Every year it’s a real treat to decorate the tree with Christmas ornaments from around the world that we have picked up on our travels. To get each one out and remind ourselves of trips taken and enjoyed and all the memories that come with it is so special. We love collecting the Christmas vacation ornaments from each journey or destination and remind ourselves of the trips taken and the fun we’ve had. Here’s our collection of Christmas ornaments from our travels this year and in years past. Updated December 2025
👩💻 About the author – Nichola is a family travel expert and has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, Lonely Planet Magazine and Wanderlust, amongst many others. She’s spent over a decade travelling the world with her children, finding the best places for you to explore too.
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Table of Contents
Our Christmas ornaments from around the world
This year hasn’t involved as many travels as I would have liked but we have still got away a fair bit. We started the year skiing in Beitostolen and as much as I searched around the town I couldn’t find a decoration sadly. The same for my day trip to Malaga in March (but to be honest I was too busy exploring to look). We also had a gorgeous March trip to Normandy and the beautiful hotel Domaine de Coeurmandie – but another decoration-less trip. My goal for 2026 is definitely to do better with this. I have resumed my magnet collecting from travels and need to make sure I don’t just focus on those.
Cornwall, UK – Christmas decorations
In June we had a lovely trip to Cornwall staying at The Headland Hotel. This is one of my favourite UK hotels. We went on an absolutely amazing dolphin trip. It was incredible. We were dreading it because the weather had started to turn and we weren’t wearing the right clothing at all. So we popped into an RNLI shop by the harbour to pick up waterproof jackets and this very sweet little lifeboat hut.
Indonesia and Singapore
In July we had our absolutely wonderful family trip to Indonesia. This was one of our best trips together. So much diversity and colour and beauty. We really adored it. We bought this puppet decoration in Jakarta, close to the Puppet Museum in the old town. Since puppets are such a huge part of Indonesia’s heritage it seemed only right we got this one.
Hamlet, London – Christmas ornaments
In October we headed to London to watch Hamlet at the National Theatre. This was such a treat. We loved it and had to pick up this skull. I love it because it also has “National Theatre” stitched into the back.
London
We don’t usually buy Christmas ornaments in London as we take trips there fairly regularly. But on our wonderful late November trip staying at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane, I saw this one and couldn’t resist it.
Dublin day trip – Christmas ornaments
At the end of November I took my final trip of the year (or was it?! We will see) on a day trip to Dublin with my friend Hannah. It was so much fun exploring the sights from the Book of Kells to the amazing Guinness Storehouse. We really loved our time there and I bought this Guinness decoration home to remember it by.
And that’s it for another year of travel ornaments from around the world. We hope you’ve enjoyed our feature on our travel decorations for 2025. Check out our past decorations from other years below.
Ornaments from 2024
Skiing in Branas, Sweden
We bought these sweet little mittens on our snowy trip to Branas, Sweden in Easter 2024.
In the summer we took a lovely family holiday to Turkey and a great break to Paris.
Orlando, USA
We had such a great trip to Orlando this year.
Here we stayed at Universal’s Endless Summer Resort and had to pick up one of their decorations from the little shop.
We also got a decoration from our wonderful trips into Universal Orlando with our teenagers.
And one of our favourite trips out was back to New Smyrna Beach. A little seaside town we love.
Ornaments from 2023
Klappen, Sweden
At the beginning of the year we had a great trip skiing in Klappen, Sweden where we picked up these adorable antlers.
We also spent a little time in Stockholm and fell in love with the majestic vasa. There we picked up this bauble to remind us of our time there.
India
We also had an amazing family trip to India. We didn’t see any Christmas tree decorations on this trip but I did pick up this adorable peacock (which we saw wild on the trip) at the airport. It’s a bookmark but can definitely double as a Christmas ornament.
Algarve
In October we took a lovely trip to the Algarve and the Vale da Lapa resort. It was the perfect autumn retreat and we loved having the time to relax. We picked up this bauble covered in pictures of Portuguese tiles.
2022 ornaments
Norway
At the start of the year we had a wonderful skiing trip to Trysil Norway. We loved this trip, getting out in to the snowy wonderland again.
We picked up this gorgeous little Norwegian guy to hang on our tree to remind us of it.
Thailand
In the summer we flew off for a fantastic family holiday to Thailand. This was one of the best trips we’ve had in a long time.
We all really loved it.
Whizzing through the streets in a tuk tuk was a real highlight. So we love this blinged up tuk tuk we picked up for the tree.
We always love our trips to Westonbirt Arboretum nearby. This year they had a fungi trail through the forest.
So I couldn’t resist this toadstall for our tree.
2021 Ornaments from around the World
Spain
The first of our 2021 trips was a road trip through Spain and Portugal. We were so happy to get away after so long at home. In fact I think this is the longest we’ve ever been in the UK. We started in Madrid before winding our way down to Seville via Merida and then in to the Algrave before heading back to Madrid. We picked up this bauble in the centre of Seville which was absolutely baking in the August heat. I think Seville has to be my favorite Spanish city that I’ve visited, I loved it.
Crete
In October we were really lucky to get away to Crete again, an island we absolutely love. We stayed at the Village Heights Resort in Heronissos and absolutely loved the balmy temperatures and sunny skies. We travelled to the sweetest little town of Mochos which we absolutely loved. There was a main square and some gift shops and bakeries. We all really fell in love with Mochos. In one of the little shops here we picked up this sweet little olive wood heart which seemed perfect for our trip, especially as we came home with our own little olive tree from this trip.
Westonbirt Arboretum, UK
We really love visiting Westonbirt Arboretum in the run up to Christmas. Every year we go to their light show through the forest and it really does start the Christmas season for us. The theme this year was Searching for the Lost Reindeer so when we spotted this sweet deer in the shop there we had to pick it up.
2020 Christmas ornaments from around the world
2020 was a world like no other because of the terrible Coronavirus. We travelled so little, only to Norway in February and to Crete in the summer.
Norway
In February we got this really sweet little Viking boat in Norway.
Crete
And we picked up this bauble from our trip to Crete.
Corona lockdown, UK
We also bought some decorations to remind us of our imposed home-time.
2019 Christmas ornaments from around the world
It’s been another wonderful year of family travels and we’ve picked up some lovely decorations to remind us of these. We started 2019 in the beautiful town of Ruka in Lapland on a wonderful family skiing trip to Lapland. We picked up this gorgeous silver reindeer which was perfect to remind us of our time there.
Ruka, Lapland, Finland
This year we also got to have a trip out to go husky dog sledging and take reindeer rides at Lammintupa which is a brilliant place and so much fun. Here we bought this very sweet Lapland reindeer decoration there because you can’t have too many reindeers on a Christmas tree can you?
Cologne and Bonn, Germany
In February we took a trip to Cologne and Bonn.
Denmark
In May we took a trip back to Denmark which is one of our favourite countries. We spent lots of time at the LEGO House and got to be some of the first people to stay in the LEGOLAND Castle Hotel in Billund. and we picked up this sweet Viking decoration from a trip out to see the Viking stones at Jelling.
East coast USA
We headed straight from Denmark off to the USA for an amazing family trip down the east coast. Here we saw and did so much and picked up lots of decorations as we went including… This fun Lincoln Memorial Christmas decoration from our time in Washington DC.
We loved travelling back in time to Williamsburg where you can wander in to shops from the 18th century and see a whole town recreated to show what life would have been like at the time. We picked up this little musician from there.
Our eight year old has been really in to George Washington for as long as we can remember. We have no idea where it has come from, I don’t recall him ever hearing about him or us talking about him but he loves George Washington and always asks questions. When I realised we were going to be close to his former home, Mount Vernon, and that you could go to pay your respects at George Washington’s tomb I knew we had to go. We picked up this sweet George Washington decoration there.
On our way back north we found this lovely little Amish quilted star which I thought was lovely, it really summed up the whole Amish area for me, a place full of simplicity and contentment and somewhere I would love to go back and explore more of.
You can’t visit this part of Pennsylvania without a stop at the land of Hershey. We really enjoyed our time there, making our own chocolate bars and seeing how the chocolate was made so these two little chocolate figures will always remind of us of the super sweet time.
On our last stop on this mammoth USA road trip, back in New York, we couldn’t resist a Statue of Liberty with Father Christmas climbing up it. It’s such a funny decoration which will remind us of the children’s first sight of the Statue of Liberty and our trip out to see her and walk around the base.
Shetland, Scotland
In May we took a wonderful family trip to Shetland, the furthermost islands in the UK, at the very top of Scotland and travelled to the very top, to Unst where we got to see Puffins on the cliffs, alongside countless other sea birds. It was a magical trip and this sweet wooden Puffin will forever remind us of our time there.
Also from Shetland was this lovely “Love from Shetland” heart which I picked up in Lerwick on a wander through the town. I loved that there were so many lovely, artisanal wares in Shetland and this heart will remind me of this beautiful little part of the UK.
2018 Christmas travel decorations
Algarve
On our winter trip to the Algarve we loved visiting the amazing Porches pottery and picking up some lovely plates and bowls which we now use in the kitchen and make us smile every time we do. They had some really sweet decorations like this sunflower painted Christmas tree which seemed perfect to remind us of the sunny trip.
Mary Rose, Portsmouth
One of our absolute favourite day trips in 2018 was to the Mary Rose in Portsmouth. I wanted to see the 500-year-old shipwreck for the longest time and was awe-struck by the visit. This is such an evocative exhibition, with not only the ship laid out in front of you but some amazing artifacts which were found at the bottom of the sea with her. One of my favourites was the original bell which rang out on the ship and is now beautifully displayed. I love this Mary Rose Bell decoration which will always remind us of the wonderful visit.
Inverness, Scotland
In October we travelled to the Highlands for a family weekend in Inverness. I love Scotland so much and every trip we take I wish we had longer to spend there and explore. The Highlands are beautiful and we took a Loch Ness cruise out to search for Nessie and explore the countryside and Urquhart Castle. So it seemed only fitting that we pick up this sweet Nessie decoration (which we actually got at Culloden, one of the most atmospheric places I’ve been too). This will remind us of that whole weekend (and I love that the back of the decoration is all tartan too).
Morocco
We also went on a family trip across Morocco which was so vibrant and full of warm smiles. It felt like we were back to our roots and really travelling, especially when we took the night train between Marrakech and Tangier which was such an adventure. I have always loved the Hands of Fatima which are found all over the country and I picked up a gorgeous silver necklace in Fes which I absolutely adore. We, not surprisingly, couldn’t find any specific Christmas decorations in Morocco so we picked up a Hand of Fatima to hang on the tree to remind us of this special trip.
London
In 2018 we also found our brilliant top of the tea decoration. We hadn’t had anything to adorn the top of our tree and have been on the hunt for the right kind of decoration and on a recent trip to London at Christmas we popped in to the V&A Museum and spotted this felt Llama which was perfect. We’ve declared him a travelling Llama and I love his colourful little face smiling down at us.
2017 travel decorations
Slovenia
We had a lovely trip skiing in Slovenia and picked up this round bauble right at the very start of 2017.
Madeira
I love this traditional sledge from our winter trip to Madeira where we were brought down the hill on bigger versions of these in a terrifying ride (although it did only seem to be me that found it terrifying).
Oman
This camel covered bauble from our family trip to Oman, still my favourite trip that we have taken as a family, will take pride of place this year – it’s warm yellows making me think of our night spent in the Omani desert and the warmth of the sun there.
Florida & Georgia, USA
One of our great trips in 2017 was to Florida and to Universal Resort Orlando and our favourite area was the Seuss Landing. Every year we watch The Grinch film in the run up to Christmas (usually a number of times) and we couldn’t resist this utterly grinchy tree decoration while we were in Florida.
Heading off from Universal on our road trip through Florida and Georgia our first stop was at the beautiful and historic Jekyll Island looking out at the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a great place to unwind and get away from the hustle and bustle so I love looking at the decoration we picked up in the little grocery shop there and remembering those sunny days at the beach.
We also loved our day trip to Savannah, Georgia, one of our stops on our trip around the state. It’s such a beautiful city filled with old world heritage and so much charm.
Ayrshire, Scotland
This gorgeous dancing Scottish Father Christmas, complete with kilt was picked up on our winter trip to Ayrshire. He came from the National Trust shop at the Robert Burn’s Museum and I love him. He’s perfectly jolly and looks so happy on the tree.
2014 travel decorations
Saariselka, Lapland, Finland
This year’s new additions include our little reindeer from our trip to Lapland with kids –
Russia
And a Russia doll from our Summer trip to Russia –
It makes me really happy to look at the tree and remember all of our travels.
Our trees from Christmases past
2019 tree
Our 2018 tree –
2017 tree –
Our 2014 tree
What a beautiful tree you have and each ornament is so meaningful! I would love to collect an ornament when I go travelling next time as we only collect fridge magnets at the moment
That is a pretty impressive and varied number of Christmas decorations. I love the reindeer from Lapland that’s cute!
I love that you decorate with decorations you have picked up from around the world – that is such a fab idea! You have picked some real beauties on your travels!
You have some gorgeous decorations. We have decorated our house so far, just not put our tree up yet.