Why tinsel and colourful Christmas lights are on trend again

Tinsel, foil garlands, colorful floral lights and a lounge that looks like Christmas is strewn everywhere are making a comeback.

Trees are filled with bold, mismatched decorations, retro-themed décor is available as more people try to recreate a festive season from their childhood.

Experts say the nostalgic shift started last year, but over-the-top (and, for some, tacky) has become one of the top decor trends of 2025.

“After long periods of low-key, neutral or traditional Christmases, people seem much more willing to re-embrace fun, excess and nostalgia,” says Harry Bradshaw of event and interior design company At Last Events.

Retailers say they are seeing increased demand for decorations that can help recreate the familiar Christmas magic from years past.

“Maximalism is making a bold return,” says Abi Wilson, Habitat’s seasonal and gift buyer, adding that people are turning to ’80s and ’90s-style colorful bells and bows, oversized ornaments and paper decorations.

Primark said younger Gen X, Millennial and older Gen Z consumers are buying decor that reminds them of their childhood.

Marks & Spencer noted strong sales of glitter rosettes and glitter tree skirts this year, while John Lewis said sales of “retro-nostalgic decor” were up 180% in 2025.

Felicity Hayward is doing her best to find Christmas joy this year.

In October, while browsing charity shops near where she lived in Margate, Kent, she came across a collection of colorful festive foil stars that reminded her of childhood Christmases at her grandparents’ house.

She began a two-month-long effort searching for 50p decorations, retro ornaments, wreaths and anything else she could find to recreate those special years growing up in the ’90s.

“Christmas always revolved around my grandparents,” says Felicity, 37. The family would spend the day eating homemade cheesecake, listening to Frank Sinatra, watching Christmas movies, and playing board games.

“When I think of Christmas, I think of their living rooms and their decorations.”

Felicity hasn’t tackled any Christmas decorations since 2019. The pandemic, combined with the deaths of his grandparents in 2022 and 2023, left him feeling distant from the festivity.

But this year, the living room is an explosion of color, adorned with foil stars, tinsel, homemade paper chains and ribbon garlands.

Some may find her decorations “tacky,” but Felicity says, “for me, all of these colors give me peace.”

“I really can’t wait to come home one night and turn on all my Christmas lights and lie down on the couch,” she says.

Liza Prideaux admits understated decorations are overdone and has embraced “nostalgic, vintage” decor for Christmas for the past two years.

“There’s no definitive theme; it’s more about colour, texture and creating a comfortable, lived-in feel,” says the 36-year-old artist from Devon.

“Colored incandescent lights are my favorite,” he says. “They make sure everything is warm and comfortable.”

How we sprinkle festive magic into our homes is “a physical representation of what we need emotionally from our Christmas celebrations,” says Hannah Bartlett, who runs business The Christmas Insider.

The season always has a “fixed anchor,” he says, and returning to the same rituals and traditions year after year can help us “get grounded.”

But Ms. Bartlett notes that the current “uncertainty” in the world is causing people to find more comfort in traditions that remind them of their childhoods. He says he has a desire to “return to simpler times.”

Pandora Maxton, 52, from York, an influencer who takes it easy with her flamboyant festive displays, admits decorations such as tinsel and brightly colored lights “take us back in time”.

“I think that’s why it’s having a resurgence, because it takes people back to childhood. That’s what Christmas is all about, right?”

Holly Langley was born in 1990. But that didn’t stop him from hosting an ’80s-themed Christmas nearly 40 years later.

Holly, 34, from Reading, had been hunting in charity shops and vintage fairs for foil decorations, satin ornaments, tablecloths and china. The day served Christmas cocktails and jam poly, accompanied by 80s music and a quiz about the decade.

“We do the same thing every year, don’t we? Everyone takes off their Christmas pajamas, we watch the same TV shows, we eat the same food,” says Holly. His ’80s-themed Christmas was “a little different, a little interesting, a little fun.”

Want to create your own retro Christmas? Here are Felicity, Holly and Lucy’s tips:

• Check charity shops, especially just after Christmas when people are heading out
• Check out resale sites and apps, but be careful when buying second-hand electronics like lights
• Make paper chains that you can reuse for other celebrations
• Ask your relatives if they have any unwanted decorations
• Play 70s and 80s music videos, movies or commercials in the background

So why were decorations so bold and bright in the past?

At a time of austerity, union action and miners’ strikes, people in 1970s Britain were looking for a “signal of hope”, says vintage decor collector Lucy Scott.

It was also the era of flamboyant glam rock; The British were crazy about the glamorous style.

But in the 1970s, fewer options were available.

“There wasn’t a huge choice, but the choice was for this kind of shiny space age tinsel decorations… the majority were from Hong Kong,” says Lucy, 45, from Birmingham.

This began to change in the 1980s, as more people became homeowners and retailers such as Woolworths and BHS began selling a wider choice of decorations, says Lucy.

But Felicity says she buys most of her decorations second-hand. “If you think about it, these tinsels are 20 to 30 years old and they’re still intact,” he says.

And it’s not just a trend for him.

“This won’t be just another Christmas, this will be my Christmas forever now.”