DIY Paper Christmas Lights Craft

This easy DIY paper Christmas lights craft garland is such a cute way to decorate for the holidays and so much fun to make. We love this colorful Christmas garland idea!

Christmas garland ideas

It’s time to deck the halls! The holidays are here and as you hang the stockings by the chimney with care, you can make your own Christmas decorations with this fun paper DIY garland for Christmas.

If you’re in the crafting mood this holiday season, you can make your own garland with this fun Christmas mantel decorating idea. Make a string of your own paper Christmas lights that look better than some of the garland you can buy in the store. This is a great family craft to do together.

Decorate with this bright & easy Christmas garland

DIY paper Christmas decorations can be a lot of fun. If you are looking for holiday crafts and garland ideas for Christmas, this string of Christmas lights craft is easy, colorful, and perfect to make with the kids – no stencils or templates required!

These lights can be hung in the bedroom, along windows, doorways, on the Christmas tree, and this is even a good stair garland idea. You can decorate the banister for Christmas or your mantel, as long as you don’t light the fire when this is hanging!

We love real lights during the holidays, but sometimes with kids, pets, and a lack of outlets, it can be hard to hang them where we would like. Christmas light crafts are fun because the kids can get involved and you don’t need to plug them in anywhere.

Learn how to make paper Christmas lights, a fun project to decorate your home this season! This is an easy paper craft for Christmas that you’ll enjoy with toddlers, preschoolers, and even school-aged kids.

Materials needed to make this Christmas paper craft garland:

colored construction paper
school glue, clear drying
scissors
hole punch
ribbon or twine

How to make your own Christmas garland

Let’s get started with this fun holiday project! First, we will make the lights. Cut your colored construction paper into strips. Ours measure 8 x 1.5 inches for the colored light bulbs, and the black paper strips are 4 x 1 inches each.

For a full string of holiday lights garland, plan to make at least 20 light bulbs. We used 5 colors of paper for the lights and made 4 of each bulb.

Make your Xmas paper lights

Start with folding your strip of paper in half, creasing the fold. Add glue to the inside of the end of the paper strip and glue the ends together.

Holding the glued end, stand the paper light upright and press down on it to make it form a light bulb shape.

Next, take a black strip of paper and glue it around the top of the light bulb. Make sure to give it a few minutes to dry.

Then, punch a hole into the top of the Christmas paper light through the middle of the black strip of paper. Set the paper light aside.

You’ve successfully made a DIY Christmas garland light! Now it’s time to repeat the process until you’ve put together all of the Christmas lights.

String lights to make your paper Christmas lights garland

Now begin to thread your holiday lights onto the ribbon or twine. Add lights one by one in the desired order and spread them out to arrange them the way you like them. You can even tape each of the lights in place to the ribbon so they don’t slide around.

Tip: Don’t cut the ribbon until you are satisfied with the look and location of the Christmas garland in your home. You don’t want to under-measure!

Hang your DIY garland for Christmas

Finally, you can hang your homemade Christmas garland craft wherever you’d like! We had one that we put over the window and another that we hung under the TV console in the living room. Talk about an inexpensive Christmas garland craft!

Have a wonderful holiday season

Make your season merry and bright with these lovely paper Christmas lights. This is such a fun holiday decoration.

Whether you use your craft Christmas lights garland on your mantel or as an Xmas tree garland idea, we hope you enjoy making this Christmas craft with your family!

More Christmas craft ideas