30 Clever and Creative Christmas Card Display Ideas

Everyone loves getting Christmas cards, but without a stylish and systematic way to display them they can end up getting shoved in a drawer or cluttering up the countertops or mantel. Luckily the Christmas card enthusiasts of the world have come up with multiple solutions that celebrate this cherished holiday tradition in ways both modern and classic, from wall hangings to staircase garlands to DIY displays.

Check out these clever and creative ways to showcase Christmas cards both past and present so that they're front and center when you need to be reminded of all the people who cared enough to send them.

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Repurpose a Vintage Window

A Blissful Nest

A Blissful Nest attached clips to a vintage window frame hung on the wall, adding paper snowflakes to make it more decorative and fill the empty spaces while you wait for the cards to trickle in.

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Clip Them on a Staircase Garland

Inspired By Charm

Inspired By Charm paper clipped vintage Christmas cards and envelopes to a bright and shiny staircase garland to add charm and keep them on display.

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Use Reclaimed Wood

The Merrythought

The Merrythought created a DIY Christmas card display by attaching bulldog clips to reclaimed wood boards.

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Repurpose an Old Picture Frame

Your DIY Family

Your DIY Family repurposed an old picture frame, adding linen backing and rubber bands to keep Christmas cards in place.

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Use What You Have

Fantastic Frank

In this Scandinavian apartment from Fantastic Frank, a wire mesh display on the wall can be used for holiday cards and strung with a single branch of eucalyptus for a minimalist solution that can stay up all year and be used for other seasonal displays until Christmas card season rolls around again.

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Drape the Doorway

Studio DIY

Studio DIY created a Christmas card garland display that frames the entrance to the kitchen with cabinets wrapped like presents with bright red bows.

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Mix It Up

ZoÃ« With Love

Zoë With Love created a simple DIY holiday card display, hanging cards and mini wreaths from a branch strung with twine and adding some shiny gold Christmas bells for good measure.

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Pin Them To a Cork Tree

A Beautiful Mess

This DIY Christmas tree-shaped corkboard from A Beautiful Mess creates a place to pin up Christmas cards in plain view.

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Let Santa Help

Liz Marie Blog

Blogger Liz Marie hung Christmas cards from a vintage toboggan with magnets to fill an otherwise empty corner with holiday cheer.

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Anticipate Spillover

Liz Marie Blog

As the season progresses and more cards come in, blogger Liz Marie attaches them with tiny clips to rows of twine and strings them across a life-sized Santa cutout.

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Clip Them Up

Your DIY Family

Your DIY Family created a simple and streamlined solution for reducing Christmas card clutter using faux suede cord, wooden beads, and wooden clothespins that keeps cards in place without taking up any room on the mantel.

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Make a DIY Plywood Display

The Merrythought

This simple plywood display from The Merrythought has tiny ledges so that you can display your favorite cards like miniature works of art.

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Keep Them Under a Cloche

Liz Marie Blog

Blogger Liz Marie added a glass cloche stuffed with vintage Christmas letter envelopes to a wall of built-ins styled for the holidays, an idea that could work anywhere as a way to corral your cards while keeping them visible.

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Glue Them to a Mailbox

Liz Marie Blog

Blogger Liz Marie attached Christmas cards to a Letters to Santa mailbox in a haphazard fashion to create a windblown 3D effect that will delight the kids.

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Suspend Them

Fantastic Frank

Hang your Christmas cards from a pendant light over the dining room like this space from Fantastic Frank with a classic White Paper Chandelier by Ingo Maurer.

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Hang Them from a Gold Metal Grid

Design by Shavonda Gardner for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Lisa and Gary Ashley

The desk in this teen room designed by Shavonda Gardner for Emily Henderson Design includes a gold-toned mesh wall hanging that turns into a Christmas card display when the season comes.

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Keep Them Front and Center

Liz Marie Blog

Blogger Liz Marie layered Christmas cards and letters into her holiday table centerpiece, and added a garland made of Christmas cards in the window.

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Use Photo Clip Holders

A Beautiful Mess

A Beautiful Mess used individual photo clip holders to display holiday cards and photos in a cheeky Christmas vignette.

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Edit Them

Liz Marie Blog

Blogger Liz Marie added an edited selection of holiday cards that mesh with the neutral tones of a staircase garland in her farmhouse style home.

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Build a Better Mousetrap

Fynes Designs

Deactivated mouse traps are the secret building block for this DIY holiday card display from Fynes Designs.

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Embellish the Stockings

Liz Marie Blog

Blogger Liz Marie embellished holiday stockings with Christmas cards for a two-for-one holiday punch.

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Blow It Up

Most Lovely Things

Blogger Annie Diamond from Most Lovely Things set her Frame TV with a blown up family photo from a previous year's Christmas card that adds a personal touch to her simple stone mantel display.

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Hang Them From a Wall Tree

Design Improvised

Design Improvised turned a blank wall in the foyer into a holiday card display with some twine, a few ornaments, and clips for holding Christmas cards that takes minutes to put up and will bring holiday cheer all season long.

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Frame Them Up

A Beautiful Mess

A Beautiful Mess created a family Christmas photo display that showcases favorite family photos from throughout the years. If your holiday cards include family photos, keeping one to frame for yourself is a fun tradition that you can add to as the years pass and your family grows.

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Repurpose a Thrift Store Frame

At Home With Ashley

At Home With Ashley repurposed a gilded thrift store picture frame into a DIY Christmas card holder by adding dollhouse trim that keeps cards in place.

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Upcycle an Old Crib Frame

My 100 Year Old Home

My 100 Year Old Home repurposed an old crib mattress frame as a Christmas card display, clipping cards to the metal cross wires with small red clothespins.

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Hang Them on a Table Top Tree

Liz Marie Blog

A tabletop tree like this one from blogger Liz Marie can be used as a Christmas card display that will keep all those sweet hand-written sentiments in sight. This idea could also work on a larger tree.

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Hang Them on a Wreath

Inspired By Charm

This DIY holiday photo wreath from Inspired By Charm would work just as well for a Christmas card display. Tacked up on a cork board in a home office, there's plenty of room for spill over cards below.

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Pin Them On a Dress Form

My 100 Year Old Home

My 100 Year Old Home pinned Christmas cards to a dress form in the sewing and craft room for an irreverent take on a holiday card display, and tied the waist with a giant red bow.

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Repurpose Them

Thistlewood Farms

If you don't have the heart to recycle all those Christmas cards once the season is over, give them a new life instead. Thistlewood Farms turned old Christmas cards into a Merry banner by cutting them up and stringing them together with twine to create a small piece of DIY holiday decor.