How do I make a Christmas papel picado banner?
Type the words, for example FELIZ NAVIDAD or LOS GARCÍA, and the preview strings one panel per letter, with pattern panels at both ends and between the words. Pick the colors and the pattern, check the stats line for the number of sheets and the length of the banner, and download the PDF. Every sheet carries dashed cut lines and a solid fold line for the string.
Which colors and patterns say Christmas?
| Choice | What it looks like | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Navidad colors | red, green, gold, berry and pine | the classic Mexican Christmas banner |
| Poinsettias | six pointed bracts round a dot, the flor de Nochebuena | Las Posadas, Nochebuena, the table |
| Christmas trees | a stepped tree with two ornaments | a children’s room, a classroom wall |
| Stars | a five-pointed star | any Christmas wall, a posada evening |
| Ink saver | outlines on white, to color in | a classroom or a family coloring evening |
The Fiesta and pastel colors and the diamond panels are there too, for a banner that hangs on into the New Year.
Papel picado for Las Posadas and Navidad
Las Posadas fill the nine evenings from December 16 to 24: a procession knocks at doors asking for shelter, and the evening ends with food, a piñata and songs under strings of papel picado. A home-printed banner of FELIZ NAVIDAD over the door or across the patio is the simplest part of that evening, and it can stay up through Nochebuena on Christmas Eve and Three Kings Day on January 6.
The same maker without the Christmas patterns, with the Día de Muertos colors and flower and heart panels, is the papel picado banner generator, and the guide how to make papel picado shows both ways: cutting tissue paper by hand and printing, cutting and stringing these panels.
How long will the banner be?
The stats line works it out before you print. Each standard panel is 130 mm wide and gets about 15 mm of string beside it, so FELIZ NAVIDAD (12 letters, one panel between the words and one at each end, 15 panels) fills 8 sheets and makes about 2.2 m of banner: enough for a doorway or a window. A single word like NAVIDAD is 9 panels on 5 sheets, about 1.3 m.
For the rest of the house, a Christmas countdown paper chain and paper snowflakes print from the same kind of page, and the Christmas page lists every other Christmas printable.
Questions
What is Christmas papel picado?
Papel picado is Spanish for punched or perforated paper: strings of cut-paper flags hung across patios, streets and doorways in Mexico. At Christmas the panels turn red, green and gold and carry poinsettias, stars, trees and the words FELIZ NAVIDAD, for the nine evenings of Las Posadas from December 16 to 24 and for Nochebuena on Christmas Eve.
What can I write on the banner?
Any word or name up to 18 characters, one letter per panel. Accented letters and Ñ print as they should, so FELIZ AÑO NUEVO works for the New Year as well.
Which patterns are there?
Poinsettias (the flor de Nochebuena), Christmas trees, stars and diamonds. The pattern panels hang at both ends of the banner and between the words.
How do I turn the sheets into a banner?
Print at 100 percent scale, cut along the dashed lines, lay a string along the top of each panel and fold the top edge over it. A small piece of tape on the back of each fold holds the panel. Two standard panels fit on one sheet.
What paper should I use?
Plain printer paper feeds reliably and holds a crease. Tissue paper, the traditional material, is too thin for most home printers; colored printer paper with the ink saver pattern is the closest home-printed look.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The panels are drawn and the PDF is assembled in your browser. No account, no watermark.