Maxing out on tinsel: Why retro Christmas decorations are cool again

Tinsel, foil garlands, multi-coloured floral lights and a lounge that looks like Christmas threw up all over it are making a return.

Retro-themed decor is in, with trees jam-packed full of bold, mismatching decorations, as more people try to recreate a festive season from their childhood.

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

"After a long run of pared-back, neutral or traditional Christmases, people seem much more willing to embrace fun, excess and nostalgia again," says Harry Bradshaw, from events and interiors styling company At Last Events.

Retailers say they're seeing growing demand for decorations that can help recreate that familiar Christmas magic from years gone by.

"Maximalism is making a bold return," says Abi Wilson, head of seasonal and gift buying at Habitat, adding that people are turning to '80s and '90s-style colourful bells and bows, oversized ornaments and paper decorations.

Primark said younger Gen X, millennials, and older Gen Z shoppers were buying decor that reminded them of their childhood.

Marks & Spencer noted strong sales of its tinsel rosettes and tinsel tree skirts this year, while John Lewis said sales of "retro-nostalgic decor" had soared 180% in 2025.

Felicity Hayward is going all out this year to find that Christmas joy.

Back in October, as she browsed the charity shops near where she lives in Margate, Kent, she stumbled across a collection of colourful festive foil stars that reminded her of Christmas at her grandparents' house when she was a child.

The 50p decorations started what became a two-month endeavour, looking for retro baubles, garlands, and anything she could find to recreate those special years growing up in the '90s.

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

"When I think back to Christmas, I think back to their living room, and I think back to their decorations."

Felicity hadn't bothered with any Christmas decorations since 2019. The combination of the pandemic and her grandparents' deaths in 2022 and 2023 had left her feeling far from festive.

But this year, her living room is an explosion of colour, bedecked with foil stars, tinsel and homemade paper chains and ribbon garlands.

Some people might see her decorations as "tacky", but Felicity says that "for me, all of those colours bring me calm".

"I literally cannot wait to get home on a night and turn all my Christmas lights on and lie on the sofa," she says.

Liza Prideaux agrees understated decorations are overrated and has embraced "nostalgic, vintage" decor at Christmas for the last two years.

"There isn't a strict theme, it's more about colour, texture and creating a cosy, lived-in feeling," the 36-year-old from Devon says.

"The colourful incandescent lights are my favourite," she says. "They make everything feel warm and cosy."

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

The season is always a "steady anchor" and coming back to the same rituals and traditions each year can help "ground us", she says.

But Ms Bartlett notes that the current "uncertainty" in the world is making people find even more comfort in those traditions that remind them of their childhood. There's a desire to "return to simpler times", she says.

Decorations like tinsel and brightly-coloured lights "take us back", agrees 52-year-old Pandora Maxton from York, an influencer who means business with her elaborate festive displays.

"I think that's why it's having a revival, because it just takes people back to being kids. And that's what Christmas is about, isn't it?"

Holly Langley was born in 1990. But that didn't stop her from hosting an '80s-themed Christmas some 40 years later.

Holly, 34, from Reading, hunted in charity shops and vintage fairs for foil decorations, satin baubles, tablecloths and china. On the day, she served Christmas cocktails and jam roly poly, with '80s music playing and a quiz about the decade.

"Every year we do the same thing, right? Everyone gets out their Christmas pyjamas, we watch the same TV shows, we eat the same food," Holly says. Her '80s-themed Christmas was "a little bit different, a bit quirky, a bit fun".

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

• Check charity shops, especially immediately after Christmas when people might be having a clear-out
• Look on resale sites and apps, though be careful buying second-hand electronics like lights
• Make paper chains that you can reuse for other celebrations
• Ask relatives if they have any unwanted decorations
• Play '70s and '80s music videos, films or adverts in the background

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

In 1970s Britain people were looking for a "signal of hope", says vintage decor collector Lucy Scott, in a time of austerity, trade union action and miners' strikes.

It was also the age of flamboyant glam rock - Brits were going crazy for eye-catching style.

But there were also simply fewer options available in the 1970s.

"There wasn't necessarily a massive amount of choice, but the choice was for these kind of bright space age tinsel decorations... the majority from Hong Kong," says Lucy, 45, from Birmingham.

This started to change in the 1980s, when more people owned their homes and retailers like Woolworths and BHS started selling a wider choice of decorations, Lucy says.

But Felicity says she bought most of her decorations second hand. "If you think about it, these tinsels are 20 to 30 years old and they're still intact," she says.

And it's not just a trend for her.

"This won't be a Christmas, this will be my Christmas now forever."