Harry Potter Christmas Decorations: 10 Free Printable Paper Garlands With Owls, Floating Candles and Wax-Sealed Letters

Harry potter christmas decorations do not need a trip to a specialty shop or a stack of gold leaf you will never use again. This set gives you ten paper garlands built from the wizarding world’s own visual language: owls, candles, sealed letters, bottled potions, pointed hats and the house colors everyone already owns in red, gold, green and silver. Half are shapes threaded on string and half are paper chains, so a mantel, a doorway or a whole staircase gets variety without a single plastic bauble.

Every garland needs the same short list: white cardstock or matte photo paper, a long length of cotton string or thin cord, a glue stick or double sided tape, and scissors or a craft knife. A hole punch earns its keep on the shape garlands, since nothing is pre marked for hanging and you simply pierce the paper wherever it hangs straight.

Budget an evening for any single garland at party length (six to eight feet), closer to a weekend if the whole staircase or mantel is getting the full wizarding treatment. Print on the heaviest paper your home printer accepts: thin paper buckles once glue and string pull on it, and a garland that sags halfway through dinner is more trouble than it saved.

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House Colors as Paper Chains

These two chains do the heavy lifting on a staircase or a doorway, the way a classic paper chain always has, just recast in house colors instead of plain red and green. Hang one alone for a single house’s common room feel, or loop both down a banister for the full Great Hall effect.

Scarlet and Gold Striped Chain

This is a straightforward candy stripe paper chain in scarlet and gold, the kind that wraps a banister or frames a doorway the same way a classic Christmas paper chain always has. Hung on its own it reads as warm and traditional rather than overtly wizarding, which suits a mixed party where not every guest is deep into the books.

Cut the sheet into its strips along the printed lines, loop the first strip into a ring and glue the ends, then thread the next strip through before gluing it closed, repeating down the length you need. Two printed sheets make a chain long enough for most mantels.

The honest note: keep every ring glued at the same overlap or the stripes drift out of line as the chain grows, and a thin paper buckles under its own weight past about six feet, so cardstock is worth the extra ink.

Emerald and Silver Striped Chain

The cooler twin to the scarlet chain, this one runs emerald green against silver grey stripes and suits a doorway, a window frame or a mantel that wants a sleeker, less candy coated look than straight red and gold.

It glues together exactly like the scarlet version: cut each strip along its line, loop the first into a ring, glue it shut, then thread the next strip through before closing it, continuing down the chain. Run both chains side by side for a two house look along one long surface.

Silver ink reads grey on most home printers rather than metallic, so expect a soft pewter rather than a shine, and keep an eye on cut lines since pale grey against white paper is easy to misjudge with scissors.

Creatures and Keepsakes

An owl and a golden winged ball are the two props every reader already pictures when she hears the theme. Keeping them to their own section means they can share a window or a bookshelf without competing with candles or bottles for attention.

Snowy Owls on String

A perched snowy owl, wings folded and feathers shaded in soft grey against cream, is the single shape every reader expects somewhere in the room. Strung along a mantel or a bookshelf, a short run of them reads as winter first and wizarding second, which keeps the look welcoming to guests who have never opened the books.

Cut around each owl’s outline, leaving the small clear margin the sheet already gives you for scissors room, then pierce a small hole wherever it sits best on the bird and thread string through. Space the owls loosely so each one is visible rather than overlapping its neighbor.

Two owls print per sheet, so figure one sheet for every two birds you want in the final garland, and skip the cheapest copy paper since the feather shading disappears into a flat grey blur on it.

Small Golden Winged Balls

A small gold ball with a pair of narrow silvery wings either side, this garland is the lightest touch of magic in the whole set, close enough to a plain ornament that it blends into almost any Christmas scheme while still reading clearly to anyone who knows what it is.

Cut the outline, including the thin wing tips, then pierce a tiny hole at the top of the ball itself so the shape hangs level rather than tipping sideways once it is threaded.

The wings are the fiddly part: a craft knife manages the narrow curves better than scissors, and the garland eats paper fast since each pair of wings is wider than the ball it belongs to, so print more sheets than feels necessary.

Great Hall Glow

Floating candles and sealed letters both read as pure atmosphere rather than character merchandise, which makes this pair the safest choice for a mixed party where not every guest knows the books by heart.

Floating Candle Garland

A tall ivory candle with a soft gold flame, meant to be printed, cut and hung so the candles appear to drift at different heights the way they do in the films, without a single open flame anywhere near the paper.

Cut around the candle body and the flame together as one outline, pierce a small hole near the top of the candle rather than through the flame, and thread string so each candle hangs at a slightly different length from the next for that floating effect.

Keep this one away from any real candle or heat source on the mantel below, since the whole point is the illusion, not the risk, and crowd several at slightly uneven heights rather than a single straight row, which looks static by comparison.

Wax-Sealed Letter Garland

A kraft colored envelope with a round scarlet wax seal in the corner, printed flat and strung as a run of letters, suits a doorway or a mantel where the look wants to feel like post has just arrived rather than purely festive.

Cut around the envelope’s rectangle, then pierce a hole through one top corner, well clear of the printed seal, and thread string through so the envelopes hang square rather than tilted.

Because the shape is a simple rectangle, this is the easiest cut of the whole set and the fastest to finish, though the wax seal detail is small enough that a thin printer nozzle can blur it, so a quick test print is worth doing before the full run.

Study and Potions

A stacked spellbook and a bottled potion belong together on a bookshelf, a drinks table or anywhere the party leans toward a study-turned-apothecary look rather than a sky full of owls.

Spellbook Garland

A closed leather bound book in deep burgundy with a thin gold edge along the spine and pages, this garland suits a bookshelf, a study corner or a drinks table dressed to look like a professor’s study rather than a children’s party.

Cut around the book’s outline, pierce a hole near the spine edge so the book hangs with its cover facing out, and thread string through a short run of them for a shelf or a narrow run above a doorway.

The gold page edge is a thin line and easy to lose on a cheap printer, so check that detail prints crisp before committing a full sheet, and expect this one to use slightly more ink than the others given the solid burgundy fill.

Potion Bottle Garland

A round bellied glass bottle in deep emerald with a cork stopper and a faint swirl of bubbling liquid inside, this one pairs naturally with the spellbook on the same shelf or drinks table for a small apothecary corner.

Cut around the bottle and its cork together as one outline, pierce a hole just below the cork, and string a handful together at slightly different heights so they look set down rather than lined up in a row.

Emerald green prints heavier than most colors and can look muddy on a cheap inkjet cartridge, so this garland rewards whichever printer in the house has the freshest ink, and it is the one entry in the set worth test printing first.

Costume Pieces Turned Decoration

A pointed hat and a broomstick are the two shapes most readers would otherwise buy as a costume prop. Printed flat and strung instead, they decorate a party without a single guest having to wear anything.

Pointed Wizard Hat Garland

A tall cone shaped hat in deep plum with a scattering of small silver stars and a thin wide brim, this garland works best as a single accent run rather than the main decoration, since the shape reads strongly as costume.

Cut around the brim and the cone together, pierce a hole near the brim’s edge so the hat hangs with its point downward, and string a short run across a single window or above a dessert table.

The brim’s curve is the trickiest cut in the whole set, so a craft knife manages it more cleanly than scissors, and plan on this garland being shorter than the others, four or five hats rather than a full mantel’s worth.

Broomstick Garland

A long handled broom with a fan of straw colored twigs at one end, bound with a few wraps of cord, lying on its side the full length of the page since it is clearly longer than it is tall.

Cut around the handle and the twig fan together, pierce a hole through the handle near its midpoint so the broom hangs level rather than tipping to one end, and thread a short run above a doorway as though the brooms are resting on an invisible rack.

The twig fan is drawn as fine individual lines rather than a solid block, so this garland asks for the heaviest cardstock in the set or the thin tips snap off the moment scissors meet them.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you make Harry Potter Christmas decorations at home without buying licensed merchandise?

Paper garlands built from the same visual cues as the films (owls, candles, sealed letters, bottled potions, house stripes) get the look across without any branded product, and every piece in this set prints on a home printer with cardstock, string and a glue stick.

What colors should a Harry Potter Christmas theme use?

House colors do most of the work: a budget-friendly approach focuses on key elements like house-colored decorations, red and gold for Gryffindor. Pairing a scarlet and gold run with an emerald and silver one, as this set does, covers two houses without needing all four.

How do you make floating candles for a Harry Potter party without real flames?

Paper cutouts strung at uneven heights are the safest route: a dining room decorated with Harry Potter themed Christmas floating candles and house banners, inspired by Hogwarts’ Great Hall relies on the suggestion of candlelight rather than any open flame, which matters most once real greenery is nearby.

How long does one paper garland take to make?

Figure one evening for a garland at party length, six to eight feet, once printing, cutting and gluing or stringing are all counted. The striped paper chains go fastest since the strips repeat; the shape garlands with fine detail, like the broomstick’s twigs or the hat’s brim, take longer per piece.

What paper works best for these printable garlands?

Matte white cardstock or photo paper holds color and a crisp cut line better than standard copy paper, which is thin enough to buckle once glue or string pulls on it. Glossy photo paper suits the shapes with fine detail, while plain cardstock is enough for the striped chains.

Can these garlands mix with regular Christmas decorations?

Yes: the owl, the floating candles and the striped chains read as general winter decor first and wizarding second, so they sit comfortably alongside ordinary lights, greenery and ornaments rather than demanding a fully themed room.