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Original poster

To not have a theme for our Christmas tree?

143 replies

Fern86 · 04/12/2023 21:57

Our Christmas tree is so random.
4 kids and we pretty much let them do whatever ever they want re decorating the tree. Decoration day starts with a trip to Dobbies so everyone can choose a new bauble. Nothing matches yet i tell myself it’s kind of magical but I keep seeing all these wonderful themed trees and wondering if we should be making more of an effort?!

OP posts:
Ehwot · 04/12/2023 23:41

Isn’t it funny, the pressure we put on ourselves. It’s a wonder anyone enjoys Xmas. Every year Jamie Oliver tells us how to make the best Xmas dinner ever- you’ll get it right one year Jamie, then you can stop making the stupid show. And pressuring us all again.
my posh pal has a white theme in the trendy living room ( yawn) and a fun one in the kids room. That’s not a great message to me!
we have a messy one, but then we also have a rubbish Xmas dinner , I can’t cook. The best Xmas ever was with a tiny tree in a pot dipped in glitter, and a kebab for Xmas lunch. Joy!

CouchCat · 04/12/2023 23:44

@beanontoast

We always have a themed tree and it's never been on my instagram. 'Real' homes don't have to look shit and have literal rubbish (loo rolls) as decorations to be considered a real home...

Do you let your kids make decorations for the tree?

RabbitsRock · 04/12/2023 23:49

Definitely no theme here! DH has taken over the tree decorating for the last few years & he just puts on whatever he gets out of the box. It always looks fab.

gotomomo · 04/12/2023 23:51

My Christmas tree is themed "whatever I locate in the loft" same every year - some decorations are 24 years old.

NomDePrune · 04/12/2023 23:59

In our house, Santa chooses. Every year DC get a fun carefully chosen, tasteful bauble in their stocking which gets added to the tree.

beanontoast · 05/12/2023 00:01

CouchCat · 04/12/2023 23:44

@beanontoast

We always have a themed tree and it's never been on my instagram. 'Real' homes don't have to look shit and have literal rubbish (loo rolls) as decorations to be considered a real home...

Do you let your kids make decorations for the tree?

Yes! But not loo roll ones. To be fair they’ve never brought home anything weird from school - they always seem to be quite sweet clay ones. They also choose the theme as we have a couple of sets of diff colour decs. To me the magic is that the tree looks nice. I am very particular about the home though, I get it from my mother.

MissBuffyAnneSummers · 05/12/2023 00:16

Normal people don't have themed trees.

Only those with nothing else to do.

GellerYeller · 05/12/2023 00:19

Every year my sis sends me a photo of a card I made her as a toddler, hung on the tree with other sentimental ornaments from the past or made by the kids.
DH’s family have insta-perfect, John Lewis ad-worthy trees though.
There was a thread on here recently asking ‘what’s your wrapping theme this Christmas’. Mine is ‘if yours was the first present wrapped it’s fairly neat but wrapped later on; not so much-sorry about that’.

dixeypeach · 05/12/2023 00:27

Our tree is isn't themed in the slightest. Years ago when it was just myself and the older 3 kids I was very particular didn't let the kids touch it let alone decorate it 🫣 anything "made" went at the back and I feel awful about that. 10 years later and two more kids I couldn't care less what it looks like. I get it out the box, assemble it, Chuck the lights on and let them get on with it. There's no colour theme, the ornaments are random, there's tinsel and stuff they've made at school over the years. I even have the foil tacky ceiling decorations, and mismatched Xmas ornaments everywhere. Including some I bought from a charity shop in 2005 when I was i broke single mum in our first home that come out every year and sit on the windowsill. And for some reason anyone who comes in says how much they love it and it reminds them of their childhood christmases. I see these insta trees and it just reminds me of the person I once was all them years ago, when it had to be perfect and it makes me sad. Xmas is about the kids after all not the aesthetic.

Burningthroughthesky · 05/12/2023 00:29

I used to insist on a souless matchy match multipack of decorations tree. Now I have a "only one of each decoration" rule and we have built up a beautiful collection. I love it. Love looking at it and thinking about where each decoration came from.

I actually think if (God forbid) the place was destroyed, the material things I would try to save first would be our decorations.

Aroundthewaygirl · 05/12/2023 00:32

Honestly in my opinion themed trees seem cold and impersonal. We have never had a themed or color coordinated tree. We have ornaments from 50 years ago, there’s no way I wouldn’t put them on the tree just because they weren’t color coordinated or the right theme.

i have a friend that changes the theme/colors of her tree every year, it just seems so impersonal to me but different strokes for different folks ☺️

FussyPud · 05/12/2023 00:34

I find the sort of trees that are themed to within an inch of their lives to be quite sterile looking, and lacking in joy. It’s not for me, certainly.

Our current tree is tiny, and usually just has lights on. We’ve gone off Christmas a little, it’s a rough time for us.

When we used the bigger tree though, it was up to the children what went where. I’d put the lights on and they’d have fun enblinging it. Lots of odd baubles, painted clay lumps, paper chains, disco peacock topper etc.

We still have the big tree, and all the decorations. Perhaps one year they’ll feel up to indulging again.

SammyScrounge · 05/12/2023 00:49

Let the kids mismatch and clash their baubles and tinsel. They love decorating the tree and to them it looks wonderful. No one else s opinion matters.

WandaWonder · 05/12/2023 00:51

hell will have to freeze over before I allow a theme anywhere near Christmas

beanontoast · 05/12/2023 00:52

MissBuffyAnneSummers · 05/12/2023 00:16

Normal people don't have themed trees.

Only those with nothing else to do.

Normal people don’t have houses with rubbish used as decorations…normal people make time to take pride in their home…fun game isn’t it

Tacotortoise · 05/12/2023 01:02

beanontoast · 04/12/2023 22:11

Not 'unreasonable' as I'm sure a lot of people do this but let's be honest, it does look extremely shit

Imo nothing is more naff than a themed Christmas tree.

Tacotortoise · 05/12/2023 01:04

Some of us take pride in our families rather than our houses @beanontoast . Personally I treasure every badly made salt dough star.

beanontoast · 05/12/2023 01:06

Tacotortoise · 05/12/2023 01:04

Some of us take pride in our families rather than our houses @beanontoast . Personally I treasure every badly made salt dough star.

It’s possible to take pride in both, try it some time

Tacotortoise · 05/12/2023 01:10

I do, I just don't equate expense or mass marketing with comfort or indeed style.

JaceLancs · 05/12/2023 01:13

Most of our tree is traditional colours so red green and gold but there are holiday souvenirs on there - decorations older than my adult DC so 40+ years and things that mean a lot to us - it’s quite random and changes every year

To not have a theme for our Christmas tree?
merrymelodies · 05/12/2023 01:29

I went slightly mad one year by insisting that our tree be decorated in silver and blue only. I don't know what happened to me - maybe some control freak issue because we'd just moved house. Anyway, the DC still tease me about it.Blush

mathanxiety · 05/12/2023 01:37

A theme?
What fresh hell is that?

mondaytosunday · 05/12/2023 02:01

Nah the more different things on the tree the better! I have stuff from all over the world, things from my childhood, things my kids made, stuff I inherited from friends of my parents! Yarn dolls, delicate glass figures, straw angels, blown glass baubles - you name it!
Themed trees are boring unless you can do a different them every year.
Our wreath and table is themed though - last year Nordic white.

Topseyt123 · 05/12/2023 03:50

I've never themed a Christmas tree. I really couldn't be arsed with that.

For years my only "theme" was "random shit flung together" for the kids.

I've bought a fibre optic one this year, so you just plug it in and switch it on.

Lizzieregina · 05/12/2023 04:27

My kids are all grown, but we still put all the crap from school on! My personal favourite, a nativity (Jesus Mary and Joseph) made out of peanuts in a lollipop stick triangle 😆