How to Decorate a Door With the Story "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"
Offices and schools sometimes hold door decoration contests during the holiday season to encourage a festive spirit and friendly competition. During these contests, individuals or entire groups wrap class or office doors in decorative wrapping papers or create traditional holiday scenes on the doors. The poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" is one of many possible themes for a Christmas door, and its classic images are known by children and the young at heart across the world. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Paper and pencil
- Scissors
- Construction paper
- Glue
- Wrapping paper or large sheets of paper
- Tape
- Cotton balls
Instructions
-
-
1
Draw the scene or scenes you would like to depict on a piece of paper that is a scaled-down version of your door. If needed, measure your door and trim the paper down so you know roughly the amount of space you have to work with. You can depict the entire poem, if you choose, or select an iconic scene. For example, you could depict the line when Santa makes his first appearance and include some text from the poem. Decide how big your people, reindeer and other images must be to fill the door.
-
2
Draw the full-sized images you need for your door on plain paper, cut them out and practice arranging them on your door. This way you can be sure everything is the right size before building your scene out of construction paper.
-
-
3
Trace the shapes you need on different colors of construction paper using your full-sized drawings on plain paper. For example, you will need a flesh tone for Santa's face, red for his suit, black for the boots and belt and white for the trim and his beard. Cut out all of the pieces for each person, animal or building and glue them together. Allow the pieces to dry thoroughly overnight.
-
4
Draw the lettering you want for any text that will appear on the door on construction paper and cut the letters out. You can also trace these letters using stencils.
-
5
Wrap your door in wrapping paper or some other background color, like white for the bottom for snow and navy blue sheet for the night sky. Drape the paper over the top of the door and let it extend to the ground. Trim the bottom, and fold the corners of the paper around the door's corners. Use tape to secure the paper on the inside of the door.
-
6
Tape your figures and text in place on the door in the scene or scenes you practiced drawing and arranging. Glue on cotton balls if you like for falling snowflakes and allow the glue to dry overnight.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
You can also paint the scene on the door, as long as your background paper is thick enough to prevent damage to the door.
Consider scenes like the two main characters settling down for their "long winter's nap," or the scene when Santa flies away shouting "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night." Scenes like this are known by anyone familiar with the poem.
If you have children helping, always supervise when they work with glue or scissors.
References
- Photo Credit Brand X Pictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
