Everyone seems to focus on the front porch and the inside of the house when decorating for Christmas. Often, however, the steps leading to the front or side of the house are left undecorated. For some, it's a safety concern; for others, it's just an oversight when decorating. Decorating the front steps leading to your house can have an impact on guests and passersby. And front steps with rails offer even more opportunities to create a beautiful Christmas setting.
Put a sheet of metal or a long mirror at the front of each step. Place small lights along the edge of the metal, along with lighted luminaries on each side of the steps. The lights will reflect in the metal and make it look like lighted steps.
2
Bunch poinsettias together in groups of two or three on the sides of each step. Wrap the base of the flowerpots with small white battery-operated lights. If you have railings, wrap red bows around the railings with white lights for greater impact.
3
Put one fir tree on each corner of the top step. Wrap a tree skirt around each bucket, decorate the tree and place fake-wrapped presents around it. Decorate the bottom steps with holiday flowers.
4
Fill urns with holiday flowers or ferns, wrap red ribbons around them and run lights on the flowers. This looks especially pretty when using palm-type plants and running the lights along the base of the palm.
5
Decorate a large set of steps with the "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme by putting a partridge in a pear tree on the first step, two turtledoves on the second step and so forth. Finish the look with a small fir tree on the porch that has all the items from the theme as decorations.
6
Wrap railings with evergreen garlands and intertwine them with white twinkle lights. Then put small elf figurines at the base of the railings, as if they're peeking out from behind it.
Tips & Warnings
If you use flowers, garlands and lights, you can keep the step decorations all through winter.
Use battery-operated lights if running electrical wires will cause a safety hazard for guests.
Don't line your steps with fake cotton snow, because this can cause you or guests to trip when climbing the steps.
