Christmas Decorating

Christmas Decorating

Victorian Kissing-Balls

These were very popular in fine homes in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Men were at liberty to claim a kiss from any girl “casually” standing beneath the ball, plucking a mistletoe berry for each forfeit. When all the berries are gone, the kissing stops.

To make a Kissing-Ball, tie two hoops of wire or wood together to make a globe shape. Decorate it by lavishly twining it with ribbons, tinsel and evergreens such as ivy, then hang a cluster of mistletoe in the centre.

Fruits and nuts may be threaded on bright streamers and dangled from the Kissing-Ball. The ambitious may like to wire a miniature crib scene in the centre to represent the Nativity. Hang the Kissing-Ball in the centre of your living or dining room, or in the main entrance to your home…