Dressing the front door for an Irish Christmas

ByFan Yang
Two Georgian front doors in a red-brick terrace, one dressed with a Christmas wreath

A wreath, a few lights and a candle in the window. Dressing the front of the house for Christmas is simple enough. Doing it so it survives an Irish December is the trick.

Here, the front door does most of the work at Christmas. Gardens go quiet, it’s dark by half four, and the weather keeps everyone moving between car and hall. That one patch of door, step and window is what people actually see, so it’s worth getting right. It also has to cope with weeks of wind and rain without help.

When to put it up (and take it down)

The traditional day for putting up decorations in Ireland is 8 December, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It was once the day the country came up to town for Christmas shopping. Plenty of houses go earlier now, but 8 December is still a good marker for the outside of the house. A fresh wreath hung then will look well through to the new year.

Everything traditionally comes down on 6 January, Little Christmas (Nollaig na mBan). Leaving it up after that is meant to be bad luck. Whether or not you believe it, it’s a handy deadline.

The wreath: real or artificial

A real wreath of holly, ivy, conifer or eucalyptus looks and smells the part, and our damp, cool winters suit it better than a heated hall ever will. Out on a north- or east-facing door it can stay fresh for four to six weeks. A south-facing door that gets the low winter sun will dry it out faster. If you’re cutting greenery yourself, take it from your own garden, or ask the owner first.

An artificial wreath makes sense if your door takes the weather head-on, or if you’d rather buy once and reuse it for years. Look for one that’s labelled for outdoor use. Cheaper indoor ones can fade and shed quickly in the rain. Dry it off before you put it away in January and it’ll be ready for next year.

Keeping it on the door

Wind is the real enemy. A wreath on an over-the-door hook will swing and knock all night in a gale, and can scratch the paint while it’s at it. A few things help:

  • Tie the bottom of the wreath back to the hook or door knocker with a short length of green garden wire or twine, so it can’t lift.
  • Put a couple of felt pads on the back where the frame touches the door.
  • If you have a uPVC or composite door, use a hanger made for it, or an adhesive hook rated for outdoor use. Don’t drill.
  • Check the hanger before a named storm is due. Taking the wreath in for a night is better than finding it in the neighbour’s garden.

Outdoor lights that last the season

Only use lights that are made for outdoor use. Check the box for an IP rating of IP44 or higher, which means they’re protected against rain splashing from any direction. Indoor lights strung round a porch might work for a while, but water gets in sooner or later.

  • Power: plug into an outdoor socket if you have one. Otherwise use an outdoor-rated extension lead with the plug and connections kept indoors or in a weatherproof box. Make sure the circuit is protected by an RCD, which most modern Irish fuse boards are.
  • Solar lights struggle here in December. Around the solstice Dublin gets only about seven and a half hours of daylight, much of it grey. They’re fine for a bit of glow early in the evening, but don’t expect them to last until midnight.
  • A plug-in timer saves a lot of bother. Set it for dusk to around eleven and forget about it.
  • Warm white tends to look better against brick, render and a dark door than the bright blue-white ones.

A candle in the window

The candle in the front window on Christmas Eve is one of the oldest Irish Christmas customs. It was traditionally lit to welcome strangers and travellers, remembering that there was no room at the inn. These days most people use an electric or battery candle. It’s safer behind a curtain, and you can leave it on all night. It costs next to nothing and still says more than anything else on the front of the house.

Pots and the step

If you have a pot or two by the door, give them a winter look rather than leaving them bare. Cut evergreens, a few bare twigs (dogwood or birch) and a string of battery lights do the job, and they’ll carry on looking fine after the decorations come down. Raise the pots on feet so they drain, as a waterlogged pot is more likely to crack in a frost. Keep the step itself clear. It gets slippery enough in a wet December without decorations to trip over.

In January

Real wreaths can go in the compost or the brown bin once you’ve taken off any wire, ribbon or decorations. Dry artificial wreaths and lights fully before you pack them away, and wrap each light string round a piece of card so it comes out tangle-free next December.