Liverpool celebrity decorator reveals the big festive trends for Christmas 2022

The Liverpool company behind some of the most spectacular Christmas decorations in celebrity homes, businesses and city centres across the UK has revealed its most requested trends for 2022.

The Festive Group is responsible for lighting up Liverpool city centre, and creating sparkling Christmas displays for famous clients including Reds stars Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, Real Housewives of Cheshire’s Dawn Ward, Gemma Collins, Chloe Sims and more.

Operations manager Paul Lally has been overseeing installations since summer, and has already done his first residential Christmas makeover in mid-October.

He says this year’s look has moved away from the golds and silvers which have been popular recently towards either opulent jewelled tones, or more traditional greens and natural shades.

And the biggest seasonal must-have for 2022 are over-sized doorway displays which make a dramatic decorative statement.

Paul says the latest trends were first showcased back in February at the industry’s most influential trade show, Christmasworld in Frankfurt, Germany.

“That’s when our year begins because we meet suppliers, talk about what’s new, what worked well and what didn’t in the previous year, what new ideas they have and we have being on the frontline,” he explains.

“After that we do visits to factories in March/April – our four main supply countries are China, Poland, Spain and Germany – and we normally have to order all stock by July because it comes over by air or sea which can take 8 to 10 weeks.”

Although prefabricated orders arrive from overseas, The Festive Group specialises in fabricating bespoke designs here in the UK so customers can have something personalised.

“They might have seen the Kardashians’ tree last year so they get in touch with us early and tell us they want a version of that, or someone living in Formby might want a bespoke squirrel making for their garden so we design and fabricate it out of metalwork ourselves and add lights.”

Paul says as far as he’s concerned, Christmas can never come too early.

“We recommend people get their decorations up as soon as possible, because that way you get more bang for your buck and if you love how they make your house look, why not have them for longer? 

“Everyone thinks I must be fed up of Christmas because I’m dealing with it all year round, but I love it from beginning to end. I get that warm feeling from seeing how happy it makes people and I love coming home now and seeing my house all done ready for Christmas.”

So, what trends should we be looking out for when we’re getting the deccies this year?

Traditional themes – people are going more and more for natural greens, ivy, spruce and holly, around staircases and hanging from ceilings. 75% of what we’ve already done has been greens, ivy and frosted, enhanced with clear glass baubles. 

Jewelled tones – those not choosing the subtle greenery are going for really rich jewel colours like dark ruby reds, emerald greens and midnight blues. We haven’t been asked for a single gold or silver tree this year yet. 

Over-sized doorways – they’re definitely massive this year and everyone wants to go as big as possible either. Two of the most popular are ivy which looks like it’s growing naturally from the garden upwards over the doorway or a full-on grotto, like Santa’s unloaded his sleigh! Having over-sized decorations around the door is a real wow factor.

Garden lighting – lights on shrubs and topiary allow people to create something stunning even for a small budget and if you’ve got a huge garden it can look unreal. It gives a home a really inviting feel. I prefer warm white because I think it’s more welcoming and we do more of those lights than ice white, but it’s a personal choice.

Energy conscious – we switched to LED a few years ago so that makes a big difference to the cost. For example, Formby Village had about a mile of 15-watt golf ball bulbs which we replaced about five years ago with 0.8 watt and it reduced the bill from £1,600 to just over £60. Most LED lights are low voltage and very cost effective so although I’ve had a couple of high-end clients ask me about costs, I’ve reassured them that it won’t make that much difference to their overall bills. 

Find out more about Christmas in Liverpool here and The Festive Group here.