In recent years we’ve been seeing a lot of streets being decorated to attract tourists or customers. Shopping centres especially like to hire a decorating team and surprise the public with their colourful creation. Bath is one of the cities that like to attract customers to their shopping area with art. It started in 2016 with an umbrellas installation over their main high street. The project was repeated in 2017 and the following year South Gate Shopping centre came up with a different idea: Secret Garden and a Wisteria walkway.
In Bournemouth, we haven't been so lucky to have a decorated street yet but if anyone is interested, here are 10 ideas on how to decorate your city’s street:
Cheap umbrellas - this is how the trend started. The Umbrella Sky Project started in 2011 in Portugal and Instagram soon got flooded with beautiful photos of the Portuguese street. Other cities followed and by 2020 we’ve seen this type of installation even in small towns. If your town still hasn't had its umbrella street moment, buy cheap umbrellas on our site and get creative!
Kites - colourful and flowing in the breeze. They look so wonderful! We first saw them at Willow Brook Shopping Centre when they followed an umbrella sky installation created with our cheap umbrellas - Jollybrollies. We loved our brollies being featured at the shopping centre but the sky of the kites was a lovely follow up.
Flowers - just like in Bath, any flower installations will look wonderful in spring! Artificial flowers are an obvious choice but real flowers such as carnations and marigolds will work in a smaller space.
Origami - you may think that paper origami is not going to work outdoors especially in the UK but there are ways to make them waterproof. These look great not only hung but also scattered on the street and buildings.
Flags and ribbons - this is what we were used to as street decorations before the umbrella skies and the idea hasn't aged. Colourful fabrics look stunning in the breeze!
Balls - a sky full of colourful balls looks fantastic and you can hang them higher, lower or in a specific shape - possibilities are endless!
Get creative and share your photos with us!