You’ve selected the merchandise, stocked up on the teas, have long-time favorites and new tea gift ideas ready to sell. Now is the time to place selected samples strategically in your shop windows to start the conversation going and get customers to open the door.

Fancy window dressing can be costly, so we wracked our brains, scoured dollar stores and thrift shops, and shored up the creativity button to come up with 10 ways you can add dazzle to the window without breaking the bank. Many of these ideas are also perfect for in-store display on counters, shelves, or dedicated tables to show off the many wonderful teas and teaware for holiday gift-giving.

For even more ideas, corral your staff to explore Pinterest or share their own hobbies to translate windows into exciting winter holiday designs. For the best staff-generated window design idea, offer up their favorite tea or everyone’s delight, a cash bonus, and watch the enthusiasm spill over!

1. You and your customers will love our tea candles in Jasmine, Masala Chai, and Vanilla. These are the perfect stocking stuffers, hostess gifts, and are lovely lit during an afternoon tea repast. Showcase these on assorted trays in the window with tiny bowls of our fabulous spices, so perfect for holiday baking: rose petals, vanilla beans, and pumpkin pie spice, to name but a few.

2. Love the fresh smell of pine but no space for a tree in your window or shop? No problem. Grab some sprigs of pine and put them in small vases throughout the store or in the window. The smell is lovely, delicate, and natural and will put everyone in the right spirit. No vases? Use large glass jars, or lay them around merchandise as a fragrant touch.

3. For about a penny a piece, you can score a thousand cotton balls for $10. String them in rows with white yarn or thin white twine and hang them over the window. They’ll look like “snowballs”. This is also great for small, round red and green or blue and white ornaments, too.

4. Dedicate a shelf display for our gorgeous ADVENT CALENDARS (Jubilee or Evergreen) for customers to treat everyone to a special tea-a-day! Delicious, and beautiful, and the perfect price. Silver tinsel adds sparkle, literally, to every thing. Use it to create “straw” to set off your prettiest teapots or tea cups on a small table in the window or in the shop.

5. An inexpensive rice paper folding screen is the perfect backdrop to glue on “snowy scenes” as a back drop in the window. Collect twigs and thin branches, paint them bright white, and sprinkle on silver glitter. Goes with everything! And, the screen can be repurposed many times.

6. Want more color? Choose colorful tins or boxes of teas, and stack them into a triangle that will immediately be perceived as “Christmas” trees! We suggest White Chocolate Peppermint…decadent and delicious and definitely holiday-perfect.

7. Buy packages of different sized round and square doilies at the dollar store. Draw a large triangle inside your window to imply a Christmas tree, then paste the doilies onto the window to fill in your design, leaving a good inch or two between each doily. The open spaces in the doily allow people to see the merchandise in the window and if that’s not clear enough, hang a sign that says, “For the best look at our great teas and tea ware, come on IN!”

8. Showcase your smaller items in a Jar Tree. Buy (or save) 11 equal sized clear glass jars. They are the perfect place to show off paper tea filters, tea scoops and tea measuring spoons, colorful tea bags or our scrumptious tea cookies and crystal tea sugar. Fill up the jars with small tea-related items, then build your tree. Start with two jars on the bottom. Glue a 4” x 12” plank on top of them, then stack or glue 4 jars on top of the plank, 3 on top of the four jars, 2 on top of the 3 jars, and top with 1 jar. Keep bowls of these small items next to the jar tree so people can buy them easily. Displaying them near your check out counter is ideal for impulse buys!

9. Silver tinsel adds sparkle, literally, to every thing. Use it to create “straw” to set off your prettiest teapots or tea cups on a small table in the window.

10. Not so crafty? Staple or glue fairy lights everywhere. They make any display seem magical!