Inject some festive cheer into your designs with free festive vectors that actually look good.
(Image credit: Pictochris via vecteezy)
Free Christmas vectors can be just the ticket when you need to add a seasonal festive touch to a design. Alas, a lot of free holiday vectors out there are so cheesy they could make you design look like a cliché. We've scoured the web for festive design resources to pick out those that break the mould.
The free festive vector designs we've picked out below might not all be the most original takes on season, but we think they can be useful to add a sprinkling of jolly Christmas cheer without it being to twee. They all still feature unmistakable seasonal references but do it a way that could give you a classier result if you use them well (do let me know if you have your own favourites!)
As with all free design assets, please check the licence conditions if you use any of these. Some may have conditions or be free for personal use only. For more festive inspiration, we also have a pick of the best free Christmas fonts.
Christmas means reindeer, right? Well not necessarily. Remember the John Lewis Christmas ad featuring Edgar the dragon? Just cute enough without being cheesy, this free Christmas vector design is sure to spread some festive cheer.
02. Sketchy Christmas Vectors
This art will bring a handmade quality to a design (Image credit: FreeVectors.net)
By sketchy, we mean they look like they were sketched, not that these characters look suspect. These doodle vectors should brighten up a festive design without looking twee. They've got a sketchy quality that'll bring a handmade effect to your Christmas project. A snowman, Santa and a robin are just three of the characters featured in this vector art.
If you're after a festive background pattern, look no further. This seamless vector design includes baubles, berries, stockings and bows, and is ideal for adding a festive vibe to your designs. Download it for free at VectorStock (personal use only). For an alternative seamless vector pattern, check out the bells'n'holly version, also free for personal use.
This vector kit is a one-stop shop for holiday icons. There are more 40 in the pack, including baubles, tree, snowman, Santa, Rudolph, snowflakes, candy canes and er... a duck. Download the set from Behance, and use them to your heart's content in all your personal and commercial projects.
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05. Cartoon snow cap vectors
Make anything festive by sticking some snow on top of it
If you want a simple way to make absolutely any image look incredibly Christmassy, all you need to do is cover everything in snow. And with this useful download of ready-made snow caps, you don't even need to draw it yourself; just pick out what you need and paste it in. This holiday vector art is free for personal use only.
Christmas trees are one of the more recognisable seasonal icons for adding a festive touch to designs, but a lot of free Christmas tree vectors are very simple and lack personality. This is quite the opposite, providing an option for adding a bit of bling or rizz to a Christmas design. Yep, it could be over the top in some cases, but it's relatively sobre compared to some of the more gaudy Christmas icon designs. There are some nice other options here too.
It might be harder to find a use for these, but they're among the most original holiday vectors I've seen. These delightfully crafty and folksy templates by Russian designer Anastasya Mutovina are designed for printing out and hanging from your Christmas tree, but their simple rustic charm could also serve for festive designs. They come in both PDF and EPS format; check out Anastasya's Behance page for more festive vectors.
These doodle icons have a delightful hand-drawn vibe, and we love the muted colour palette, too. They're free to download and use in your festive projects – just make sure you credit the original designer.
Sick of red, green and gold? This holiday vector design has a more modern take on Christmas. Use them individually, or tile them in your festive designs. And of course, because they're vectors, you can make them red, green and gold if you really want to. This design is totally free for personal use. VectorStock has done a similarly classy design with stylised wreaths.
This seamless pattern includes all the traditional holiday elements – Santa, gingerbread man, candy cane, baubles, trees, gifts – but with a bit of an edge. Download the stylised Christmas vector for free on Behance now.
This Christmas vector background is free to download from Vecteezy – you just need to make sure you add an attribution when you use it. The download includes an SVG file, making it ideal for use in web projects. All you need now is to find some suitably festive free fonts to add your Yuletide felicitations.
12. Retro Christmas ornament vectors
Add some balls to your design, quite literally, with these Xmas ornaments
Need some baubles this Christmas? Then look no further than these classic Xmas bauble designs, brought to you by FreeVectors. This retro design comes in AI, JPG and SVG format, making it nice and versatile. It's free to use with a credit. Kudos to the designer for shunning a traditional colour palette in favour of a surprisingly festive-feeling orange and teal.
You want baubles? We have baubles! This one's a quite different proposition since it would be more useful as a background rather than as a decoration to add inside a design. It could possibly serve for Christmas flyers since you could put text in the centre. You could argue that it's verging on the cheesy, but I think it's nicely executed.
The free Christmas vectors we've included so far have been heavy on staple icons like decorations and Christmas characters. But for many people, Christmas means something else. No, not that. It means wine. Ideally served hot with spices on an outdoor market. Or just any way really. This is the best free mulled wine vector I've found. Non cheesy? We might be pushing that claim by now, but it's cute and festive.
Where can I find free Christmas vectors?
There are lots of places where you can find free Christmas vectors online. We've included vectors available to download from sites such as Vecteezy, Pixabay and more.
If you use a lot of stock vectors for your designs, you may find that it's worth signing up for a pro subscription at sites that offer it. This can unlock access to more options. If you budget permits it, you might also want to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud because this includes access to Adobe Stock, which has thousands of images and vectors of all kinds. See the best current prices below.
How can I add Christmas vectors to my designs?
If you're not sure of how to use your free Christmas vectors, check out our round up of Adobe Illustrator tutorials. Or if you want to have a go at creating your own designs, check out our collection of vector art tutorials.
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
