Ways To Decorate The Christmas Tree

If you’re looking for inexpensive ways to decorate the Christmas tree here are a couple of creative ideas that don’t cost a ton.  Think of things you can use that you already have when trying to decorate on a budget.

Low Cost Decorating For The Christmas Tree

During the holidays some people can’t afford, or just plain don’t want to buy a lot of fancy decorations for the tree.  Decorating your tree doesn’t have to be expensive.  You can have a beautifully decked out tree on a budge without sacrificing style or beauty.

Snow Covered Tree

A great, inexpensive way to create a fantastic looking tree is to make a White Christmas Tree, or Snow Covered Tree.  Use cotton balls as big lumps of snow and place them on the tips of the branches.  Sprinkle the cotton balls with white glitter to give them a glistening snow effect, or cut silver garland into tiny specks to achieve the same effect.

Of course, you’ll need a tree top on your Snow Covered Tree.  A cookie snowman will work well.  Take a snowman cookie and cover it entirely with white icing.  You can use chocolate chips for eyes and an orange gumdrop for the nose.  Add a smile to his face by piping chocolate.

Add a tree skirt by taking a large piece of cardboard and cut it into an arc.  Then, take two or more cups of flour and mix in water to create a paste.  Paste the flour onto the cardboard to create the illusion of freshly fallen snow.  Add white glitter before it dries to create a sparkling effect.

Tree Covered In Cookies

Make a delicious tree covered in cookies.  You can get really creative with this and use all kinds of shapes and sizes.  Give the cookies an extra splash of color and appeal by using non-pariel ranbow sprinkles.  Prepare the cookies for hanging on the tree by inserting a piece of rolled cardboard (size of a dime) into the top of the cookie before baking.  This will make sure the hole stays open during baking.  After the cookies are baked and cooled, insert ribbons and hang them on the tree.

As a tree topper you could use a large gingerbread man with a Christmas light in the center.  Follow the same procedure as the cookies by inserting a piece of rolled cardboard into the center while the cookie is baking.  Dress up the gingerbread man by adding white icing with red food color.

Make an adorable tree skirt by using an apron that has a pattern or photo of images that fit with your theme, cookies would work well of course!

However you decide to decorate your tree this holiday season, remember it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to look beautiful.

Christmas Tree Decor For Small Spaces

If you live in a small space you don’t have to do without a Christmas tree.  There are many things you can do to create a holiday atmosphere.  Here are some Christmas tree decor ideas for those who live in smaller spaces.

How To Decorate a Christmas Tree in a Small Space

Are you short on space and have no room for a large tree, regardless if it’s real or fake?  This small space shouldn’t prevent you from buying a tree altogether, you just need to plan accordingly.   Here are a few ways to make the most of your small space this holiday season and create fantastic Christmas tree decor:

Ceramic Trees

Ceramic trees are beautiful accents for any part of your home.  There are some that light up, creating holiday cheer.  Place one in a child’s bedroom, in your home office or even on an end table in the living room.

Decorating

You can decorate a small tree yourself, or purchase one already decorated  For example, you could decorate your kitchen by using a white tree with ornatments that compliment the kitchen decor.  Using a tree skirt that matches your living room or den will accent the colors of that room.

Home Office

Small trees go well in an home office.  They are usually placed on a desk, counter top or filing cabinet.  Fun novelty trees such as those that sing and dance are popular for the office.

Upside-down Tree

Did you know about this?  You can get trees that hang upside down.  They are not new, but have increased in popularity as a space-saving way to decorate.  A couple of advantages include more space under the tree and ornaments don’t get shaken off by pets.

Even if you have a small place, are single or just don’t want to take up too much space with a large tree; you can have a Christmas tree that looks great using these holiday decorating ideas.

Christmas Tree Theme Ideas

Many people are bored with the traditional look of the tree at Christmas.  Here are some great Christmas tree theme ideas to really spice up the season.

Unique Christmas Tree Ideas

Christmas has so many wonderful traditions, one of course being the Christmas tree.  Many people are now using the tree to express their personality and so it has become very popular to create themed trees.

Here are some examples of themes you could do:

1940’s Tree

Find old black and white photos from your parents era and use them to trim the tree with.  Old jewelery, 45’s of favorite songs, vintage ornaments and cars all make great trimmings that reflect that time.  You can use a lace tablecloth as a tree skirt.  To top the tree, how about a 5 by 7 inch black and white photo of a favorite singer or band leader of the 40’s.  Now you can rock around the Christmas tree.

Patriotic Tree

For those who are patriotic a white tree decorated with red and blue ornaments will work well.  You can use a flag for the tree skirt and a flag or maybe an eagle as the tree topper.

Elvis Tree

If you’re an Elvis fan and happen to have collected 45’s of your favorite songs you can tie a ribbon through the centers and hand them on the Christmas tree branches.  Most Elvis fans will have a doll or some sort of memoribilia that will go well atop the tree.  No doubt you’ll want to have a ‘blue’ tree.  Try to find some material with a guitar or a guitar pattern on it to use as a tree skirt.

Some other unique ideas for Christmas trees:

• Decorated in all gold or all silver using ribbons and ball ornaments.
• Covered in white turtledoves.
• Full of musical instruments.
• Full of angel decorations.
• Candle tree (but be very careful with fire near a tree!)
• All the characters from the Muppet show.
• All kinds of shapes and sized of stuffed animals.

If you like to have the traditional Christmas tree then why not too both?  Showcase your themed tree in your front window and keep the traditional tree in your living room.  The possibilities are really endless with creating a themed tree.  Involving the whole family is a great way to create a special memory for everyone involved.

For the patriotic person, a white tree with red and blue Christmas ornaments.  Add a red, white and blue flag blanket as a tree skirt, and at the top of the tree you may want to place a small flag or perhaps an eagle.

An Elvis fan who has a collection of his 45’s may want to trim the tree by putting white  ribbons through the center of the 45’s and hang them on the branches.  Surely, an Elvis fan would have a doll or some other Elvis memorabilia to place on the top of the tree.  Of course, the tree would have to be “blue.”  As for the tree skirt, try to find a blanket or fabric which features a single guitar or several guitars.

Another great idea is to have a 1940’s Christmas tree.  Trim the tree with old pictures from mom and dad’s era; old 45’s of their favorite songs; shoe ornaments reflecting that time; vintage car ornaments; and jewelry as well.  For a tree skirt, you can use a lace table cloth.  Atop the tree, a framed 5×7 picture of mom and dad’s favorite band leader or singer would be perfect. Now you’re really rockin’ around the Christmas tree.

Learn How To Make a Gingerbread House

Gingerbread is a sure sign that the holidays are approaching.  You can learn how to make a gingerbread house from scratch or make one using a kit.  Just be sure to make one!

How to Make a Gingerbread House

If you’ve ever attempted to make a gingerbread house you’ll know that there are a couple of options.  You can either make it from scratch, a longer task that may take a day or two, or you can buy a kit that includes everything you’ll need to build this seasonal favorite.  Kids will have lots of fun with this no matter what you do, it is a fantastic way to get them creating and thinking.

If you don’t feel up for baking, then go buy a kit so that it’s ready to go and your kids can start in on having fun decorating.  To put the house together just follow the directions given with the kit, it’s pretty straightforward.  Many kits will come with an edible icing ‘glue’, but for those that do now see the recipe below.

Here’s a recipie for edible glue:

• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1-2 cups confectioners sugar

Mix the ingredients until you get a thick, glue-like consistency.  When it’s fully mixed, put the edible glue into a piping gun and you’re ready to start!

Now you’ll have to build the house.  It’s a good idea to put the walls and roof together in stages, allowing the glue to dry between each stage.  This ensures you build a strong base for decorating.

Once you’ve got the house built then the real fun begins!  Your kids can pick out decorations like licorcie, gum drops, candy canes, Smarties and more.

A few ideas:

• Use licorice squares to make a chimney.
• Gingerbread men (& women) make great people for around the front or inside the house.  Give them personality by deocorating and giving them faces.
• How about some trees out front?  Use pretzel sticks attached with greee candle leaves (you could use the edible glue for this).
• Use food coloring to add color to your glue.  Use colored glue to outline windows, doors and roof.
• Use a graham cracker as a name plate.  Pipe on the family name or name of the children who decorated the house.
• Put Santa on the roof by adding a Santa cookie.
• Ad a family pet by placing animal crackers outside the house.

Kids have a great imagination so let them put it to good use creating ideas for their gingerbread house.  Be sure to have the right toold available.  It doesn’t matter what size house you are making, the possibilites are endless.  Your kids will have plenty of fun while learning as well.

Christmas Photo Ornament Decor

Here’s a Christmas ornament decor idea, take photos to create different types of ornaments and add them to your tree.  You can match them into the tree decor so they fit right in.

Making Personalized Christmas Tree Ornaments

If you need ideas for making your own personalized Christmas tree ornaments to add to the holiday decor, here are some great ideas of things to do with photos.

Family photographs are a great way to tree your tree.  You can take the wallet sized prints and use a hole punch to make a hole at the top.  Then take red, white or gold ribbon to put through to photo and use that to hang it on the tree.  You can take the photos from past to present and adorn the entire tree with photos of your whole family.

Small picture frames made of light wood work really well for the tree.  You can paint them different colors to match the decor of the room or the tree.  Use your favorite photos of the kids and hang the frames on the tree by using a ribbon through the hook at the back or put the ribbon under the stand of the frame.  You can decorate thicker frames by covering the outer edges with fabric and decorating them with small objects or sparkles so they stand out and add to the look of the tree.

If you have a computer and a great photo printer, use a digital camera to take photographs of the whole family that can go on the tree.  Use software to generate the picture onto the computer and save them in a paint shop program.  There are so many things you can do from there to decorate the pictures.  You can add borders such as Santa, bells, reindeer, holly, trees, etc and even add the names of who’s in the photo.  After you’ve got the photo decorated you can reduce the size so that it fits perfectly into the frame and then hang it on the tree.   With larger photos, you can take a piece of cardboard the same size as the photograph and glue the picture onto the cardboard, punch a hole on the top and then hang the whole thing on the tree for all to see.

Get your children involved in the Christmas tree decor process by getting them to draw pictures of themselves or other family members on construction paper.  You can fill a whole tree with their drawings, get them to use different colored constuction paper.  Imagine the look on your kids faces when they see the entire tree filled with their drawings, they will be so proud!  Don’t forget to take a photo of them in front of the tree to put in the family scrapbook.