Homemade Soviet New Year decorations (PHOTOS)

Sofia Polyakova

Dec 10 2023

Homemade Soviet New Year decorations (PHOTOS) — G.Bibik / Sputnik

In the USSR, many details of a festive New Year interior were homemade. Children also often spent time in kindergartens and schools making them; but, at home, it was a perfect opportunity for both children and adults to get together.

Snowflakes from paper, foil & lametta

Every year, children cut out delicate snowflakes out of simple sheets of paper. Then, they hung them on the New Year tree, walls, windows; they decorated apartments, schools and kindergartens.

There were a lot of methods to cut out a snowflake and the creative came up with their own ornaments. This tradition persists to this day and some schools still decorate their windows with snowflakes before the New Year.

Snowflakes were also cut out from colored glittering foil. The foil itself couldn’t hold the shape, so the snowflakes were stuck to windows with sweet water (a mix of water and sugar).

Hard, shiny snowflakes, meanwhile, were made from milk, kefir or ‘snezhok’ bottle caps.

Stars

Another handicraft out of foil – thick stars that one could hang on a New Year tree. Thick household foil was put in a cupcake mold and pressed in – and you have baubles like in the photo below.

Drawings on windows & mirrors

These drawings were very diverse. Some drew the simplest of ornaments and wrote ‘Happy New Year!’, while others copied complex drawings from New Year cards. After the New Year school holiday, these drawings were washed off with water with two spoons of 9% vinegar.

Cotton snow

Snow for the New Year tree was made from regular medical cotton. It was laid under the tree like a carpet or hung right on the branches like a garland.

Garlands

Garlands, including little flags, could be purchased from a store. But, some preferred to make them themselves. For example, they would buy New Year cards and secure them on a thick thread. Or they even would cut out little flags from paper and write congratulations on them.

Another garland type was a paper chain. Strips were cut out of colored paper that were later bent into rings and linked to each other. To make such a chain out of velvet paper was a special luxury!

Posters

Soviet schools had a tradition of decorating classroom information boards with collective artworks. For example, with posters. Schoolchildren would draw squirrels and hares, ‘Ded Moroz’, aka ‘Grandfather Frost’ (Russian Santa Claus) and copy scenes from cards. In some higher education institutions, this tradition was continued with corridors and dean’s offices decorated. However, such activity there was usually quite rare.