Danish Christmas hearts

A simple paper heart with a very special place in Danish Christmas

In Denmark, woven paper hearts appear on Christmas trees, in windows and around family tables throughout December.

The familiar heart is made from two folded pieces of paper that are cut and woven together. When it is finished, it opens like a tiny basket and can hang from the Christmas tree.

But for me, and I think for many Danes, the heart is about much more than paper. It is also about sitting around a table together and making something with your hands.

Some people remember weaving hearts with their parents or grandparents. Others are seeing one for the first time. And some of the hearts turn out beautifully neat while others are slightly crooked. They all belong on the tree.

Coming for Christmas 2026

Would you like me to weave with you at home?

I am creating The Danish Christmas Heart Experience, a filmed online experience in English that brings you to my Christmas table in Copenhagen, wherever you may be in the world.

Together we will weave your first traditional Danish Christmas hearts while I share the story behind them, their connection to Hans Christian Andersen and a little of what Christmas feels like here in Denmark.

You can enjoy the experience on your own, gather the people you love around the table or give it to someone as a Christmas gift. You will be able to pause, go back and watch my hands again whenever you need to.

There is no hurry at my Christmas table.

From my Christmas table in Copenhagen to yours.

Christmas pieces from the Ugly Duckli universe

The woven Christmas heart has been part of Ugly Duckli for many years. In the shop you can find materials for weaving your own hearts, finished paper hearts and some of the small Christmas pieces that belong naturally around them.

Perhaps you would love to make the hearts yourself. Perhaps you would much rather let somebody else do the weaving. Both are perfectly fine.

You can see the exact materials, dimensions, contents and origin on each individual product page.

The webshop currently ships to these four countries only.

Some people weave their own hearts. Others simply love having them as part of Christmas.

People weaving hearts together

This is perhaps the part of the Danish Christmas-heart tradition I love most. A group of people sitting around a table, helping each other and discovering that they really can weave the little heart.

I can bring the experience to companies, international teams, universities, embassies, organisations and communities in Copenhagen. It can be arranged for a group of participants or as an open Christmas-heart table where many people can join during a larger event.

Nobody needs to know how to weave beforehand. We begin with the small heart so that beginners can experience the pleasure of succeeding. People who are quicker or already know the technique can continue with the larger heart.

And the group does not have to be small. For larger events I can bring additional helpers, because the important thing is that people can get personal help when they need it.

A small private Christmas-heart experience in Copenhagen

If you are visiting Copenhagen and would like something much smaller and more personal, I also welcome private groups of one to six people into my home in Frederiksberg.

We sit around my table, talk about the Danish Christmas-heart tradition and Hans Christian Andersen, and weave the hearts together. There is plenty of time to ask questions, make mistakes, start again and enjoy the process.

It is deliberately a small experience. You are not joining a class of strangers. The time is yours.