Image by Mastery of Maps via Flickr

Christmas in the tropics means decorating with seashells of course! And you don’t have to live in a warm climate to have a themed Christmas tree either. When I lived in central Florida, lots of crafty people would have their seashell ornaments ready to sell at the local craft fairs  and shops in the Fall months. We have a painted sand dollar with a music attachment (that no longer works) that was purchased many years ago. I haven’t dug it out this year or I’d add a photo.

Among the coastal Christmas ornaments, painted sand dollars are very popular because of their flat surface, but drilling holes in shells for hanging or incorporating their shapes into angels and other holiday images. Painted, glittered and decorated shells of all types abound for your tree trimming pleasure, whether you buy them already made or opt to do it yourself.

Personally I prefer the unaltered state of the shells since they are beautiful works of nature and don’t need glitter and ribbons to make them pretty, in my opinion. That way the decorations or garland can be used year round. I’ve found that many shells and pieces of shells have ready-made holes in them and are perfect for stringing or hanging on a decorative wire or ribbon. Making a garland of shells is a bit more work, but can be very impressive and you can make one without using a drill.

The arrowhead sand dollars have many holes in them naturally and ribbon or twine can be tied to them without harming their natural appearance. In fact, you can also wrap starfish (sea stars) and many other shells and make a natural string of shells for adding to your Christmas tree or to use for decorating a porch or other area.

Pam, at the “i love shelling” blog has photos of her sand dollar and starfish garland and she also tempts us with her “sand dollar cookies” on the same page. She is lucky enough to live at the beach so finding shells to use to decorate is not a problem. For the rest of us I have included some helpful links below for buying shells and sea shell decorations.
Merry Tropical Christmas!  or as Pam says “Shellebrate the Season!”