A Tree For All Seasons
Hate to take down your Christmas tree after the holidays? You are not alone. From January to December, check out ways you can make your evergreen work for different holidays throughout the year. This may be the best excuse to keep your tree up all year round! This may be the best excuse to never have to put your tree away again!
January: Winter Wonderland Tree
February: Valentine Tree
This one is a fairly easy tree to do with lots of options for you to come up with your own variation. Pick out your best red, white, and gold christmas globe ornaments for this tree. You can then choose to use a solid white strand of lights or if you have a strand of red lights or a mix of red and white lights, these are all great options for your love tree. Use a mix of different colored hearts (red, pink, white, gold) and hearts made of varying materials (felt, paper, plastic, glass, tin, etc.) and place them sporadically all over the tree. You may want to drape words across the front of the tree as a garland alternative. And then wala! You have a tree your friends and family will love.
March: Luck of the Irish Tree
April: Spring Bird Tree
The different bird houses really make this tree special. You can either buy a dozen bird houses or if you feel crafty enough, try making your own. There are lots of bird house tutorials on youtube. Just make sure the bird houses are painted a consistent color and that they stand out against the green of the tree. Add some rafia for garland or maybe some fake moss on some twig garland. Really, you are just going for a look that incorporates nesting materials. Add some red bead strings that look like little berries birds would eat. Finish with some white lights and then you will have your oh-so-springy bird tree.
May: Flower Garden Tree
Flowers, white picket fences, sun hats and watering cans combined together make the perfect manifestation of “April showers, brings May flowers” on a nine-foot fake Christmas tree. The DIY white picket fences are an easy afternoon project with styrofoam board and some glue. You can pick up packages of straw hats from your local craft store or you can order them online. Make sure to get some ribbon for some simple hat embellishments. You can add clusters of fake flowers or tie mini bouquets together and place them sporadically on different branches of the tree.
June: Nautical Tree
Set sail with this quaint summer time tree. Depending on how big your tree is, grab a few sailboats and paint them all white. Your tree topper can be a captain’s hat or perhaps a life saver float. The nautical signal flag garland really makes this tree special. The DIY garland is made of white ribbon (or you can use sailor’s rope), craft foam, and glue. Be sure to get at least these five colors: red, white, yellow, blue, and black. You will be able to make most any of the different nautical signal flags out there. Feel free to print out pictures of the different flags and then choose 15-20 of your favorite to make.
July: Patriotic Tree
The Fourth of July tree is a fun, yet relatively easy tree to put together. Around this time of year, there is a plethora of American flags along with red, white, and blue stars, garland, and ornaments. Add some red and white rope for garland and curl a bunch of festive ribbon to add sporadically on the ends of branches across the tree.
August: Birthday Tree
You may have most of the necessary decorations already at home. Use any leftover crepe paper garland, party hats, gift bags, noisemakers, and curling ribbon to decorate your tree. If you are up for a DIY project, add birthday cake ornaments made of craft foam, glue, and glitter or sprinkles if you like. You can also loop string around the wicks of birthday candles and hang them sporadically around the tree.
September: Back to School Tree
It’s that time of year when the weather cools down and children are excited to start a new grade in school and make new friends. Use brown paper sacks and some stencils to make a “BACK TO SCHOOL” letter garland. Hang it up with some simple string. Get some lightweight school materials like pencils, rulers, mini notebooks, and even fake apples to use for your ornaments. You can tie or glue some sheer green and red ribbon on the items to give them a little pizazz. Glue a string loop to the top of each ornament and hang in different places across the tree.
October: Halloween Tree
What a fun time of year! There are so many fun decorations to work with for this tree. And most of them are probably found at your local grocery store! Stretchy spider webs for garland is a must. You can top your tree with a witch’s hat or a cut out of a ghost or even a large fake spider. Add some color to the tree with some styrofoam pumpkins, easy to get at craft stores or you can make them yourself. Find some plastic or wood painted bats to hang up as ornaments. If you dare, add some wax severed fingers and toes. Styrofoam headstones make for a cute touch at the base of the tree.
November: Thanksgiving Tree
Pilgrims, and turkeys, and cornucopias...oh my! Surprise your Thanksgiving guests with a festive Christmas tree, decorated one month early with actual Thanksgiving decorations. Many people complain that we don’t do enough to decorate for Thanksgiving and start decorating for Christmas right after Halloween. Well, now you have a chance to show them how your early Christmas tree (or really late Christmas tree...they don’t have to know) can help bring the spirit of Thanksgiving! Time to pull out your yellow christmas tree lights if you have them. Add some fall foliage (real or fake). Add some sprigs of yellow and orange berries (again, real or fake, either will work). Top your tree with a pilgrim doll. Hang some hollowed out gourd ornaments. And for the finishing touch, add some rafia as garland or some sheer orange glitter ribbon flowing from the top of the tree.