It’s the most wonderful time of the year, bringing an excellent excuse to deck the halls and compete with your neighbours for the best Christmas display. 

But don’t just stop at decorating your tree! Take the festivities outside and create a truly magical driveway that’ll give your friends and family something to look forward to. With these tips and tricks for decorating your driveway gates, your home will be looking like Santa’s grotto in no time. 

1. Christmas bunting 

What’s Christmas without some festive bunting? Bringing colour to your driveway is a must, especially during such a joyful time of year. Plus, it’s a good reason to get your crafting hat on and get involved with a spot of DIY. 

One thing to bear in mind when making your driveway bunting is whether it’ll be able to withstand the UK’s unpredictable weather conditions, particularly if we’re expected to have a white Christmas. Snow and rain could end up destroying your decorations, and you’ll want to make sure that your creations will be able to be reused again and again for years to come. With this in mind, waterproof bunting is essential. 

We were inspired by Helpful Mum’s method, using oilcloth fabric due to its weather resistance. Once you’ve acquired the material (and made sure it has a Christmassy design), grab some cardboard and start to cut out triangle shapes – this will act as your stencil. Next, place your cut-outs onto your fabric and draw around them with a pencil, cutting as many out as you desire, depending on the length of your driveway. After folding binding tape over the top of each triangle and pinning down in place, secure everything together using a sewing machine. 

Now, select the best place to hang your Christmas bunting, whether this be along your garden fence or your driveway gate, and admire your handiwork.

2. Decorating your outdoor trees

Make use of your natural environment and give the trees in your garden just as much love as those inside. By using twinkling decorations to wrap around their leaves, they’ll light up your driveway in traditional Christmas fashion. Similar to creating your own bunting, it’s important to make sure that any decorations you choose to hang on your trees are weather-resistant. Take a look around your garden, and check for any pinecones or holly that you could use as an alternative to baubles. Not only will this cost you nothing, you won’t need to worry about storing them all away in a box for next year. 

3. Festive wreaths 

Making a holiday wreath isn’t as complicated as you may think. Alongside being an incredibly therapeutic process, your designs will be completely customisable to your own desired driveway aesthetic. Once you’ve acquired a wreath frame, you can get to work on choosing decorative objects that’ll work well when weaved together. A few trusty pine cones and pine branches could come in useful for this, intertwining green and golden coloured foliage for an injection of festive colour. Hang this on your driveway gate, on your front door, or even your garden room or shed to create a winter scene straight from a Christmas card.

Christmas wreaths work extremely well on double driveway gates. Whether you make your own wreaths or buy ready-made ones, you can hang one large wreath on each gate to welcome the festive season and impress your guests. Festive wreaths can be a bit more impractical on sliding driveway gates rather than swinging ones, but to get around this, you can attach your wreaths to the pillars on either side. This will add the festive touch you’re looking for without obstructing your driveway gate.

4. Fairy lights

Putting up your Christmas lights is one of the best ways to get into the festive spirit. But why stop at just decorating your house?

If you’ve got some extra fairy lights, why not wrap them around your swinging driveway gates? With the early December sunsets, this will create a beautiful Christmas display throughout the afternoon, evening and night. Not only will this driveway lighting be extremely festive and welcoming, but they can also serve a practical purpose by illuminating your driveway and preventing accidents in the dark.

Again, if you’ve got sliding driveway gates, you can still take part in the fun by wrapping your fairy lights around the pillars on either side of your gates. Just make sure to check that your lights are safe for outdoor use before getting stuck in.

5. Rustic lanterns

For those that prefer a more traditional and rustic aesthetic, you’ll love this next Christmas driveway and garden decoration idea. Candles can create the warm, flickering glow that fairy lights lack, but the problem is that they won’t burn for long in wet winter weather. One option is to place your candles in lanterns and hang them from your walls or driveway gates, but there’s a way to make this even more festive.

Instead of using candles inside lanterns, why not use baubles instead? They’ll be protected against the snow and rain, and will create the ideal finishing touch to your winter wonderland. Watch as their gentle glow illuminates your garden perfectly. 

6. Giant Christmas ornaments 

Create a Christmas display inspired by Hansel and Gretel with DIY giant lollipops – a fun take on getting your driveway winter-ready. Although only a few simple materials are required to craft these pieces, their final look will have you feeling like one of Santa’s elves. Decorate paper plates with acrylic paint, using any colours you desire, and wrap them in cellophane to make it look as though no one has yet taken a lick. Assemble on top of a long bamboo pole, and position around your garden. Now if that hasn’t satisfied your sugar cravings, we don’t know what will! 

7. Christmas garlands

Your driveway gates are the perfect place to hang your best Christmas garlands. Whether you buy your garlands or make them yourself out of leaves, flowers, ribbons and pinecones, they’ll certainly spruce up your driveway gates and add some Christmas magic to your garden decorations. All you’ll need to do is wrap them around the bars of your metal driveway gates, or you can just attach the garlands to the top if you have solid wooden gates or composite driveway gates. For sliding gates, your garlands can adorn each pillar to add a simple yet elegant festive touch.

8. Elves and reindeer

If you’ve got a long driveway, this presents a fantastic opportunity to go all-out with your Christmas decorations. Bring your driveway to life with light-up reindeer and elves, creating a magical winter wonderland scene. This is sure to impress your guests and neighbours while also illuminating your driveway on dark winter nights.

Creating your perfect home aesthetic starts with your driveway gate, and we’re here to help you achieve your dream look. Get in contact with a friendly member of our team today to discuss your preferences, and explore our range of designs that will see you through any season.