthdays fall in November, December and January so this just adds to the to-do list at this time of year.

However, I thought I would make an exception this year as I was really impressed by the Christmas offering from Dobbies one of the UK’s leading garden centre retailers. And as today is apparently ‘Bring Your Christmas Tree Home Day‘ I thought it was the ideal time to share some of the major Christmas Trends that Dobbies has identifed for 2018.

I haven’t got my Christmas decorations up yet, but my family and I will be making our home look all festive on Wednesday. We always decorate on the 12th December as we like to get the December birthdays out of the way first so we can fully focus on Christmas. But according to research carried out by Dobbies, a quarter of Brits will buy their real Christmas tree this weekend, with most trees being purchased today, the second Saturday in December.

If you are bringing your Christmas tree home today you can join in with Dobbies’ first ‘Social Christmas Tree Lights Switch On’. Dobbies is hoping to light up Instagram feeds across the country at 6pm on the 8th December as Brits share the moment they switch on their Christmas tree lights.

Christmas Trends for 2018

So let’s take a look at some of the Christmas trends that Dobbies have identified for this year. First up is my personal favourite and one that would fit in perfectly in my own home.

Enchanted Garden

This trend tells an organic and natural Christmas story and takes its cue from foliage and flowers. It features plenty of green, some woodland animals, and some touches of gold for added sophistication. Can you see how this would be the perfect Christmas decor scheme for my living room? I love the simple wreath in the photo above and the very understated look of that tree. It’s very simple but pretty at the same time and I love how it doesn’t beg for attention.

This trend is also the top pick of Dobbies’ own Christmas Buyer Lynsey Abbott:

One of my favourite looks of the season has to be woodland, taking inspiration from nature and the great outdoors. Think cosy wooden cabins, neutral faux furs throws, earthy textures and fresh green foliage. To achieve the look in your home and create a tree worthy of winter woodland wonderland status, opt for a selection of wooden decorations and an array of gorgeous bristle animals found in the forest, such as hedgehogs, squirrels and owls. This look works well paired with understated worn gold accessories, hessian bunting and strings of warm fairy lights wrapped around your real tree to add some extra festive sparkle.

I’m a big fan of the bauble selection for this trend. I love the mix of wood and glass and the traditional colour combination of green and gold is just so timeless. In all honestly though, I’d probably swap out the gold touches for copper in my own home as I do love the combination of dark green and copper. We’ve gone for copper decorations for the last few years as they really pop against the dark green walls of our living room.

This tablescape has totally inspired me as I think even I could pull this off. Again it’s very unassuming and understated, and I love the natural materials that have been used alongside those beautiful sprigs of eucalyptus and pine.

All That Glitters

The second of the Christmas trends is my next favourite. It’s at the opposite end of the spectrum to Enchanted Garden going from rough and rustic to glamourous and sophisticated. The sparkling collection is filled with rose gold and champagne glitter accents so it has quite an opulent feeling. I’d like to see these two Christmas trends combined in my home. I love the rustic charm of Enchanted Garden but Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a bit of bling.

How cute is that little stag candle holder? This would definitely be right at home on my mantelpiece alongside some tiny sparkly pine cones. And once again this trend can also be adapted to create the perfect sparkling tablescape for festive dining.

Snowy Forest

Snowy Forest feels a bit more traditional to me, but with a slightly Scandinavian twist. The third of the Christmas trends uses lots of silver and white tones with pops of reds. The cute snow tipped woodland animals are a lovely addition to the tree.

Highland Tales

This Christmas trend is much more traditional than ones we have seen so far. It has a really cosy feel about it conjured up by the soft, tactile textures of tartan. The colour scheme is very traditional and the fact that this feels so familiar is very reassuring.

Traditional Elegance

Next on the Christmas trends list is Traditional Elegance which takes influence from Victorian times. It is everything you’d expect to see in a traditional Christmas setting, with elegant touches of red, green and vintage gold. Again this is totally familiar to most of us and I would say it’s probably the most grown up trend of the lot.

Toybox

In complete contrast to the previous two Christmas trends we have seen, Toybox is all about the fun! It’s quite fanciful with a festive touch, and is full of little surprises to delight everyone. Kids in particular will love this Christmas trend and it’s youthful approach.

But before we can decide on which trend we want to go for, we need to choose which tree we want to bring home today. So the age old question of real or faux has to be settled first. I’ve seen this question posed so many times on social media lately. I’ve noticed that people who used to sing the praises of real trees have been turned and are now opting for the convenience of faux Christmas trees. Lynsey Abbott, Dobbies’ Christmas buyer has seen the same trend.

While real trees are always going to be popular at Christmas, we’ve also seen growing demand for artificial trees – they’re easy to look after, and, if you buy a good quality one, they provide great value for money.

In all honestly, it doesn’t really matter what you go for as long as it works for you and your family. Either way, Dobbies has a great selection of Christmas trees to choose from and just maybe one of these will be coming home with you today?

 

SOURCE LIST

1. Blue Spruce Pot Grown 80-100cm
2. Fraser Fir Cut 210-240cm (7-8ft)
3. Cashmere Mixed Artificial Tree with Pine Cones 2.1m
4. Windsor Fir Artificial Christmas Tree 2.1m
5. Nordman Fir Cut Slim 180-210cm
6. Frosted Mountain Artificial Tree 1.8m

And I couldn’t finish this post without mentioning the amazing living wreath from Dobbies. If I had the time and was more green fingered, this is absolutely the wreath that I would want hanging on my front door to welcome guests over the festive period.

So let me know if you’ll be bringing your Christmas tree home today and joining in with the Social Christmas Tree Lights Switch On on Instagram this evening at 6pm. I’d also like to know which one of these Christmas Trends is your favourite. So let me know in the comments guys!