The Ultimate Guide to Decorating Your Christmas Tree

You had that dream again. The one where your in-laws are coming to visit, it’s Christmas Eve, and you still haven’t decorated your Christmas tree.

Don’t let this happen to you: instead, check out our guide for decorating your Christmas tree like a pro, and make your home as merry and bright as you are!

Tree Selection

The first decision you need to make is whether you will use a real tree or a fake/ plastic tree. There are some amazing designs you can make no matter which you choose, so it is up to your preference.

If you choose a fake tree, there is a lot more room for creativity in the shape of the tree itself. You could go with a “tree” made of other items such as wooden dowels, or a plastic white or another colorful tree.

Christmas Tree Themes

Once you have your tree, you should decide on a theme or color palette for your Christmas decorations. This will help keep you organized as you decorate, making for a more cohesive look, rather than a chaotic tree of random ornaments.

Some popular themes include traditional, rainbows, jewels, candy canes, nature themes, rustic trees, and so much more. This site has an amazing range of Christmas Tree Decorations and themes if you’re looking for ideas to get you started!

If you like to stand out from the crowd, you might want to go for a more obscure theme, such as “outer space” or “unicorns.” Have fun and be creative!

If you’d rather keep it simple, some of the most elegant themes just choose a color palette and stick to it with a few simple but elegant ornaments. Choose a few colors to work with, and make sure that the colors go well with the tree itself.

How to Light Your Tree

Be sure to choose lights that fit with your theme or color palette! You’ll want cool white lights to go with a white tree, whereas you’ll need warmer lights for a more traditional look.

Rainbow lights are great for multicolor trees, but they can throw off your color palette if you’re sticking to one. You can also get single-color lights to keep within your color scheme, and make the colors pop against a white tree.

You can also find different bulbs and styles for the lights, including candle-style, incandescent bulbs, LEDs, or globe or bubble style lights. You’re going to need around 300-500 bulbs or 15-25 meters of lights for a 1.8-2.5 meter (6-8 foot) tree.

To decorate your tree, weave the lights under and over the branches, starting at the plug from the bottom of the tree, lighting the inside first, then going towards the tips of the branches.

Add Tree Garlands

Lighting your tree should be the first step once you decorate, and adding any ribbons or garlands should be next.

You can start at the top or bottom of the tree in a spiral pattern, or you can use a scalloped pattern to drape your garlands around your tree. If you’re doing a spiral pattern and adding more than one type of garland, you could also make weave it into a criss-cross pattern over the tree.

You can use beads, ribbons, popcorn and cranberries, tinsel, or anything you like as a tree garland. Consider how it will work for your theme. If you’re doing a basic color theme, bead or ribbon garlands in the right colors can really make your tree pop.

How much garland you need depends on the size of your tree. Twenty to thirty meters of ribbon or garland should be sufficient for an average-sized tree.

Add Tree Decorations

It’s time for the best part of decorating your Christmas tree: adding ornaments! If you are opting for simple or traditional ornaments such as baubles, how many you will need will depend on the coverage you want over your tree.

For a more minimalistic or natural look, use fewer ornaments. For a more decadent or ostentatious tree, use more. Somewhere between 100 to 140 ornaments or baubles should be enough for an average tree, but you’ll of course need more for a larger one.

Cluster baubles of different shapes and sizes together to keep from putting two like ones too close together. This will help keep your Christmas tree looking neat and even.

Special ornaments should go on your tree last, to ensure you have the perfect place for them, and they stand out against what is already on your tree. This would be any ornaments made by your little ones or special souvenirs you’d like to display.

Next, you may want to add tree picks or sprays to your tree as a nice finishing touch. This works great for nature-themed trees since you can get all kinds of fruits, berries, floral sprays, and more to stick into your tree.

Finish Your Tree from Top to Bottom

Last but not least, you need a tree topper for your Christmas tree! It is traditional to use either a star or an angel as a tree topper, but depending on your theme, you might find a bow, a bird, or some other special ornament to place at the very top of your tree.

You should also make sure you have a tree collar or skirt around your tree, or a tree rug to go under it, to help protect your floors. This also helps give your tree a ‘finished’ look when you’re all done. Try matching it with your theme!

Show Off Your Finished Christmas Tree

There’s nothing like an immaculately decorated tree to spread Christmas cheer! We hope you’ve enjoyed these tips for how to decorate your Christmas tree, and most of all, we hope you get a chance to spend time admiring your finished tree with your friends and family members.

Be sure to get a picture with your loved ones around the tree, since family the best decoration of all. For more family, lifestyle, and decoration tips, check out the other articles on our blog!