Holidays are around the, and very soon, everyone will start to gear up for the Christmas season. Whether you are designing a Christmas card, decorating your home, or making cookies, you’ll want it to be easily recognized by anyone who sees it.
The most important element to help you achieve is Christmas colors or Christmas color palettes. Basically, the main colors that people mostly associate with Christmas are red and green. This leaves one to wonder why these colors are considered to be the traditional Christmas colors.
In this article, we’ll have a look at the history behind these colors and how they became the traditional Christmas colors. You’ll also learn other color combinations that you can easily and conveniently use on holiday cards and décor during Christmas. The Christmas color palette is a vast one, and you can use the colors on it to still capture the spirit that the Christmas season brings.
The History of Red and Green Christmas Color Palettes
Christmas color palettes have a long and rich history, which is possibly as old as Christmas itself. Red and green are the colors that we mostly associate with Santa Claus and every other thing that relates to Christmas. Initially, Christmas was mostly a winter holiday and a time during which to celebrate the winter solstice.
One of the elements that played a key role in the winter solstice celebration is Holly, which has red berries, and vibrant green leaves. The unique thing about this plant is that the leaves stay green all year round, even during winter, and it produces red berries.
With that, the ancient Celtic civilizations generally believed that the plant was a good luck charm that could bring joy, prosperity, and beauty to households, especially during the winter season. That is why they would take time to decorate their homes with the plant while celebrating the winter solstice that leads to a prosperous new year.
Even though red and green generally became Christmas color palettes with the winter solstice, these colors only became strong with modern history, especially when they became a part of the Coca-Cola advertisement push during the 1930s.
During that time, the company hired someone to create a Santa Claus. This is something they had done before, but this time, they created the Santa Claus that we all know today, which is the fat and jolly Santa. Initially, he was only a thin and elf-life being in red robes. This new Santa came with a different feeling, and it was able to take hold of the old culture.
This advertising campaign changed the dynamics of many things, including the birth of the modern-day Santa Claus. Also, the nice contrast of the green Christmas tree and Santa’s red suit marked the beginning of this Christmas color palette.
Source: Pinterest
Source: Pinterest
The History of Purple, Blue, and White Christmas Color Palette
Even though red and green are the conventional Christmas color palette, especially with pop culture, there’s more to find out. For instance, the first thing you should understand is that Christmas is a religious holiday for many.
Therefore, if you look at the season from a religious perspective, you’ll see that there are different colors that we can associate with Christmas. We’ll look at these colors now:
Purple
Advent is the four weeks period that leads to Christmas, and during this time, you’ll find different churches laying up an altar with purple cloth, and this is only to mark the beginning of the Christmas season. If you’re sending Christmas cards or gifts during advent, you’ll want to ensure that you include the purple color in its design.
For the perfect template to use for this design, you might want to consider checking the templates available on illustAC.
Source: Pinterest
Blue
Even though most churches use purple color during advent, you’ll find that there are still a few churches that use blue instead. Blue is mostly used when associating it with the mother of Jesus, Mary. She has a key role to play in Christmas, and it’s only natural to represent her with this color.
In addition to the religious root of the use of blue color during Christmas, it was also used long before the advertisement campaign by Coca-Cola. During those times, you’ll find Santa in blue robes, especially on Victorian Christmas cards.
Blue is a really nice color, and you can use this color in many ways. For ideas on how to use them, you should consider checking illustAC Christmas templates and our Christmas color palettes.
Source: Pinterest
White
White and blue or white and purple are generally the common Christmas color palettes that people use during the advent season and even on Christmas. Most churches have already adopted white as their main Christmas color because it signifies purity and cleanliness. While creating decorations, they mostly use different types of white decorations.
The impressive thing about white is that you can use it anyway. It’s generally the perfect option to use for different Christmas designs, styles, and even for different Christmas color palettes. On illustAC, you’ll find different templates that you can use for your design.
Source: Pinterest
Non-traditional Christmas Color Palettes
Sometimes, the traditional Christmas colors above may not seem to fit a design décor, style, or idea. During this time, it might be difficult for one to choose a perfect color that can still fit into the Christmas color palette.
You have nothing to worry about because there are many alternative colors that you can consider trying. Rest assured that you’ll still be able to deliver the festive holiday feeling with these colors.
These alternative Christmas color palettes include the following:
Metallics
One of the most common Christmas songs is Silver and Gold, and this is also a great idea for a Christmas color palette. Fortunately, they deliver a unique type of shine and sparkle, which makes a design only look better. The common metallic colors that you should consider trying are copper, silver, and gold. These are perfect Christmas colors you should try.
Neutral with a pop of color
This option probably didn’t even cross your mind in the first place. However, when you combine neutrals with strong accent colors, the combination always comes out great. This is a Christmas color palette that would be great for use on cards, holiday décor and other similar purposes.
When using neutral colors, you can think of colors like black, cream, or gray, which a strong accent like red taking the backstage. This usually gives a really appealing contrast and is a great way to add value to your holiday design.
Pink and Green
Another option is to make the red and green Christmas color palette to appear more visually appealing and modern. A unique way to achieve this is by replacing the red with pink, which also delivers a fresh appeal.
One interesting thing about pink is that it gives a fun and playful feel, unlike the conventional red color we use. Pairing pink with green will still retain the feel and look of Christmas.
Source: Pinterest
Gold, White, and Blue
One way to embrace the conventional Christmas colors without actually using the red and green color palettes is by going for a combination of gold, blue, and white. You can rest assured that this color combination will also come our great on your design, and décor.
How to Choose the Right Christmas Color Palette
As mentioned earlier, the Christmas color palette plays a key role when it comes to ornaments, decorations, and designs during the Christmas season. To ensure that you choose the right colors, here are a few tips to help you select the right Christmas color palette this year:
Determine The Feeling You Want from your Colors
The colors you choose for your Christmas design are an important thing to pay attention to. However, while choosing these colors, you also need to know how to determine the vibrancy of the color that you choose.
Christmas designs with vibrant and bright colors will generally give a different look compared to ones with an understated tone. This is regardless of whether they both share the same Christmas color palette or not.
With that said, it’s important to ensure that you start your design; you need to determine whether you want it to scream merry Christmas or if it should have an understated or toned-down color. On illustAC, you’ll find different bright, understated, toned-down, and vibrant templates that you can use for your design.
Imagine How your Photo will Fit the Christmas Color Palette You Choose
This is an important thing to consider, especially for designs that will include your photo. You need to be able to determine how the photo will fit the design and how the colors you choose will influence the photo itself.
For example, if you’re wearing red in the photo that you choose, then you’ll need to choose a red Christmas color palette or a pair that at least has red in it. The aim is to ensure harmony between your photo and that of the design.
Go Traditional with Colors
If you’re on the bridge and clueless about what colors to choose, you should consider sticking to traditional colors like red and green. Using these colors on your Christmas design is a way to ensure that it stands out and is also able to deliver your Christmas message very quickly.
For this, you can get traditional designs on illustAC, with conventional Christmas color palettes. For emphasis, it’s important to note that the most traditional Christmas colors are red and green.
illustAC and Christmas Color Palettes
From all we have mentioned earlier, you’ll notice that we have recommended illustAC a couple of times for your different templates and designs that you can use.
All the color palettes we have mentioned earlier are only on a generalized basis. Here are some really nice color palettes that you should consider trying:
Purple
This is a color palette to use if you want a beautiful and luxurious look. The hex codes of the colors in this palette are #B36B91, #AC92A1, #492548, #9FA58C, and #BF95b9
Green
Mixing gold, white and shades of green adds a unique type of elegance to Christmas designs. For this you can consider using this hex codes #839E72, #7B92BC, #50514C, #958965, and #BDB6B8
Pink
As mentioned earlier, if you want to add a fun and happy appeal to your design, you should consider using pink colors with a mix of green. For this, you’ll need the following hex codes: #DC0B6F, #E13A98, #FF29A9, #698936, and #EAEF92
Blue
You can’t go wrong with blue on Christmas, because blue is a winter color, and Christmas is also during winter. When you mix different shades of blue together, what you’ll get will give a relaxing and cool appeal. The hex code for this Christmas color palette include: #6FB6CC, #F3F9F7, #93C9D7, #45A3BF, and #8EE9FC.
Gold
With different shades of gold, you can brighten up your design, especially when you include white in the palette. You can easily achieve that with these hex codes: #DFCA89, #F1DBB4, #B59331, #FCFAFB, and #F0DF31.
There are so many other beautiful color palettes that you can try to beautify your design. If you want inspiration on what Christmas palette to use, you might want to consider checking the options available on illustAC. Alternatively, you can try any of the palettes that we have mentioned above. In addition, there are so many Christmas templates, canvas, and images on illustAC, and you can use these images for your design. Rest assured that with them, you can easily deliver the Christmas message to your friends, family, and loved ones.
