How to Decorate a Christmas Tree

What is a Christmas tree without decorations? Just another pine tree!

If you've never decorated your own Christmas tree before, it can seem like a daunting task. But if you follow these simple steps to decorating your Christmas tree, it won't be difficult or time-consuming and your tree will look terrific.

If you are looking for tips specifically on how to decorate a vintage Christmas tree, you will want to look at the hub I just linked as decorating vintage trees calls for a different approach since they are easy to damage. For example, you definitely don't want to be draping them with lights.

But if you have a real live tree or a regular artificial tree, then read on!

If you are using lights on your tree, you will always want to start your decorating with the lights first. If you need to buy lights, you will need at least 100 lights for each foot of your tree. So if you have a 6 ft Christmas tree, you'll need at least 600 lights. Always pick up an extra box or two. Having too many lights is much better than running out before you've reached the top of the tree.

Before you start placing them on the tree, it's a good idea to plug them into an outlet first and inspect all of the bulbs to make sure none of them have blown. Change out any blown bulbs before you start wrapping your tree. It also helps you see what you are doing if you simply leave the lights plugged in as you wrap them around the tree.

Pick up the lights and attach them evenly over the whole tree, starting at the bottom branches (others prefer to start at the top, but most professionals recommend the bottom up approach).

As you work your way up the tree, be sure to weave the lights in around the trunk itself as well as out onto the center of the branches.

Safety tip: Connect no more than three sets of lights to each other to avoid blown fuses and electrical hazards.

I personally prefer individual strands of tinsel to garlands and yes, I put them on the tree one strand at a time. If you are using tinsel instead of garlands, do them last. Otherwise, once you finish lighting the tree, garlands come next.

Again, you have to make sure that the garlands are distributed evenly throughout the tree. For each foot of tree (in height), you'll need about 9 feet of garland. Again, buy more than you need.

For best results, drape the tree with the garlands in a looping fashion. Garlands offer two advantages: first, they make the tree look bigger that it really is, and second, you can use them to hang your ornaments (see below).

Once you have decorated your tree with lights and garlands, it is time to "dress it" with ornaments. The suggestions below work best if you have many types of ornaments and don't have a particular theme for your tree. If you like to work with themes, then see the next section.

First of all, categorize all the ornaments into several groups based on their styles and sizes. You should keep two things in mind: first that you should decorate the tree evenly with all the available styles of ornamentation, and secondly, you should make sure that the smallest ornament remains at the top while the largest ones are kept at the base of the tree.

Next, pick-up one style of ornamentation and decorate the whole tree with it. Then add another style of ornamentation. Doing it this way will make sure that all the parts of the tree are equally decorated with all the styles of ornamentation.