One of the best things about the year-end holiday season is the decor. The giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Centre in New York City, the lights covering Harrods in London, the decorated stalls selling handmade tchotchkes in Nuremberg. Decor, like scents and fragrances, is central to creating that cosy, winter feel. It just ain’t Christmas if there isn’t at least a string of fairy lights being hung, you know?

Of course, creating the mood doesn’t mean you have to go all maximal. Sure, we love a fully decorated tree and some tinsel here and some holly there, but judging from what we’ve gathered above, low-key decorating can be just as effective. They’re way, way chicer too, we’ll admit to that. And so easy to put away after the 12 days of Christmas comes to an end! Think about it.

If you’re game to get your Christmas on but are adverse to all that full-on traditional decor, or you simply just don’t have time to set-up a tree much less jazz it up, here’s what you need to know.

The way we see it, your ingredients boil down to the following – plain wreaths, string, glass jars, minimal baubles, faux branches covered with needle leaves and actual twigs and branches you can pick up from anywhere. Festive foraging is a thing, we checked. When you have these ingredients, the possibilities are quite endless.

You can, for example, make a wall tree out of those faux tree branches. Talk about a space saver. Or, you could just pop the faux stalks or branches into a jar, throw on some baubles and call it a day. A tree in a jar! It’s like a low-key, fuss-free terrarium. If you’ve got no time for that, grab your nearest potted plant, wrap it in universally-favoured brown paper, tie on some string and throw on some baubles. (These and these are actually pretty darn adorable.) If even that is time consuming for you, find a spare frame – gold is good, but you know, to each her own – and use that as a Christmas tree instead. I think what we’re trying to say is as long as you’ve got baubles, anything and everything can be convinced into thinking that it is a Christmas tree.

Still haven’t shopped everything you need for the holiday parties to come? Head over here, here and here for our edit of the best party shoes, bags and dresses of the season. If you’re nowhere near done with gift shopping, head over here, here and here for our gift guides.