Are you one of this people with a perfect looking Christmas tree?

[Missrabbitt]

If so, how? And where did you get the tree/decorations? We have a mish mash of decorations and a terrible old tree that I’m going to dispose of and start afresh. However I think my decorating skills are as much to blame for the terrible looking tree we had last year as the decorations.

Do you have a real or fake tree? I’m considering investing in a good quality fake which comes with lights- any recommendations of a good one to buy?

Where do I start with buying colour co-ordinated decorations? Does anywhere sell a large pack so I don’t have to choose them myself?

Ours is mostly colour coordinated with some decorations giving as gifts or made by DS. We do have tinsel 😱 but it is white with hints of lilac stars on and twinkle beautifully with the lights. The theme is purples and white. We get a new decoration every year and that is always the same colour scheme. It matches our lounge decor.

The primary yr 4 child loves the job. The tree is a beautiful unmatched mess

@NatriumChloride aw Thankyou I did like it last year! I’m pregnant now so might have to tone back the spray painting haha. All this is making me feel feel very festive- might have to do the tree next weekend now! Loving all the pics & it’s so nice how personal everyone’s tree is, theme or not! X

Hahahaha, no. My kids (9,7 and 5) decorated it.

I also have a pop up tree, 3 min to put up pre lit & decorated... this is the future

I would love to be one of those people but no point even trying until kids are older.

No. I hate perfect looking Christmas trees.

Nothing worse than an uber 'tasteful' immaculate and over decorated plastic tree. With tons on baubles and bows (yuck).

@cheesiestwotsit your tree is just wonderful! Your decorations are so delicate and interesting. I bet you've got stories behind some of the. My tree inspo!

We get a Fraser Fir every year, they are a slim dense tree, I try and pick one with a good looking top.
Decorations are a mix of mostly gold and red with lots of stitched toys and animals and various odds and ends.Normally have white lights but the kids have asked for colours this year. Back to the future...
I wouldn't call it perfect but it's perfect for me!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

I love my 'mish mash' tree with all the decorations I've gathered over the years!
Warm white fairy lights, glass baubles (mostly traditional colours, quite a few by Gisella Graham or in that style), fabric and felt decorations (some traditional, some a little more eclectic), real walnuts and fir cones dipped in gold paint and hung on threads. My oldest decoration is one I chose when I was about 4 years old!

People always comment on mine and say it is beautiful. We always buy a 7ft real tree. Decorations have been collected over years (John Lewis and house of Fraser mainly), and I have about 700 - 800 lights on it. The tree looks more or less the same every year (which is how we all like it). I can't wait to go and get one on Friday!!! (I'm just hoping this year there won't be bugs in it 🤮).

[quote picklemewalnuts]@SnekkinOnDown tell me about the loo roll? Is it a design feature?![/quote]
It was my 12yo daughters first time decorating the tree all on her own and she said it was a bit wobbly and so she decided to use the loo roll to level it out. Then she went and decorated it and I came home and was like 🤷🏼‍♀️ . As the baubles are all glass I'm not taking the risk of trying to remove it. So now it's a design feature 😂. Thankfully it's covered by presents now .

The lights are just the pre lit ones. Because it rotates you can't use standard wired lights at it would get all wound up.

What I did see this year on tik tok I think every one needs to know is that you should never coil the light AROUND the tree, instead you should zig zag them up from top to bottom as apparently this stops tangling!! Am very excited by this news.

This is a great idea, I'm going to try it thus year!

I have two sets of (exactly the same) lights, precisely due to the coiling/tangling issue... I use one set for the top (just dangle the lead to the plug down the trunk so it can't be seen) and one for the bottom. It does make life easier, as we tend to go for large trees.

BrilliantBetty thank you! They’re really a mix that we’ve collected over the past 20 years - some (most) cheap from Ikea or paperchase, then the occasional nice one or two that I bought along the way, and some that people have given us. Plus the ones that the children made at school. There’s no colour scheme, it’s just a mix of everything and lots of sparkly ones. The ones I’m not so keen on I hide round the back 😂

And then just fairy lights and (briefly/terrifyingly) the candles.

I also try to not put too much on, so you can still see a lot of the tree

Fake tree here. Mishmash of decorations gathered throughout the years.

The kids do the tree with me. They’re 8&5 & put what they want where they want it.

I don’t rearrange anything (I’m usually stressed out by the time we’re done. But I love that we’ve done it together & wouldn’t ever do it without them

Oh everyone's tree is perfect if it is loaded with lights and decorations you love.
All of ours have a story.
From the piggy from Barnes and Noble-in San Francisco to the knitted ones from a stall at our local church; from a luminous Teddy that is 67 years old to the salt dough made by children and grandchildren; from the beautiful glass baubles from a visit to Bath to the sequin encrusted apples and pears from a pop up Christmas shop! All of them on a 5ft living tree in a pot that comes in every year.
We buy two new ones every year.

The older less glitzy ones go on the back and the rule is symmetry!
Any that aren't in a pair or a set go down the middle.

I decorate our windows too, the front one is big on lights and natural materials.
The back window is all silver and glass, it's my favourite thing to do, makes me so happy.

I bet everyone's tree and homes look wonderful 🎄🎄🎄

Our tree definitely isn't "perfect" (is there such a thing?), but it's lovely.
Key things for me:
Real tree, picked carefully for its shape and size.
Long string of "cluster" warm white fairy lights wound round the trunk top to bottom.
Another set of warm white fairy lights (regular ones, not cluster) wound round the tree mid/end branches.
All ornaments individually picked. Not matching, very few "baubles". I've trawled the charity shops for years, plus picked up ornaments here and there on our travels, and we now have an eclectic selection of really beautiful things. Lots of real glass clear icicles, lots of individual ornaments - santas, fairies, deer, bells, sleighs, stars, snowflakes. Usually unique, but sometimes 2 or 3 same or similar things.
No colour scheme.

🎄

@SnekkinOnDown um what's your tree topper?

Our tree is similar to @cheesiestwotsit: real tree; real candles. We have only red, white, silver and gold decs, but collected over years (it's a family tradition that every year we all chose one decoration each - so there's consitency in colour, but carnage in design, as lots of decs the kids chose as littlies (long with some really nice, classic decorations dh and I chose!). We get lots of compliments on our tree. But tbf, only letting people see it in the dark may help!

[quote Mantlemoose]@SnekkinOnDown um what's your tree topper?[/quote]
It's a hand made felt mouse . We don't do normal in my house 😁

I admire a smart tree but really love decorating our own with all the odd things that have been made by dc or gifted by grand parents (really not in the least bit tasteful just plastic fun little Xmassy bits they though dc would like) prizes from school and the general bits of life that a bit of string can turn into a decoration - its a dogs dinner and we love it because every bit is a memory and becomes more important with age - even the inherited threadbare 30+ year old woolworth tree is an old friend - its not as green as it used to be but if it sees us out it’ll be a better kind of green so I can live with that.

Mine isn't objectively perfect but it's perfect to me. I have other trees but this is my favourite.

Mine is always mismatched. The baubles all mean something to my daughter and I. I LOVE our tree. It’s not matchy matchy and it will never win an instagram award. But it’s us and ours and it makes us happy