Danish Christmas hearts – a classic Christmas decoration

It’s time for Christmas decorations again.
This time, it’s the Christmas heart.
The folded and woven Christmas heart is a classic Danish decoration.

We Danes are hanging our Christmas hearts on our Christmas trees.
The Christmas hearts are traditionally made in our national colours – red and white.

You can make your hearts out of all kinds of paper in all sorts of colours
– all the colours that fit your Christmas theme.

History
The famous storyteller H. C. Andersen made the first documented pleated heart in 1861.
It was braided/woven in green and yellow paper, had 5 tabs, and was without a handle.
Pleated Christmas hearts to hang on Christmas trees were seen from the 1870s.

I’ve made a few A4 pdf files.
Templates for making your own Christmas hearts in Danish colours.
And the two oldest Christmas hearts on the blog: the red and gold Christmas hearts and the silver and white ones.
I’ve made 4 hearts ready to cut out and assemble and a template pdf.
There is a simple heart with three “tabs/fingers” and a more complicated one with 7 “tabs/fingers”.
I have made the versions you see in the pictures – one in “silver glitter” and white with dots, one in “gold” with dots and a red pattern and a red and white version for you to use or decorate.

You can mix and match the papers – as long as the number of “flaps/fingers” are the same.
(I actually do not know what the parts to fold and weave is called – for now, I call them “flaps/fingers” – but please enlighten me.)
You can also use the Christmas harts as templates if you want to use your quality paper.
Glossy paper, handmade paper, gift wrapping paper or other types of paper makes beautiful hearts.

You, your child, your friends and your family can decorate some white paper before you cut your Christmas hearts out, or you can decorate the finished hearts afterwards.
It makes the hearts extra special – so remember to put the date inside!
Please share photos of your own Christmas hearts.
Tag me on Instagram @danish.things and #danishthings

Tips

I have a few tips for you – if you haven’t made a pleated Christmas heart before:

• Remember to place the template with the straight edge close to the fold of your paper.
• Print a few sheets out of the ones I have made and practice on the easy hearts. Or practice on parchment paper/baking paper before using your quality paper.
• Start to pleat/braid from the inside out.
• Be patient – the more complicated hearts or those with many “tabs/fingers” can be pretty tricky.
• Use a ruler and a scalpel instead of a scissor if you want nice straight lines.
• You can enlarge or reduce templates using Adobe Reader and set your print size or resize using a copy machine.
• You can decorate your heart with ribbons, glitter, stamps, stickers, washi tape … yes, everything your ❤ desires.

All the photos are hyperlinks – so choose a template and go straight to the pdf.
If you don’t have a Google account and therefore can’t download the pdf file, right-click on the photo, download it and print it as a picture.

If you are looking for the old templates, you’ll find them here:

• Old “Silver glitter” and white – 3 tabs + 7 tabs
• Old Red and “gold” – 3 tabs + 7 tabs
• Old white templates – 3 tabs + 7 tabs

The old templates are just a tad smaller than the new ones.

Please share photos of your own Christmas hearts – here or on Instagram.
On Instagram, share your photos with @danish.things and tag them #danishthings ❤