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You can decorate a spectacular Christmas tree in seven easy steps! So turn on the Christmas music. Get the hot cocoa going, and let’s get started!
Follow along in my video below, or keep reading this post.
Step 1: Pick Out Your Tree and Theme
The first step is to select your tree and the theme. So you need to decide, do you prefer a real tree or an artificial tree? But we don’t say “artificial” or “fake” because that’s not classy.? We say “faux” tree! When you speak in French everything always sounds better. So in the comments below, let me know if you prefer a real tree or a faux tree.?
You’ll need to consider where you are going to put the tree. Make sure you get the height right when you select a tree. We have a 9 ft. tree because our foyer has very high ceilings, so make sure you get the right height. Make sure the width will work in your room as well, the slim-line trees are great for narrow spaces.
You’ll also have to decide if you want it pre-lit. Do you want white lights or color or no lights at all? Do you want your tree flocked, like our gorgeous Wayfair Christmas tree, or not flocked?
A Themed Christmas Tree Makes Decorating Easier
When you have a theme for your Christmas tree, it just make decorating easier. You can select a theme based on color or type of ornament. I love an elegant Christmas tree, so that’s why I’ve selected gold, silver, champagne and white ornaments that give it a really elegant look.
You could do a Woodland theme, or a snowman, or vintage ornaments, or even add your children’s ornaments. The fun thing is, you can have more than one Christmas tree, and have different themes based on each tree.
So get your tree in place, fluff every branch, and get ready for Step 2.
Step 2: Add the Lights
Now for step two, it’s time to add the lights. Now if you have a pre-lit tree, then you can just skip on over to Step 3. One of the advantages of a pre-lit tree is that LED Christmas lights last a long time. Good quality LED lights can last up to seven seasons, so that’s a really great way to go.
Three Ways to Add Christmas Lights
For each foot of the tree, you’ll need at least 100 lights. There are three popular methods to add lights to the tree:
- The first method is to wrap your lights all the way around the tree like this in a circle from the bottom to the top.
- The second method involves a zigzag method dividing your tree into thirds. You can just zigzag in and out of the branches from the center to the tips in three sections.
- The third method gives you the best coverage, but it takes the most lights. Take your lights and start at the bottom, and completely wrap your lights around each branch from the back to the front, then back to the center of the tree. Continue with the next branch, going around the tree until your reach the top. With this method, your tree will look a lot prettier at night. It takes a little bit more lights, and it takes longer to do this method, but it’s worth the effort for a beautiful tree.
Step 3: Add the Garland
Moving on to step three. It’s time to add the garland. You can select any kind of garland, but I really love this faux fur garland. Simply, place the garland along the outside of each branch, and just nestle it between the branches so that it looks like new-fallen snow.
I learned about this from my favorite designer Randi Garrett. I want to give her a shout out because she has been an inspiration to me for some time. This is her excellent Christmas tree video.
Step 4: Add the Picks
Step four is to add your picks! Picks help fill in the holes. I love using these flocked pine branches, velvet poinsettias, and fun picks like little pompoms, glitter balls, pearl white berries, and leaves that add sparkle, and texture to your tree.
So anywhere that you see a hole, just stick it down in there, and then you can use the smaller ones too for smaller areas. When you’re adding your picks, just make sure that you add them pointing down into the tree and spread them out evenly.
Most of my favorite picks came from Hobby Lobby and literally cost $1 or $2 each with their discount. So it’s just really inexpensive to add a lot of interest and fun to your tree.
Shop My Favorite Ornament Picks:
- White Flocked Glitter Balls Pick
- Pearl White Berry Pick
- Champagne Glitter Sphere Pick
- Silver Glitter Sphere Pick
- White Tinsel Sphere Spray
- White Glitter Pom Pom Stem
Shop My Favorite Flower Picks:
- White & Gold Glitter Poinsettia Pick
- White Poinsettia Pick Medium
- White & Silver Glitter Poinsettia Pick
Shop My Favorite Branches & Leaves Picks:
- Flocked Pine & Pinecone Spray
- Snowy Pinecone Pick
- Silver Leaves Pick
- Iridescent White Glitter Berry Pick
Just like every room in your home needs a touch of whimsy, every Christmas tree needs a touch of whimsy! I just love this cute little bird, it has a clip on it and you can just perch her in the top of your tree, so that she’s ready to welcome all your guests. (And so the cat can’t reach it!)
Step 5: Add the Ornaments
Now we’re onto step five, and this is my favorite part. You will definitely want to get your family involved if you haven’t. So put on the Christmas music and get the hot cocoa going, and we’re going to add the ornaments.
You’ll want to have three different sizes of ornaments, small, medium and large, no matter what size tree you have. And you want to put the small ones up top like this. And the medium ones, this is just such a cute little white one, almost reminds me of a little coconut ball ornament. And then this pretty little sparkly silver one, we’re going to add at the bottom.
There’s three important things to keep in mind when adding the ornaments:
- Select three different sizes of ornaments, small, medium and large according to your size tree. Place the small ones up top. Add medium-sized ornaments in the middle. Save your largest ornaments for the bottom. Make sure to space them out evenly.
- Add depth to your tree by adding some on the inside, and then the middle branches, and then on the ends alternating branches. Use large ornaments to fill holes. I recommend adding the less expensive ornaments on the inside. Save your prettiest and most special for the front of the tree and the tips. I always put my mercury glass ornaments, since they are my favorite, in areas that are most visible.
- The last tip, dangle your ornaments, I learned from my mom. I’ve been decorating Christmas trees since I was a little girl, and she would always ask me, “Do they dangle?” When you hang an ornament, you don’t want it to lay on top of a branch with no movement. You want it to be able to swing. So you do the dangle test by just giving each ornament a little touch to make sure it swings.
Almost all of my Christmas ornaments came from Hobby Lobby. It’s my absolute favorite Christmas decor store.
Shop My Favorite Ornaments:
- Gold Glitter Ball Ornaments
- Silver Pinecone Ornaments
- Silver Glittered Speckled Ornaments
- Silver Sequin, Bead & Glitter Ball Ornaments
- Silver Matte, Shiny & Glitter Ball Ornaments
- Silver Matte & Shiny Ball Ornaments
- Silver Glitter Snowflake Ornament
- Gold & Silver Ball, Onion & Drop Ornaments
- Silver Glitter Ball Ornaments
- Mercury Bird Ornaments
- Icy White Balls
- White & Silver Onion Balls
- White Snowball Ornaments
- White Textured Ball Ornaments
- Gray Glitter Flower Balls
- Champagne & Silver Foil Panel Ball Ornaments
- Champagne Glitter With Rhinestones Ball Ornaments
- Small White Snowflake Ball Ornaments
Step 6: Add the Ribbon
You’ve made it to step six so you should be covered in glitter and faux snow by now! So I really love this champagne glittery ribbon. It’s wired and I found it at Michael’s. It’s my favorite Christmas ribbon this season. So take the tree in sections and add some pretty ribbon on each branch from top to bottom.
Watch the video at the top of this post for the technique I do. It’s a little bit different than what most people do, but I find it super easy.. You don’t have to add additional wire, or worry about it falling out of the tree.
I take strips of ribbon, 36″ approximately, because I find working in smaller pieces is easier than taking one big long strip the length of your entire tree. I start at the top, and pinch the ribbon together at the end and fold it into the tip of a branch to hold it in place.
Next, twist the ribbon making a complete turn so that it has a beautiful fold. Make sure the front of the ribbon is showing. Pinch the end of the ribbon and fold it onto the tip of the next branch down. Fluff the ribbon as needed. Now at this point, you can either cut off and excess ribbon, or just tuck it into the tree. Now we’re ready for our next strip. You can have like nine rows or seven, or even five depending on the height of your tree.
Keep moving down the tree with your ribbon, attaching it to the branches so it’s a nice vertical line. Once you get to the very bottom branch, I like to add a little flair to the ribbon. So just fold it over like this, and then you’ll want to just give it a little “V” cut on the diagonal so that it has two cute little points. It just adds a pretty touch when decorating your Christmas tree.
Step 7: Add the Tree Skirt
We’ve made it to step seven, and every beautiful tree needs a gorgeous tree skirt. I really love this faux fur tree skirt, but you can choose your favorite, burlap, cotton, or velvet.
The last thing I like to do, just so that your tree doesn’t look so empty the whole month of December, is to add some boxed presents. Once again, keeping with the faux theme, these are faux presents, there’s nothing in them, but you can still wrap boxes. The white nested boxes from Nashville Wraps (shown above) are perfect. I found this pretty glittery Christmas ribbon at Sam’s that looks so pretty under your tree. Adding wrapped gifts, especially stacked boxes, helps dress your tree up even more. You can use simple white or kraft gift wrap with double faced satin ribbon for an elegant look.
So there you have it, how to decorate a spectacular Christmas tree. It’s that’s easy. Share this experience with your whole family so to enjoy the beautiful memories of home.
I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and may your home be filled with peace, love, and joy this holiday season. Enjoy this video next on “How to Decorate a Christmas Mantel.”