A Twist on Traditional: Wholesalers embrace microtrends for Christmas
Christmas décor has expanded beyond traditional so consumers can add more creativity and personal touches to their homes for the holiday season.
Natasja Erftemeijer, brand and marketing manager at Amsterdam-based Vondels, said tradition will always have a place, especially at Christmas.
“It’s a season built on nostalgia and shared memories. But more and more, people are also looking for ways to make it personal,” she said.
Christmas décor isn’t just traditional anymore — from cowboy themes to personalized ornaments — it’s about adding your own style to the holiday. Three wholesalers share how their companies are incorporating Christmas microtrends into their collections.
MAKING CHRISTMAS TRENDY
Rachael Stanfill, director of product strategy at Transpac, said customers are looking for unique items that reflect home décor trends, trends in fashion and gifting. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Transpac recognizes that its customers come to them looking for on-trend holiday collections, which includes its more than 2,000 products across 12 Christmas collections.
Transpac’s collections that tap into the microtrends of the moment include “Oh What Fun,” featuring Cowboy Santa artwork from Krissy Mast in tabletop, décor, snow globes and ornaments; Christmas Cottage, featuring farm animals with Santa hats and bows; and a Lodge collection, with Highland Cows figurines and ornaments.
“At Transpac, our holiday line continues to evolve every year based on trends in the marketplace,” she said. “We develop many of our own items and present around 70% new products every year.”
These unique items in Transpac’s line add a touch of whimsy to traditional Christmas icons: A Santa ornament with a mushroom hat, a snowman figurine with a puffer vest and a Christmas duck with Santa outfit.
“These items bring the joyful spirit of the holidays — this will always be a highlight in Christmas décor,” she said.
Meanwhile, Vondels founders Yan Xu and Loesje Donner-Raedts began the company 10 years ago with the same goal: to make Christmas décor a little more magical.
“They saw a clear opportunity to bring more creativity and personality into the world of Christmas,” Erftemeijer said. “People were looking for gifts and decorations that felt more expressive. Something playful, stylish or symbolic.”
Vondels creates handcrafted ornaments with sparkle and standout pieces that multifunction as home décor and gifts. The company’s collections are rooted in culture — inspired by what’s trending on the runway, what’s hanging in galleries or even what is found in people’s living rooms.
“It’s about turning moments into keepsakes,” Erftemeijer said. “Whether it’s the finishing touch to a brunch table or the unexpected showstopper on a tree, each piece is made to leave a mark.”
Similarly, Celisha Racicot, product manager at Peking Handicraft, said she is inspired by fashion trends to create new products for Peking. For example, leopard began trending across fashion last year and inspired a collection of Christmas-themed leopard print pillows. Right now, however, a big trend is nostalgia.
“I think people have been craving nostalgia, which is why our Christmas look has worked for us — because it’s comforting,” she said. “When people are feeling uncertain about life, [they] want things that bring you back to your childhood. It’s also looking at who is the main consumer now … and what’s going to tug at their heart.”
As Peking plans its new holiday décor for 2026, Racicot said the collection will be based on what they predict will be trending.
She believes blue will be the next pink, veering away from “pink holiday,” which took off in 2023. The switch to a blue color scheme is meant to create a nostalgic-yet-trendy décor style. In a similar vein, Peking has featured chinoiserie patterns in its pillows for years but is now just adding the patterns to its Christmas collection, she said.
EMBRACING VARIETY
Transpac is not unfamiliar with bringing unique product lines to the specialty market — its other Christmas lines include Coastal, Cardinal, Farm, Gingerbread, Pastels and more. Stanfill said within its diverse customer base, retailers that have Transpac products in their stores sell a variety of themed Christmas products.
“While Traditional Christmas continues to be the largest collection, we find that customers are always looking for new items that reflect their home decorating style,” she said.
In its Oh What Fun collection, Transpac’s bestselling products are the Cowboy Santa salt and pepper shakers, as well as its pastel pink-and-green lightup trees and ornaments. In Christmas Cottage, whimsical melting snowmen tabletop pieces are among the topsellers. Meanwhile, in the Lodge collection, Highland Cows are hot.
“We listen to our customers, our goal is to provide on-trend products at price points that will sell through,” Stanfill said. “Many of our accounts come to us as a margin builder vendor. Adding unique Christmas items provides the ‘wow’ items that drive traffic.”
Peking has redesigned some traditional Christmas pillows and stockings to incorporate trending patterns and color schemes.
One of Peking’s newest launches is the 6-by-4.25-inch mini stockings. Designed with machine embroidery to look like a needlepoint pattern, it combines an older technique with updated artwork to create a modern look. The mini stockings can be hung on trees, used as décor or stuffed with a gift card.
“Although we do well with some of the things that are true nostalgic, I think what Peking does well is taking the old and making it fresh with a different style of artwork or a different coloration,” Racicot said.
Some of Peking’s bestselling pillows include traditional Christmas elements as its base — think candy canes, nutcrackers and trees — but designed in blue chinoiserie or pale blue and pink colorways with bows. Other pillows have an extra dimension added with pom-poms and bows.
“I do think bows will continue through the rest of the year, and we’ve added so many little extra adornments to some of our products this year,” Racicot said.
PERSONALIZATION ON THE RISE
Vondels cited a growing demand in the U.S. for ornaments that reflect the individual’s lifestyle, passions or guilty pleasures.
“These pieces go beyond traditional décor and become thoughtful, one-of-a-kind gifts,” Erftemeijer said. “The kind that makes someone, or even yourself, feel special.”
Some of the company’s bestselling pieces in this category include the Filler Injection Ornament, a playful nod to beauty culture, and the Self-Care Dog, made for those who love wellness with a wink. The Pink Shopping Bag has also become a bestseller, capturing that love for style and retail therapy in a sparkly way.
For retailers, it can be an opportunity to tap into gifting moments all year-round — birthdays, dinner parties, thank yous or just because.
“By offering our collections, retailers aren’t just putting products on shelves,” Erftemeijer said. “They’re giving customers the chance to gift with intention, to host in style or to collect something that feels personal. And that’s what builds connection and keeps people coming back.”
As people are also looking for more ways to make the holiday season feel more personal, an eye-catching tree or holiday table can become part of how the holiday is shared with one another, Erftemeijer said. This also goes along with a growing love for meaningful gifting — people are choosing pieces that are a little more special than typical go-tos.
“It’s those small, thoughtful details that help express connection and individuality. And it’s all part of a bigger shift toward celebrating with intention and style,” she said.
This shift also reflects a bigger cultural movement as people are craving more authentic, meaningful ways to connect — with gifting being an example, Erftemeijer said. More customers are treating gifting as a love language — a way to show attention, care and personality in something small but intentional.
“That’s why we’re seeing customers blend both worlds,” she said. “A classic bauble next to a glittering avocado. A vintage ornament paired with a fashion-forward handbag. It’s not about choosing one or the other, it’s about making it your own.”
