The holidays are back again, and you know what that means. Snow will fall if we’re lucky, and there’s a special chill in the air that feels a little bit magical. Holiday music follows you everywhere — when you turn on your car radio, as you browse the aisles of the supermarket, in your office and your favorite café. There’s the usual frantic rush of holiday shopping at the mall, and seasonal flavors such as toffee, peppermint and gingerbread are back on the coffee menu.

With all this holiday spirit in the air, you want to express your love for the season as well. How can you spread the cheer around your own home and neighborhood? With decorations, of course. The average American spends more than $120 each year decking out our homes with festivity.

Think back to your childhood holiday memories — the surest signals of the approaching season were the lights strung up on porches, the blowup snowman and Santa figures planted in front yards, and the reindeer statues dipping their necks to the ground and taking flight from rooftops. Nothing says holiday cheer like beautifully decorated houses that draw your eye as you drive by, filling your windows with colorful, festive reflections.

From 2004 to 2015, the average yearly expenditure on holiday décor increased from about 35 to 53 dollars per person. That’s some serious decoration dedication. But you don’t have to break the bank or follow the norm to make your house stand out.

Adorning Your Garage Door for the Holidays

This holiday season, don’t just hang a string of lights, blow up a snowman or put a tree in your front window — extend the excitement to every surface of your house. Your garage door is the perfect canvas for decorations, and they don’t have to be costly or complicated. Not sure where to start? We’ve got you covered. Check out this creative list of fun, affordable DIY ideas for decorating your garage door for Christmas, but also keep in mind the following warnings to avoid damaging your garage door!

Light Your Garage Door With Holiday Projections

If you want an elaborate scene or the special effects of moving lights for your garage door, consider investing in a projector. Holiday projector sets are easy to find and inexpensive to purchase at any local hardware store, and they give you the freedom for as much or as little elaboration as you desire:

• Fancy a simple style with red, green and white lights sprinkled across your garage door and the front of your house?
• Or maybe you’d like a more dynamic display of lights that criss-cross and move in rhythms and patterns.
• You can even get ambitious and set up a photographic holiday scene or cartoon bubble on your garage.

All you have to do is select the right projector set and set up the little box in your yard, and you’ll have colorful, wear-resistant decoration that lasts all season. The best part is you can re-use your projector year after year.

Make Holiday Scenes With Decorative Magnets and Stickers on Your Garage Door 

Another easily-customizable option for garage door decoration is the use of magnets and vinyl stickers. You can easily purchase holiday-themed magnets online or in the seasonal decoration aisle, and from there it’s up to you:

• Create your own holiday scene or collage using magnets depicting Christmas characters and icons.
• Make a repeating pattern with reindeer or snowmen.
• You can even find letter magnets and spell out a warm holiday greeting. What could be more welcoming than a door that reads “Merry Christmas” or “Season’s Greetings”?

Vinyl stickers and magnets will also stay up more easily than decorations you tape on.

Paint a Winter Mural on Your Garage Door

If you’re feeling ambitious this holiday season, think about taking your decorations to the next level by putting a mural on your garage door. Get creative, grab some primer and exterior paint, and make the garage your personal masterpiece for the winter months. You don’t have to make the mural permanent — a layer of contact paper with the right primer can make a good canvas.

If you’re not much of an artist, don’t worry. You can buy full-size, pre-printed murals on Amazon, and they stick on easily as decals, vinyl stickers or with magnets. Light up your yard with:

• A nativity scene
• A snapshot of Santa and his sleigh
• A forest of snowy trees
• Whatever vision you desire

If you choose a scene that is generally wintery rather than specific to a holiday, you can leave it up for however long the cold lasts.   

Put Holiday Lights and Garlands on Your Garage Door

For a simple, classy signature holiday look, take the lights from your roof and the garlands from your banister and use them to decorate your garage. String up some festive red and green lights around the frame, or hang twinkling icicle lights to give your exterior a wintery glow. This will spice up your home exterior with holiday warmth without appearing too gaudy.

If you like, complement your look by adding garlands above your garage or hanging down the sides for a rustic feel. You can even throw in some extra touches, like powdered snow, berries, candy canes or bows.

Integrate Christmas Gifts Into Your Garage Door Christmas Decorating Ideas

Give your house festive charm by wrapping it up in ribbons and bows. Using strips of colorful sheets, felt, fabric or plastic ribbons from your local craft store, create the appearance of a giant gift for your garage door:

• Attach one large, long strip horizontally across the door, a little higher than halfway up.
• Criss-cross it with another strip running vertically down the middle. It’s that simple!
• If you feel like adding some finishing flourishes, throw in a large bow in the center.
• You can even decorate the outer and upper edges of the garage with a string of twinkling lights to make the front yard sparkle.

Your home will present like a Christmas present with this fun design idea.

Wreaths: They Aren’t Just for Front Doors at Xmas

You follow Christmas tradition by decorating your front door with a classy wreath to greet your visitors — why not do the same for your garage? Purchase an extra-large wreath online or at your local craft store, and position it in the center of your garage door for an old-fashioned look with a creative twist. Hang some bulbs, bows, ribbons or lights on and around your wreath for extra flair. Just make sure your wreath is in a position that lets your garage open and close safely.

If you’re feeling especially creative, skip the store and construct a wreath at home:

• Use a Styrofoam or cardboard donut and attach whatever material will make your door pop with style.
• Go for a classy, rustic feel with garland, twine or branches.
• If you’d like a more modern look, make your wreath out of colorful ornaments and bulbs.

Your garage door will give drivers-by a warm, fuzzy feeling.  

Decorate Your Garage Door for Christmas With Snowmen

If you love playfulness and creativity, but you’d rather not commit to too much clutter or color, snowmen are the perfect compromise. Build your own with the kids by cutting snowball bodies, scarves and faces from large pieces of felt or vinyl. Attach them to your garage door for a kid-friendly, wintery scene, complete with twig arms and a snowy white vinyl hill for your snowmen to stand on.

If you’re not afraid to go large, convert your garage door into a giant snowman face instead:

• Cut out big, black circles for coal eyes and a rocky smile.
• Use a long orange triangle for the carrot nose.
• You can even complete the look by making a huge hat to attach to the top of your garage frame or a scarf to swoop beneath the smile.

If you’re not confident in your cutting and crafting skills, don’t sweat it. Look for the pre-cut snowman decoration shapes online or in craft stores. Your snowman will smile at the whole neighborhood.

Turn Christmas Trees Into Your Holiday Garage Door Décor

If you lack a yard full of pine trees to decorate with holiday lights and ornaments, create one on your garage door instead:

• You can easily cut tree triangles from felt, cardboard, vinyl or wood, and stack them to build your own Christmas forest.
• Complete the look with holiday lights, paper or vinyl ornaments, and stars for tree-toppers.
• For the creative type, use spray paint or exterior paint to design your trees.
• Or, for a fun crafting idea, create a Christmas tree out of lights. Grab some hooks or self-adhesive light clips, fishing line, ornaments, bows and a couple strings of lights, and get to work. Use the hooks to build the outline of the tree on your garage door, then string the fishing line and lights around it to complete the shape. Hang your ornaments and bows on the fishing line, and plug your lights in at night to make your Christmas tree glow.

Your garage door will go from drab to dazzling.

Fashion an Adorable Pair of Elf Feet for Your Garage Door

For a holiday design that’s cute and playful, transform your garage door into a wacky pair of giant elf feet:

• Buy plastic or vinyl shapes online, or use your own resources to cut out strips for striped stockings and pointy shoes to attach to your door.
• With bells, buttons, bulbs or bows for the tips of the toes, your elf feet will twinkle with mischievousness.
• Every time you open or close the garage, the feet will pop up and down for a sneaky surprise.

Fill your garage from ankle to toe with festive holiday fun!

Embrace the Reindeer Face for Your Garage Door

Another one of our favorite garage door Xmas decorating ideas is giving your garage character by filling it with the face of a reindeer. Paint or spraypaint the deer’s features if you’re feeling adventurous, or go for a 3D look by using other materials.

You can craft the antlers from cardboard, wood, vinyl, felt or pinned strings of sparkling lights, and place them on either upper corner of the door. You can create an outline or base for the reindeer’s head with one of the same materials, or simply place the face straight onto the door itself. You’ll want cartoon eyes, a smile and a bright red nose, of course. Hang paper or real ornaments from the antlers for extra fun.

Transform Your Home Into a Gingerbread House

What says home for the holidays more than a delectable gingerbread house? You can transform your garage door into a surprise that looks good enough to eat this Christmas by decorating it like a Candyland cottage. Use brown spray paint, large strips of cardboard, brown wrapping paper or vinyl to create the cookie-like base for your door.

Decorate it like a gingerbread house by trying:

• Colorful circle cutouts for gumdrops
• Candy cane shapes for the fence along the bottom
• White plastic garlands to create a snowy roof and doorway

Children will love this delicious design. 

Create a Garage Door Santa Hat

Simple and classic, this garage door design idea is an easy holiday decorating fix. Look for pre-cut shapes online or in craft stores, or build a hat yourself. It’s not too hard:

• Use vinyl, felt, fabric or wrapping paper attached to cardboard to cut a giant triangle for your Santa hat.
• Once it’s attached to the middle of your garage door, use Styrofoam, cotton balls on cardboard or white plastic garlands to create the trimming at the base of the hat and Santa’s pom-pom top.
• Your hat can be a classic red, or you can spice up the design with stripes and patterns to make it look more like an elf’s headwear.
• Add lights, bows or garlands around the garage frame to make the shape stand out for drivers-by and Christmas carolers.

Post a Storm of Snowflakes on Your Garage Door

For a fresh, wintry look, transform your garage front into a snowflake-filled canvas worthy of a Christmas card. You can create your snowflakes in a variety of ways — it all depends on what you find the most fun. Criss-cross and tie bundles of sticks together for a rustic look and spray-paint them white, or cut out your snowflakes the old-fashioned way:

• You can use large swathes of wrapping paper, felt, plastic sheets or fabric.
• Fold them in half, grab a pair of scissors, and snip out your snowflakes in whatever patterns you please.
• When you’re finished, unfold your creations and pin them to the garage door for a festive snowflake storm of all shapes and sizes.

The process is also tons of fun for you and the kids.

Line Your Stockings in a Row on the Garage Door

Want your garage to look warm and homey for the holidays? Fashion it like a fireplace or hearth:

• Use felt, vinyl or plastic to make a large, long strip across the top of the garage, creating the look of a mantel.
• Cut out a big, dark square for the mouth of the fireplace.
• The rest of the garage can be covered in red or brown rectangles of material to look like brick or logs, or you can paint on the design instead.
• Get creative by using felt or tissue paper for flames.

Once your fireplace is finished, hang your stockings by the chimney with care. You can use real stockings, buy decorative stocking shapes, or make extra-large ones out of your fabric materials. Attach them along the top of the garage frame to complete this cozy look. 

Dress Your Garage Door With Candy Canes

Ever line your walkway with a candy cane fence? You can do the same with your garage door:

• Buy plastic candy cane decorations to position on either side of your garage.
• Cut out your own striped creations using vinyl, cardboard or felt.
• Attach your candy canes in various heights and sizes along the bottom of the door for a quirky look.
• You may also create the illusion of a candy cane-lined path by positioning the canes in two diagonal lines extending from the bottom two door corners to the center.

The front of your home will pop with this peppermint look.

Additional Tips & Warnings

While you’re busy decorating your garage door, safety may be one of the last things on you mind. At American Overhead Door, we care about your safety, the safety of your family, and the condition of your garage door, so here are a few tips and warnings to keep in mind as you decorate for the holidays:

Do not add more than 1 lbs to the outside of the door. This weight will put stress on your springs and opener which can be a safety hazard.

Do not put anything that can get caught between the sections as it may cause damage to your garage door.

Do not add anything on the door that has a higher thickness profile (1/4” thick or more).It will hit your weather seal and tear it or damage the door with the movement of the garage door.

Wishing You and Your New Décor a Fun and Happy Holidays

Whether it’s using found materials to create new designs, cutting and crafting for the cutest holiday shapes, or shopping for the best light displays and murals from another creative mind, we hope we helped you find your decoration inspiration for your garage doors this Christmas. American Overhead Door wishes you a warm, happy and healthy holiday season. Happy decorating.