How to transition from fall to Christmas decor without starting over

Do you take down every bit of fall decor and start over with Christmas? I used to do that every Thanksgiving weekend! Everything came down on Friday, the house sat bare on Saturday, and by Sunday night I was digging through Christmas bins in a living room full of pumpkins and empty boxes. Now about half of my fall decor just stays up and gets used for Christmas too, and the whole switch takes me one afternoon instead of a whole weekend. Today I’m sharing exactly what I keep, what I pack up, and the order I go in so you can make the switch the easy way!

The short version is to keep the base and swap the accents. Greenery, pinecones, wood, brass, candles and cream or red plaid all work for fall and Christmas. Pumpkins, gourds, leaves, wheat and anything orange get packed up. Then go room by room in this order: porch, entry, mantel, and the Thanksgiving table last.

Step 1. Sort What Stays and What Goes

This is the same idea as my January reset, just going in the other direction. Anything orange, anything harvest, and anything that says a word goes. Everything that just looks cozy can stay.

Stays (works both seasons)	Goes in the fall bin	Swap, don’t toss
Greenery garland and stems	Pumpkins and gourds (real or faux, except white)	Grapevine wreath: pull the leaf picks, wire in cedar
Plain pinecones	Fall leaves and leaf garland	Pillow covers: rust and mustard off, cream or red on
Dough bowls, wood risers, trays	Wheat, corn husks, cotton bolls in orange arrangements	Doormat
Lanterns and candles	Anything orange, rust or mustard	Tiered tray accents
Brass candlesticks	Signs that say “thankful,” “gather,” “harvest”	Mum pots become winter pots
Cream knit throws	Scarecrows, turkeys, cornucopias	Scented candle: pumpkin out, balsam in
Red/black buffalo check, green tartan	Orange or mustard plaid

Plaid is the tricky one. Red and black buffalo check already looks like Christmas, so if that’s your fall throw, it gets to stay! Orange and mustard plaid is just fall, so that one goes in the bin.

White pumpkins are the other one you’ll have to decide on. A couple of cream faux pumpkins tucked into greenery on a neutral mantel can stay through December (I’ve done it!). Orange ones will always look like fall no matter what you put next to them, so I pack those up.

Step 2. Pick Your Weekend

Thanksgiving this year is Thursday, November 26, so the switch weekend is November 27 to 29.

• If you’re hosting Thanksgiving: keep the dining room and table fully fall through dinner. You can do the porch and entry the week before if you want a head start, then do everything else Friday through Sunday.
• If you’re not hosting: swap the neutral base in mid-November. Take out the orange and leave the green, wood and candles, and your house will still look like late fall. After Thanksgiving you just add the red and put up the tree.

I lay out the whole six weeks (including why outdoor lights go up in early November and stay off) in my when to start decorating timeline. The tree is the last thing that goes up, not the first!

Step 3. Go Room by Room

I start outside because it depends on the weather, and I do the table last because we’re eating at it on Thursday. Here’s what changes in each spot (it’s less than you think!).

The Porch

Real pumpkins come off first. Most uncarved pumpkins last about a month outside before they start going soft, so by Thanksgiving mine are usually headed for the compost. Cut them up first so they break down faster.

Don’t dump your mum pots! I turn those same pots into Christmas pots using the dirt that’s already in them, and I walk through it step by step in how to make winter porch pots. The lanterns stay right where they are. All that changes is the doormat and the wreath. If you want my full plan for the rest of the porch, here’s my front porch done in one afternoon.

The Entry

This is the fastest spot in the house! If you have a vase or pitcher of fall stems, keep the vase and swap what’s in it. I keep eucalyptus stems in mine all fall because the gray-green looks so pretty next to rust and orange. At Christmas I just tuck a few cedar or pine stems in around them. It’s the same vase and the same eucalyptus, and it only takes about ten minutes!

The Mantel

Take a look at what your fall mantel is built on. Mine is a greenery garland with leaf picks and little pumpkins tucked into it. So the garland stays up, the leaves and pumpkins come out, and I wire in pinecones and berry picks. The garland is the hardest part to hang, so I don’t want to take it down and rehang it 72 hours later!

The candles stay too. I keep plain cream pillars in three heights on the mantel from October all the way through January. I only change what’s around them, and that’s what makes it feel like a whole new mantel.

The Tiered Tray

Pull out the fall pieces and keep the tray and anything wood or white. Small swaps are what keep this one cheap, and I shared a whole year of ideas in tiered tray looks for the whole year.

The Table (Last!)

This is where neutral decor really helps. My Thanksgiving centerpiece is a rustic dough bowl with mini pumpkins and gourds piled in it and candles down the middle. After Thanksgiving, the gourds come out, cut cedar goes in, and the same candles stay. I use real wax flameless pillars with a remote and timer. I definitely recommend those anywhere near dried leaves, corn husks or a 9 year old reaching for the rolls!

Step 4. Buy Decor That Works for Both Seasons

If you’re shopping in October and want your decor to last through January, my rule is to buy the base in green, cream, wood and brass, and keep the color in small, cheap accents. Big pieces are neutral and little pieces change with the season.

These have all earned their spot at my house from October to the end of January:

1. A dough bowl or wood tray. I fill it with gourds in fall, greenery at Christmas and pinecones in January.
2. Eucalyptus stems. They don’t look like any one holiday, so they look right next to orange and red.
3. Flameless pillars in real wax. Get them in cream instead of orange or red.
4. A cream knit throw. I use a chunky cream knit and it never leaves the couch!
5. Brass candlesticks. Thrift stores are full of them, so I don’t have a link for mine. Sorry!
6. A plain grapevine wreath. Wire the season on and wire it off.

What I’d skip is anything big in orange, like a fall throw, a big wreath or a table runner. You’ll only use it about 8 weeks a year and store it for the other 44.

Step 5. Pack Up Fall Fast

Fall decor is small compared to Christmas, so this part goes quickly if you do it the same afternoon. Don’t leave it in a pile in the dining room “for later” (I’ve done that and it sat there way too long!).

1. Do the bin swap. When the Christmas bins come off the garage shelf, put the fall bins in that same empty spot. No rearranging the garage!
2. Label by room. I use two clear latching bins. One says FALL PORCH and one says FALL INSIDE. Take one photo looking straight down into each bin before the lid goes on.
3. Nest the faux pumpkins by size. Drop the little ones inside a bigger hollow one if you can. It saves so much room! My fall decor went from three bins to two the year I started doing this.
4. Toss the real dried stuff. Dried wheat, corn husks and real leaves get brittle in a garage bin and come out next year as crumbs. I just buy a new bundle every fall instead, and it’s only a few dollars at the craft store.
5. Pull the pinecones out before the lid goes on. I find at least three hiding in the gourd pile every single year! They don’t go in the fall bin, they go straight onto the mantel.

My full system for the big Christmas take-down (fragile box, light reels and all) is in how to pack up Christmas decorations, and it works for fall too.

Which pieces of your fall decor do you think you’ll keep out for Christmas? I hope this helped make the switch a little easier this year! If you try it, be sure to post on Instagram and tag me @sugardesignco because I love seeing the beautiful decor y’all create!

-Ciera

Made something with this? Tag me @sugardesignco — I love seeing them.