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?

I'm sticking with my mish mash tree. All the decorations have such lovely memories attached to them!

Lots of lovely trees on here!
I decided to invest in a fake tree this year after a real tree disaster last year. I used to have a colour theme, but today I just put it all together and to me it is perfect. Well, looking at the picture, I might reshuffle few baubles tomorrow morning

Actually I’ll think you will find the perfect looking trees are the ones not packed out with a million decorations on them.

We have a black tree and really really bright decorations. Like green, hot pink, uv purple etc. Haven’t put it up yet but I love how our tree looks.

We have a real tree and they are never normally perfect. One year we went to the farm and chose a really perfect tree which was then cut down for us.
I hated it. It was so perfect it looked like an artificial one with its uniformity.

I do like it colour co- ordinated though. The kids had little mis matched ones in their rooms with their own decorations on. They were lovely in their own way but the main one has to be decorated nicely.

I think perfectly symmetrical and coordinated trees belong in shopping centres, can't abide them.

My DS greets every bauble and decoration like an old friend every year.
I don't care that they don't match.
I don't care that it looks like he's chucked them all at the tree from 6ft away and they've all landed on one spot.
It's Christmas and it's joyous.

I love my Christmas tree- always a real one. Have absolutely no theme But family history important. Ornaments from when I was a child, ones my DC have made, selected over the years. Lots of lights and lametta. Makes us happy. Which is the point however you do it!

We have a real tree, but I have collected enough decorations over the years do that I have a lot and can do several different looks. I think of it as a look or a conceit rather than a theme, because my decorations don’t match as such - a lot I have picked up as random individual ones or in sales, and none are particularly expensive. But I do change the “aesthetic”. So some years it’s Scandi red and white (felt and paper decorations, red and white knitted decorations and felt baubles, etc., good for toddlers as those are pretty indestructible); some years it’s Scandi rustic (white, silver and wood - this is the most tasteful and minimalist version); some years I go bling with coloured lights, jewel colours and Bollywood style decorations in more clashing colours. We also have a fair few felt and material and wooden animal decorations that are good for a kids’ circus style look.

The trees really do look great each year. If I say it myself 🤣 I spend a lot of time looking at where the decorations should go on for the right effect. They always need a bit of shifting about before you get the best look.

DD hates our amazing trees and says she just wants red shiny plastic baubles and gold tinsel and that’s it 🤣 Mind you she also thinks our music taste is very uncool because we don’t listen to chart pop so what does she know

Don’t know why auto changed “aesthetic” in my post to “conceit”. I’m pretentious enough already but even so I wouldn’t refer to my tree look as a “conceit” 😂🤣

Balsam Hill for a prelit tree.

Decs I bought from a garden centre and the Range.

I went to a wreath making/garland making event over a decade ago and took a lot of inspiration from that. I also watched lots of how to put lights on your tree and how to decorate your tree. They were professionals who do trees in department stores etc. You just take what you like from it.

Lights wise for the tree I used to do an inner set half way down the branches (gives depth) and then an outer set toward the end of the branches. Now I copy the pre-lit ones where the lights go up and down each branch splay end.

Our tree decorations don't change, we just have silver, white and clear. I did add a pop of colour to match our lounge but I made those baubles so they matched. Just glitter baubles but the glitter is on the inside so no glitter all over the carpet. Again, lots of videos on YouTube re DIY decorations, how to style a Christmas dinner table etc.

There are some incredible trees on this thread however I am all about upcycling so I am not prepared to spend to change the decorations. Some I have had for over 20 years plus the children like the tradition of the same baubles.

I’ve noticed there’s a definite difference in style between the American decorated tree and the British one. American ones are fully loaded, colour co ordinated and high impact.
Our trees are repositories for family tat with the fairy lights being the biggest consideration. How many, colour or white, old school or tiny LED.
I think both styles are pretty but I’d like to think ours is the more Christmasy version.

Also real trees need a bit of the truck cut off and then a week in water. So I think getting a tree now is ok. I got mine today with the view to it being ready for next weekend. I think it’s a bit early but we are away for the week at Christmas. If it goes up on the 5th Dec I’ll get 2 weeks and then one full week after Christmas.

No fairies! Angel or star.

Mine will go up in a couple of weeks. Always a real tree. I stick to gold, silver, white and clear decs. They are all different and collected over 25 years. The lights are warm white. I think it looks tasteful but that’s personal anyway.

My new tree. It's 9ft and prelit. I went for a pink/white/silver theme this year. I'm a bit Xmas tree obsessed and this is one of 4 this year 🤣

Yes I am one of those people.

My tree was expensive from a local garden centre.

My decorations are also expensive from a local garden centre. Think £200+ and that’s without baubles, which are mostly glass.

I have a theme - pink, green and champagne. I definitely have glitter. It is stuffed with foliage, roses, and ribbon. I love it.

For me it is a fine line between a lovely family tree, and a garish nightmare.

Our tree has loads of the kids stuff on it. We have also given each child a christmas decoration every year since they were born, each one has their name and year on it. So a real mix. And we have a LOT of decorations (something like 200 +) on our tree

But I really dislike trees which are a garish mish mash.
My way or curating our collection is that it is colour co-ordinated. So all the things I have bought for the kids fall within the colour theme, and all the decorations I have collected from round the workd do too.
The colour theme is gold/red/gree/bronze.
Pink, blue, purple etc are banned.
Silver and whote allowed in small doses.
(my dining room has all the silver and blue stuff)

This way the tree looks good, but still looks like a family tree.
I also bought a set of small red shiny baubles which we put in all the gaps at the end, this also helps to unite the randomness of the tree.

No tinsel snow or that fine hair stuff. Lights are white

@mumsiedarlingrevolta

I love my Christmas tree- always a real one. Have absolutely no theme But family history important. Ornaments from when I was a child, ones my DC have made, selected over the years. Lots of lights and lametta. Makes us happy. Which is the point however you do it!

The lights on your tree are spectacular!! How many hours did it take you to put them on? It’s a beautiful tree.

My tree is a mish mash of hideousness. I look at the colour themes other people use for their tree and admire them, then use all of the colours I’ve seen. Those awful baubles of a sprout, or Santa riding a dinosaur? Yup, they’re on my tree, along with all the tinsel in every colour, and as many lights as I can buy without DH seeing. We had 4 sets last year, and he told me that we’ve too many, so I bought another 600 this year and I nearly feel that there’s enough lights. Obviously they’re coloured lights. We get a bauble with the year on it too every year, and I love putting those up as it’s a little reminder of our family and life together.

I only managed to get the lights on tonight, but will post a pic tomorrow of it in its full tackiness splendour of the perfect tree for me once it’s been decorated by my 3 year olds

Our tree (not up for a couple of weeks yet) is chaos, multicoloured lights, random bits of tinsel and all sorts of baubles and bits, and of course, the hanging chocoates 😂 i really love the co-ordinated trees, they look beautiful, but for us, Christmas is tacky and bright and fun, we have 2 small DC, when they're older i will embrace the co-ordination, but for the next 10 years at least, it will be imperfectly prefect.

Here's mine, not a great pic sorry. I got my tree from Dobbies in the sale, should have been about 500. All my baubles are glass from dobbies too. Each year I buy another four baubles from dobbies to add to the tree. My colours are white red and gold.

I also have purple ones I can swap for the red if I fancy a change

We have a 'perfect' (it's not really!) tree in the living room. It has loads of different sized baubles in gold, rose gold and pale pink. And loads of lights, the more the better! I start at the bottom and wrap the lights round the inner part of the branches, then open up all the branches and wrap them round again further out.

Then there's a smaller 'mish mash' tree in the hallway which has all the decorations that the kids have made or collected over the years. We let them choose a new one each year from the garden centre.

Why not buy a pre lot tree or fiber optic tree

Make sure the smaller decorations are pushed along the branches. Preferably crystal (cheap and cheerful in £1 shops)

Then hang at different lengths along the branches.

We have a real tree - about 10ft tall. All the decorations are either clear glass or silver/white. I bought a lot of crystal stars at a school christmas fair and they really glitter which helps. I put the lights and then bigger baubles on first, the anything else that will catch the light in front of lights so they sparkle and then fill in the gaps.

Meant to say that I find demolishing a bottle of champagne whilst decorating really helps......