Origami Day is around the corner, and if you’re not quite sure what it is, we urge you to stay on the page and celebrate with us. You never know, you might have found your next project as festive décor within this blog.

So what is origami exactly? It’s the art of folding paper into a variety of decorative or representational forms such as animals or flowers.

Now, we’re not going to bore you with the historical details, because we want to get right into start folding some paper! But we’ll share the essential facts about Origami Day, which is celebrated today, 11 November 2020.

Origami arose in Europe, China, and Japan and accompanied traditions and celebrations of every kind. The word comes from the Japanese language where ‘ori’ means folding, and ‘kami’ means paper (kami changes to gami due to rendaku). The folded paper crane symbolises peace and is most probably the most common fold. Traditionally, it as believed that if one folded 1000 origami cranes, one’s wish would come true… imagine! But if one does get to folding 1000 cranes, it’s called ‘senbazuru’, in Japanese.

Let’s get crafty!

There are thousands of origami tutorials and ideas on different arts to fold, but for this blog, we’ll be focusing on cool origami projects to use as décor during the festive season approaching us real quick!

Origami Santa: Make cute origami Santas with different expressions and with only a few materials around the house such as paper, markers, stickers, and pom-poms. You can do the ‘hard work’ by folding them, and involve your kids to decorate them to their preference.

Origami Tree Cards: This is super easy to make, and you can use different sizes and shades of green. If you don’t want to use it on cards, use it as tree ornaments, as part of a wreath or use them as stand-alone trees on the festive table.

Origami Lucky Stars: Add string and hang it around the house or on the tree. Use them on the cards you’re planning to give friends and family. They are also quite easy to make using strips of paper – coloured paper or Christmas-patterned wrapping paper.

Origami Christmas Crackers: This can be used as actual crackers or a gift wrap for small presents such as jewellery. It doesn’t take too long to make if you get used to the steps and you can get very creative in adding your personal touch to it. You can use different coloured paper or textured paper and stickers. Just an idea of what you can place inside – handmade polymer earrings, little paper hats, and printout jokes to lighten up the atmosphere.

Origami Sakura Star: The Sakura Star makes a lovely Christmas tree decoration, or if you make it with larger size paper it could be the star on top. This is an intermediate to an advanced level project, but with enough patience, you will be able to fold it. The design is very unique as it’s not only a star but can be a flower too – depending on which angle you display it.

We hope that you have fun creating any of the above for the festive season. Don’t forget to keep an eye on our Facebook, and our website for upcoming Black Friday promotions!