Bat Christmas Ornaments: Glass, Felt and Cute Goth Picks

The best bat Christmas ornaments are small and easy to spot against dark branches. Choose a glass figure from an ornament maker’s Halloween range for a keepsake, or felt and glitter bats for a flock on a budget. Hang them from branch tips on black thread, so they look like they’re in flight.

Types of bat Christmas ornaments

Bat Christmas ornaments come in four main materials, and each one suits a different spot on the tree.

Glass is the choice if you want a piece to keep for years. Old World Christmas, for example, says it blows its ornaments by mouth into carved molds, silvers the inside and paints them by hand. Its Halloween range has included a glass Mini Bat with a smiling face and big eyes, the kind of cute goth detail that works in December too.

Bats tend to turn up in Halloween lines as well as Christmas ones, so check both. Availability changes from season to season, so when a maker runs out, resale listings on eBay are the next place to look.

Hanging bats so they look in flight

Bat ornaments look best when they appear to be in the air, rather than sitting on a branch. A small change in how you hang them makes that happen.

• Use the tips. Hang bats from the ends of branches so they swing clear of the needles.
• Swap the hook. Thin black thread or florist wire disappears against a dark tree, while silver hooks catch the light.
• Mix the drops. Three bats at slightly different lengths read as a flock.
• Point them one way. Have the group head up and around the tree, as though they are leaving a belfry.

Light wings can flop, so bend paper or felt wings slightly outward before you hang them. Black wire lights keep the outline clean as well, and our black wire Christmas lights page explains why.

Why bats are lucky in Chinese art

Bats are a lucky symbol in Chinese art because the word for bat, fu, sounds like the word for blessing. Hyperallergic explains that five bats together stand for the five blessings, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art describes the same word play on an 18th-century Chinese silk panel, reading fu as happiness. The usual list covers long life, wealth, health, love of virtue and a peaceful death, though the wording varies by source.

That gives a bat ornament a kinder reading than its Western image. Hyperallergic points out that art in the West tends to tie bats to night and vampire myths, and Goya’s etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters is a well-known example.

A set of five bats on the tree makes a nice detail to explain to guests, or a good-luck gift for someone who loves creepy things.

Styling bats with the rest of a goth tree

Bats mix best with other small creatures and dark shapes, as long as one idea leads. Felt bats sit well beside the felt cats and ghosts in our black cat Christmas ornaments guide. Glass bats suit a tree of black Christmas ornaments, with silver or gold to lift them.

For a spookier tree, combine bats with skull Christmas ornaments. If you want more of a horror mood, horror Christmas ornaments goes further. On a cuter tree, keep the bats smiling and add stars and moons.

Keeping bat ornaments safe at home

Keep glass bats on higher branches if you have pets or small children, and use felt ones lower down. Tiny glass ornaments and small parts are not toys, and a swinging bat on a low branch can tempt a cat.

Wrap glass bats in tissue before packing them away, and store them in a divided box. Paper wings need room as well, so don’t press them flat under heavier ornaments.

To plan the rest of the tree, see how to decorate a goth Christmas tree, and goth Christmas decor carries the look to the door and mantel.