How much do you love Christmas?
We love the build-up to Christmas – festive parties and buying presents, the feeling of joy in the air, singing festive songs and watching Christmas films as we put up our Christmas tree to decorate it with our favourite baubles and twinkling fairy lights. But have you ever thought about adorning your own body with a festive tattoo to last a lifetime?
Meet the people who love Christmas so much they’ve got festive designs permanently inked on to their skin…
Christmas backpiece with Santa by Ebony Mellowship, Otautahi Tattoo Christchurch, New Zealand
“I’m so happy that everyone loves it as much as I enjoyed doing it, and that my beautiful client Jessica can see all the wonderful comments,” wrote Ebony on Instagram. “I’m super proud of this one and it just makes me so damn happy to look at, Jess cried when I showed her the photo at the end, we knew Santa was just gonna bring the whole thing together so finishing with him just made it super special.”
Samantha’s Christmas sleeve by Gary Weidenhof, Inkredible Kreations, in Perth, Scotland
“My Christmas sleeve is a celebration of one of my favourite times of the year,” explains Samantha. ”Christmas has always been magical for me. I'd go to bed on Christmas Eve after putting out a tray of biscuits and a glass of milk for Santa and our house would look the same as always. I'd wake up in the morning and there'd be a stocking at the end of my bed, a little white tree on my chest of drawers and the rest of the house had been decorated. The biscuits and milk would all be gone, so the only logical answer is that Santa brought Christmas with him, and that kinda magic definitely needs celebrating! I still totally love my sleeve and I think that's because I chose a theme that's so special to me.”
Festive pin-up and robin in a snowglobe by Helen Brown, Gung Ho! Tattoo, Birmingham
“Tattooing ladies is my very favourite thing,” Helen told us. “And it doesn’t get better than a Christmas pin-up. This is my customer Kylie’s second festive tattoo, last year we did a little robin snow globe. We both love Christmas nearly as much as we love dogs, which is usually our main topic of conversation!”
Frankie Christmas and his festive tattoo collection by Red, Red Ink Studio NYC
“Frank has 47 snowflake tattoos in addition to almost a dozen other Xmas related tattoos including a giant Santa Claus on his back,” wrote Nicolas Heller (aka New York Nico) when he met Frankie Christmas to interview him. “He also always knows how many days until Christmas at any time of year.”
Jo’s Christmas tattoo by Tracy D, Royal Tattoo Denmark
“There isn’t really a story attached to my Christmas kewpie,” Jo AKA The Berkshire Bungalow told us. “I just asked Tracy for a Christmas kewpie and this is what she came up with! It was when she was at King's Cross in London in 2014 and we listened to the Phil Spector Christmas album all the way through."
Super cute Christmas tattoos by House of Lady Chappelle
"I love Christmas because it’s a time when humanity pulls together to celebrate blessings, relationships and show love to others," Lady Chappelle told us. "Christmas tattoos are an awesome reminder to their wearers that even when life can suck, there is good and magic in the World. I love Christmas tattoos."
Grinch tattoo by Dolly Tattoos, The Dollhouse Brighton
"The Grinch is one of my all-time favourite movies – and not just at Christmas," says Dolly. "I feel like as my generation's getting older, we're all starting to relate to the Grinch on a personal level, which is why my client got this tattoo in the first place. There are so many quotes in the movie that were lost on us when we were children and now as adults we're like OMG SAME BABE. Ultimately it all comes good in the end because that's kind of what Christmas is about. This tattoo was supposed to happen over the Christmas period but due to various lockdowns it ended up happening in August 2021, in a heat wave, when it was about a thousand degrees in my studio, which was a strange time but made the whole experience a lot funnier for my client and for me. Naturally, we listened to Christmas songs the whole time, it's the only appropriate way to get a Christmas tattoo no matter the time of year."
