Christmas Trends 2020

“The five hottest themes, motifs and color palettes you’ll want to consider now for next year’s holiday season.”

Yes, Christmas 2020!” Now is the time to start looking toward next year. Whether you are reading this while in the throes of the current 2019 holiday season, or if you have been so busy that you are reading this after the holiday is over, or maybe it’s the middle of June 2020 and you are finally reviewing this, it doesn’t matter. This report is designed to help you plan your buying and displays for Christmas 2020 throughout the year. As your current season goes in the books, this guide will also aide in incorporating any leftover merchandise into your chosen themes for Christmas 2020.

In identifying holiday trends for the floral world, we examine what has been happening in trends throughout the year, and we take a look back at last year’s Christmas to trace the wintry footprints of what is emerging and evolving. However, not every style trend works its way into Christmas. Holiday customs and traditions make it a challenge for retailers to leap too far out of the box. This season belongs to tradition, nostalgia and memories. A new trend has to be on the “nice” list to make its way into Santa’s sleigh.

Décor trends are not like the year’s hottest holiday toys, gadgets and pajamas. Those trends tend to be a spontaneous burst of excitement that stick around until next year’s Furby or furry slippers step into the spotlight. New Christmas trends have to find their way into current collections of well-loved seasonal décor. They need to be part classic, part chameleon and particularly cool.

This feature tells a story about what’s current for consumers and what colors and elements influence them. Classic Christmas is always with us; traditional red, green and white palettes will never disappear. Adding pops of something fresh and new helps consumers curate and evolve their holiday styles.

For Christmas 2020, we share five holiday stories that have a little something for everyone. Whether it’s luxe, whimsical, modern, urban or natural, these five Christmas trends offer opportunities to infuse newness into your holiday business.

Trends are what we make of them. Selecting and curating what fits you best is what it’s all about.

The green trend continues to grow and work its way into winter lifestyles with the story of “Wintergreen.” This crisp, organic style is heavily influenced by the ongoing trend of Eucalyptus as both a color and a plant material.

The color palette is fresh, neutral and suitable for almost any décor. The focus is on nature’s many tints, tones and shades of green while blending beautifully with white accents. Charcoal accents can also be added in the form of grayed foliages and dark berries. Butter yellow adds a pop of unexpected warmth to the “Wintergreen” story.

This trend’s elements include black and white, hand-drawn imagery and scripts to add a fresh graphic quality. Ornaments can be a blend of shiny and matte finishes. Look for metal and ceramic containers and accessories along with ribbons in black-and-white buffalo check and linen plaids.

Christmas trees with snowy branches are an amazing way to highlight the “Wintergreen” color palette. A backdrop of crisp white allows a greater focus on green ornaments and foliages. Coniferous evergreens like juniper and cedar blend with leafy foliages like huckleberry to create layers of interest. Flowers can be soft with lots of movement, like sweet peas and Scabiosa, and also compact and textural, like Brunia berries and Trachelium.

COLORS

PRIMARY: EUCALYPTUS GREEN, EMERALD GREEN
SECONDARY: MINT GREEN, PINE GREEN
ACCENT: CHARCOAL, WHITE
POP: BUTTER YELLOW

FLOWERS

SCABIOSA
SWEET PEAS
TRACHELIUM
BRUNIA
HUCKLEBERRY
CEDAR
JUNIPER
EUCALYPTUS
DUSTY MILLER

COORDINATING DESIGN MASTER COLORS

HUNTER GREEN (760)
BASIL (676)
HERBAL (673)
FLAT WHITE (726)
HONEYCOMB (677)
ÜBERMATTE GRAPHITE (560)

A holiday story of glitz and glam, “Xtrordinary Xmas” is an eclectic combination of colors and textures. This trend plays with contrast and unexpected combinations as it entwines futuristic and modern styles with romantic, dark and moody backgrounds.
Vibrant hues in purples, pinks and blues are accented with warm green and gold, and are based with dark shades to create a dramatic effect. This story celebrates metallic, glittery and iridescent finishes and highlights velvety and shimmery materials.
Elements of “Xtrordinary Xmas” are a wondrous collection of curiosities. Gilded birds and monkeys, jeweled insects, and glittery cheetahs combine with unexpected natural materials like crystalline rocks and feathers.
Flowers for this striking style are sophisticated and stylish and include roses, orchids, Banksia, Anthurium, oversized tropical leaves and ferns, and textural fillers like ‘Green Trick’ Dianthus. Highlighting foliages with bright colors and metallic gold adds another layer of unexpected drama to floral designs.
Dried flowers and foliages also make their way into this trend, to add to the eclectic feel and the dark luxe side of the style. Dried and preserved materials are standouts when enhanced with glitter and metallic paint.

COLORS

PRIMARY: DEEP BLUE, CRANBERRY, METALLIC GOLD
SECONDARY: BURGUNDY, BRIGHT LAVENDER, LIME GREEN
ACCENT: GOLDENROD YELLOW
POP: PEACOCK BLUE

FLOWERS

ROSES
ORCHIDS
ANTHURIUM
BANKSIA
MONSTERA
ASPIDISTRA

COORDINATING DESIGN MASTER COLORS

14KT GOLD (230)
LAVENDER (708)
DEEP BLUE (743)
BASIL (676)
ÜBERMATTE PEONY (550)
CRANBERRY (713)

“Espresso+Evergreens” a delightful story for the young and young-at-heart. This look combines soft, cozy holiday tradition with cute, witty details that bring joy and charm to holiday décor. It allows classic Christmas to have a young, fun, updated vibe.
Traditional holiday colors of bright red and crisp white are paired with unexpected corals, peaches and pinks. Chocolate brown, golden caramel and gingerbread hues join in to give this trend its sweet style.
This trend celebrates elements of warmth with cocoa heaped with mini marshmallows, peppermint lattes and wool scarves. Ornaments and accents have a sweet yet modern feel. Coffee cups, cake pops and iced doughnuts with Christmas sprinkles blend with Nordic gnomes and knitted ribbons.
Accessories adorned with simple hand-drawn prints and patterns help create a clean and modern style, as do red-ticking ribbons, flannel plaids and pompom trims. A llama or two definitely belong in this trend. Whimsical creatures like felted mice with little glitter backpacks and hipster dogs in striped T-shirts and glasses bring a joyful sense of humor to the story.
The color palette for “Espresso+Evergreens” opens many possibilities for winter fresh flowers. Carnations, Ranunculus, roses, tulips and amaryllises are available in this trend’s perfect palette of corals, peaches and pinks, along with traditional reds, greens and white. Hypericum berries and ‘Blackberry Scoop’ Scabiosa add that perfect shot of espresso color.

COLORS

PRIMARY: STRAWBERRY RED, WHITE, HUNTER GREEN
SECONDARY: PEACH, CORAL
ACCENT: CHOCOLATE
POP: GINGERBREAD

FLOWERS

CARNATIONS
TULIPS
SCABIOSA
HYPERICUM
RED BERRIES
CEDAR
LONG-NEEDLE PINE

COORDINATING DESIGN MASTER COLORS

CORAL (777)
PEACHY (671)
OCTOBER BROWN (718)
HUNTER GREEN (760)
TERRA COTTA (796)
CARNATION RED (716)

The “Northern Stars” story celebrates the poetic and enchanting side of winter as inspired by winter’s moonlight, stars and stardust. The other-worldly winter glow of the Arctic sky’s aurora borealis is the inspiration for “Northern Stars,” as its magical waves of color softly whisper, “Be kind to the earth.” This trend has a strong focus on maintaining an awareness of our impact on the environment.
“Northern Stars” has a delicate color spectrum that ranges from pale pastels and neutral hues to cool metallic gold. It gets its depth from dark iridescence in shades of deep blue and black.
This trend’s soft modern-fairy-tale style is created through a contrast of geometric shapes, modern lines, organic surfaces and iridescence. Look for Christmas accessories with unusual shapes and interesting natural surfaces like cement, bleached wood and mother-of-pearl. Sparkling glitter and smooth mirrored, oil-slick iridescent, and soft misty transparent materials infuse “Northern Stars” with reflective light. Delicate transparency and creased, folded and pleated paper surfaces add a luminescent quality to ornaments and accessories.
This “Northern Stars” story is told through soft textural flowers. Translucent preserved and dried materials, like Lunaria, blend well with feathery pampas grass and bunny-tails. Silver-toned fresh evergreens, ethereal Gypsophila and dainty blooms of ‘Paper-white’ Narcissus create a modern contrast when combined with orchids, Anthurium foliage, and other exotic flowers and foliage.

COLORS

PRIMARY: WHITE, NAVY BLUE
SECONDARY: LAVENDER, SOFT BLUE
ACCENT: CHAMPAGNE GOLD
POP: BLACK AND CHARCOAL

FLOWERS

ORCHIDS
ANEMONE
HELLEBORUS
ERYNGIUM
ASTRANTIA
GYPSOPHILA
LUNARIA
GOLD-PAINTED TROPICAL LEAVES
LONG-NEEDLE PINE

COORDINATING DESIGN MASTER COLORS

ÜBERMATTE LAKE (556)
FLAT WHITE (726)
HEATHER-ISH (669)
GOLD MEDAL (231)
BLUE SKY (751)
ÜBERMATTE GRAPHITE (560)
GLOSSY BLACK (625)

The story of “Merry Matcha” is modern and organic. A holiday continuation of the “living with green” movement blends contemporary lifestyle with natural, rustic and raw textures to create a look that is urban chic with a touch of glam. It focuses on clean, unique architectural forms with refined detail blended with dry-to-the-touch, rough, broken surfaces, crackled textures, and distressed finishes that are all about getting close to nature and the plain simplicity of modern living.
An earthy color harmony reflects this trend’s close connection to naturalness, modernity and rusticality. This is achieved by the meeting of calm, cool and purist neutrals like gray, taupe and black with warm burnt-clay tones and a bold pop of matcha green.
The appeal of urban living and upcycled accents gives “Merry Matcha” a young and fresh approach to Christmas celebrations. Along with smaller footprint Christmas trees, traditional versions of holiday trees are created with light strands and repurposed objects like ladders, books, crates and rustic wood shelving and are accented with metallic ornaments, weathered glass in rich colors and woven accents.
Succulents and Norfolk Island pines are perfect plants to keep winter envi-ronments fresh and trending. “Merry Matcha” flowers are unique and minimal forms like Protea, Banksia, Cymbidium orchids, berries and fresh winter branches.

COLORS

PRIMARY: MATCHA GREEN, CREAM, GRAY
SECONDARY: TERRA-COTTA CLAY
ACCENT: TAUPE
POP: BLACK

FLOWERS

PROTEA
BANKSIA
CYMBIDIUM ORCHIDS
SUCCULENTS
ILEX BERRIES
HYPERICUM
MAGNOLIA LEAVES
CEDAR
RED DOGWOOD

COORDINATING DESIGN MASTER COLORS

ÜBERMATTE SPROUT (554)
ÜBERMATTE CREMA (558)
ÜBERMATTE BEACH (559)
FLAT BLACK (725)
GRAY FLANNEL (798)
RED CLAY (675)