Maximalist Christmas is here for people who need joy in their hearts
Beige is out and colour is back as people seek nostalgia and childhood comforts
Tacky, colourful lights blinking on a tinsel-draped tree. Kitschy, mismatched ornaments and decor. Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation not just playing on the television, but splashed across decorative throw pillows.
This year, the maximalist "more is more" decor trend has bled into Christmas, with Gen Z and millennials in particular looking to spark joy by bringing back the Christmases — and associated feelings of comfort — from their childhoods.
- What are your favourite holiday memories? Tell us in an email to ask@cbc.ca or join us live in the comments.
"Bring on the tinsel and the garland," says Calgary cleaning, decor and style influencer Sarah McAllister, the founder and CEO of Bleach Pray Love and GoCleanCo., in an Instagram video.
In a reel posted Monday to her 2.4 million followers, McAllister, whose home is typically more crisp and white minimalist-leaning (last year, for instance, her theme was "Boho Winter Wonderland," with a decidedly white, cream, beige, burlap and gold palette — including earth-toned artificial roses) explains that this year, she's embracing nostalgic '90s Christmas.
"We just don't want to have a Pinterest Christmas. We want to have a regular, tinsel, good old-fashioned Christmas this year," she said, adding that her daughter requested it.
Now, McAllister's tree boasts colourful lights, pink, gold and silver tinsel garlands and sparkly ornaments. Ceramic Christmas trees, snow globes and even a stuffed Gizmo from the Gremlins movie adorns her mantle. In a comment on her reel, she explains that it feels good to put up her homemade and heirloom ornaments for the first time in a few years.
"My daughter loves it. She's like, now this is Christmas, mom," McAllister wrote.
This year's trend is about feeling good
Design magazines such as House and Garden and House Beautiful are riding the maximalist Christmas decor wave, writing "more is more," and encouraging readers to be bold with colour. Southern Living urges people to highlight "retro finds" such as glass ball ornaments. And e-commerce site Etsy's 2023 holiday trends report notes its seen a 67 per cent increase in searches for "ceramic trees."
What you define as nostalgic Christmas decor really depends on your age and could include the Coca-Cola Santas that started being popular as far back as the 1930s, bright lights and tinsel of the '80s and '90s, or the homey decor of the early 2000s — Gen Z's childhood era.
Picture the Griswold house from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation in all its kitschy glory, or the ribbon and garland-adorned Home Alone house, or even the gaudy leg lamp from A Christmas Story. It's about colour, childhood knick-knacks, memories, and most of all, comfort.
There could be a few motivations driving the trend, said Katherine White, a professor of marketing and behavioural science with the Sauder School of Business at UBC. It could come down to people just wanting to cheer themselves up, she said, noting that we live in trying times.
"We have just experienced a world-wide pandemic, we are in a period of heightened geopolitical unrest, and we are experiencing tough times, economically speaking. This means that consumers, who are experiencing stress and uncertainty, are likely looking for ways to lift their spirits during the holiday season," White told CBC News.
"This might be a way to engage in what psychologists call mood repair — that is, people can regulate their moods to feel increased joy, excitement or comfort."
It might also be that consumers are specifically seeking out a sense of nostalgia for simpler and happy times, White added.
"Certain types of decor items can remind us of pleasant times past. More gaudy and colourful decorations are a connection to specific memories and retro-trends."
'A lot of warm feelings'
Ottawa's Audy Czigler, the owner of local shop Tinseltown Christmas Emporium, says there's "definitely been a buzz" about both reproductions and original nostalgic decor this year, such as ceramic trees, glass balls and vintage Santas.
His store, open year-round, is stuffed to the brim with Christmas decorations. He says the vintage glass balls with reflectors inside them — the kind you might remember hanging from your parents' or grandparents' Christmas tree — are the best-selling type of balls this year.
"People all say it reminds them of their childhoods, or it reminds them of their grandmother's tree," Czigler told CBC News over the phone, his voice competing with the sound of tinkling bells and the clang of glass baubles.
"There's a lot of warm memories associated with that type of decor."
It's a feeling reflected on TikTok, too, where a younger generation is rejecting previous decor trends, and videos related to "Christmas nostalgia" have more than 267.8 million views.
"I have decided I will not be participating in minimalist, beige Christmas this year," says one TikToker in a video with more than 1.4 million views. "The theme this year is nostalgic early 2000s Christmas. I want all the rainbow lights. I want the mismatched ornaments. I want the random wrapping paper. I want nostalgia."
"The theme is to try to feel something this year," one person commented on the video.
"2000s Christmas feels like home," wrote another.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
