Five Christmas Tree Ideas With a Twist

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…” is probably one of the more popular songs you will be hearing in the air soon (if not already), seeing that the happiest season of the year is just around the corner. To some, a big part of the celebration begins with the decorations, which is why there are households already decked with Christmas ornaments as early as the first week of November (or even October, in some parts of the world).

Perhaps the most popular Christmas ornament would be the traditional Christmas tree, the origins of which can be traced back to Estonia in the 15th century. It had originally been a communal fixture during the holiday, where townspeople would flock to for merrymaking. Eventually, smaller versions of these trees have found their way into individual homes as families prepared to celebrate the holidays.

Throughout the years, many variations of the traditional tree have come up, thanks to a lot of creative minds. Have you tried giving your own tree a new twist, or have you been putting it up the same way year after year? If you want to try something new, I have five Christmas tree DIY ideas that could help you. Read along and you might find something useful for this holiday season!

Sweets & Treats

I’m sure you’ve heard about peppermint canes being hung around the tree as ornaments, but you can take it one step higher by hanging small bags of candy instead. Choose colorful candies like jellybeans for an attractive array of colors on your tree, wrap them in clear plastic and tie it neatly (and tightly-you don’t want those candies to just pop out all of a sudden) with a nice bow. Then, tie another string on it so you could hang it on the branches of your tree. When Christmas celebrations are done, you can easily just give away the candy bag ornaments to your guests or enjoy it with your family.

Not Just for Kids

When raising a couple of kids, one of the biggest tasks is to figure out how to keep or store away all their toys. Christmas would be a good time to put some of them to use! Simply tie a string on the smaller, lighter toys (a mini plastic toy truck, a small stuffed animal, or toy fruits) and hang them on the tree. If you have slightly bigger stuffed animals, you can “dress them up” with a festive bow before nesting them amongst the tree branches.

Let it snow, let it snow

A very simple and inexpensive way to decorate your tree is by putting up a garland of paper snowflakes around it. If you’ve never tried cutting up paper snowflakes before, there’s a lot of resources all over the internet that could teach you how to do it step by step. Once you have a nice amount of paper snowflakes, string them together with twine and hang them around the tree. A nice set of white Christmas lights would add a very nice touch to it as well.

Tree of Blessings

Have you ever seen a wishing tree being used at a wedding before? Wishing trees are very nice alternatives for the traditional wedding guestbook, and have recently been popular to couples who want a different medium for their guests to leave messages in. You can apply the same idea to your tree this holiday season, only instead of wishes and greetings, write down the things you are thankful for throughout the year on small, colorful cards and hang them on the tree along with your other ornaments. Ask the rest of your family members to do the same, too. The happy thoughts that come along with those cards will surely put a smile on your face every time you look at your Christmas tree.

Family Tree

How about putting a personal touch on your tree by hanging photos of your family members on it? Print some photos and attach them to something sturdy, like a hard piece of cardboard, or even an old ornament you could reuse. Put some trimmings around your photos, or just leave them as is, and display them on the tree just as you would your other ornaments. You and your guests will have a nice time gazing at these photo memories during the holidays, for sure.