Tell Homebase how you decorate your Christmas tree for a chance to win a £300 voucher!NOW CLOSED

[RebeccaEMumsnet]

It’s officially December, which means that most can’t deny that it’s time to start thinking about putting up your Christmas decorations!
To celebrate their Christmas range, Homebase want to know how you decorate your Christmas tree.

So, do you have a family ritual for decorating the tree? Do you put on some festive music and get all the DC to help, or are you quite particular about what goes where? Does each year mean a new theme for your decorations, or do you like to mix old and new? Do you love homemade decorations, or do you prefer a more polished look? And finally, the ultimate question, is it a star or an angel on top?

However you decorate your tree, post a comment below to be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 Homebase voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

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Real tree.
Me and the dds do the decorating, we put Christmas music on I may have a large gin

The decorations are a completely mixed bunch that I've collected over the years, they don't match or go together in any way. There are quite a lot of knitted ones, and a purple glitter camel with a leg missing, a couple of sun and moon ones, a scented velvet heart that I have to put quite high up as one of the cats is obsessed with it (she could never climb up to it). No tinsel. Different coloured ribbons instead. About 4 sets of lights, including one set of chilli lights which were a present. I've got some tickets on ribbons which also go on the tree. Our angel for the last few years has been a knitted Jimi Hendrix.

We put the tree up on the first weekend of December, we all go together to pick the tree. The kids help with the decorations but I usually do a tidy redecorate the tree if it's a bit lopsided.
We usually continue to add to the decorations over the next two weeks in the rest of house. Until the nativity scene goes up the week before Christmas.
I'd live to have decorations outside but I can't put them up by myself.

Hot chocolate, cheesey xmas music, and a bit of a decorative free for all, with a new ornament every year! We haven't actually put our tree up yet this year as we have an inquisitive toddler.... hoping she doesn't try to climb it.
Usually I like to put the tree up the first weekend in December.

We have a little 3 ft artificial tree, initially bought for easy moving out of the way of babies, which I decorate with enough lights for a tree 3 times its size and 20 years of accumulated ornaments. I tend to buy something new every year and they are predominantly gold/warm colours, but not all matchy matchy. There is an angel AND a star at the top as I can never decide!
The DC have their own mini 1ft tree each, which they decorate with tiny baubles and assorted happy meal toys.

I have two trees which we call the two Jeremys.
One is 7ft and rammed full of lights and baubles, this is Jeremy Clarkson.
Jeremy Corbin is small and understated with just a simple string of warm white lights

We have a red/gold theme and a star on top
Each year the DC choose one new ornament each to add to our collection
We usually do this a couple of weeks before Xmas - go to see Santa, coffee and cake and shop for them
I love the wee tradition we've started!
I also let the kids decorate and only move ornaments if they've put loads on the same branch!!

We alternate between a real tree and a fake. The decs match our living room, so only get refreshed if we've decorated. Each year the kids choose a new bauble each so it's not overly coordinated! We crack open the mince pies, festive film on tv, and off we go!

We always decorate our tree on the second weekend in December. It's one of my favourite nights of the year, with Christmas music playing in the background, a lovely fire and family time together :) We usually go for a polished look- the colour scheme of our bobbles (which we reuse every year) are silver, gold, purple and maroon, and we have simple gold lights the whole way around. I usually let the kids do their thing at the bottom of the tree and then I'll take charge for the top and the lights- Daddy's job is putting the star on top at the very end! :P

White lights, bronze, red and white baubles and a few clear reindeer. Only because they are the only plastic ones we liked and we were being toddler friendly! A star on top (DH is an atheist but allowed a star, I fear one day a Star Wars character may be up there. He also gives us lectures on Christmas roots in paganism which I'm sure DD will throughly enjoy when she gets older).

Since I was young I've traditionally bought one or two (or five!) new decorations every year. Some from abroad, a memorable day trip, the Boxing Day sales, more than a few from Homebase

I like to put the radio on (usually playing Christmas tunes in Dec!) and pour myself a glass of something festive before commencing Project Tree Decoration.

My top tip is to make sure your lights are working first before wrapping them round the tree

A Christmas movie has to be playing in the background and DH has to keep the mulled wine flowing.

Warm white lights, then the colour theme changes every year. This year is the classic red and gold. Mini baubles pushed into the tree, then the big heavy velvet ones on the outside. Lots and lots of shimmer on the edges of the branches

Happy Christmassy sigh!

I love decorating our tree. We have a traditional red, gold and green theme with beautiful baubles we have collected over the years. Star on top.

We decorate first family day after 1st December. The tree is the childrens domain and we let them just go for it. Once they're in bed its balanced and lightly thined then over a few days tidied.

Each year we let them choose a few new bits for the tree, one each, and its decorated with love and enthusiasm (more than style) but most importantly its always fun. We play a bit of festive music, eat a few mince pies and stollen, try not to critisize the 20th bit of glitz in a clashing colour being swirled around the branches that can be reached.

I put the lights in first, they are multi coloured, static ones, due to epilepsy. Then I let the dc decorate the tree. The ornaments are a collection built of ones they've made over the years, and ones we've bought or have been bought for us that we love. The tree looks a but chaotic, but it's Christmas and we love it

We have an artificial tree which we have had for many years. It makes its appearance the first weekend in December. We have a very random collection of ornaments, some made by the children & a new ornament (or three!) is added each year. I am also the proud owner of Duran Duran baubles! Getting out the decorations is like meeting up with old friends. They go randomly all over the tree - my motto is too much is never enough! There is definitely not a pattern or colour scheme! We listen to a Christmas CD, usually the best Christmas album in the world lol. We have an angel on top.

Warm white lights with gold, silver & red baubles. The more glitter the better!
Slowly building up a collection of things that my 5 year old daughter has made to go on it as well.

Also we have a black fairy at the top, which is a tradition I've carried on from my mum. My sister and I are black and it was lovely to be able to relate to something magical rather than feeling that it was something unattainable.
My daughter is thrilled that our fairy has hair like her!

Always an angel. Was the first decoration I bought when I got married and had my own tree for the first time. I love it! Lights first lots of decorations some new some old and Christmas music!

I don't have a theme or a certain colour, it's usually just a case of chuck it all on.

However this year I got a brand new 7ft fake tree and I love it so much, I wanted to do a theme, but no we just chucked all the old stuff back on
A mixture of random things that we have collected over the years, a few sentimental bits but most of it cheap and cheerful

I didn't buy anything new this year as its our first year with dog and I wasn't sure how she'd be around the tree, a few incidents, but she's on Santa's good list

I will be searching the shops in the sales for something a bit fancier for next year
I love all the colour and baubles from my childhood Christmases so may look for something along those lines.

Tree goes up first weekend of December
Christmas music played and warbling along
Takeaway and a film afterwards while admiring our handiwork

My tree is beautifully colour coordinated in jewel bright purple, green, pink and turquoise. It used to be blue and silver and I'm planning a color change for next year.
I'm also working on handmade felt Decs to add to it.
We used to have some beautiful decorations that my mum used to buy. One per year which were handpainted with the year on. But my ex took them when he left. Never worked out why.

We get the tree out by the first weekend of December. It's a fake tree because we can't face throwing out a beautiful real tree every year. Dp likes to put it together with the dc and he pops it in the corner by the end of the sofa. I fluff it out as the dc start to rummage through the decorations box.

We put the lights on first, well I do this as I like to have them evenly placed and strung around the tree. Then the tinsel goes on - the dc do this and I adjust it slightly, alternating red and gold. String beads go on next (red and gold also). By this time we're probably starting to sing 'O Christmas Tree' but never know the rest of the verses past 'how lovely are your branches' so maybe freestyle a bit and add our own lines.

Then the baubles go on. We've got a real jumble of shop bought, handmade by the children and gifted decorations. Little robins, stockings, clay reindeer and bells - every year they make something new at school or in their clubs. Even the baby has made decorations at his baby club. They might look a bit tatty but we always like seeing them and laughing about the toilet tube snowman who's head is falling off. This year we chose one posh one each to buy - not too gaudy and big, but little and unique (like a little drum or a snowy house) - and maybe we'll do that again next year and replace some of the broken ones.

It ends up looking a bit of jumble as the dc like to put more than one bauble on one twig and it takes a lot of effort for me not to rearrange it all. After a while the dc get bored, so I finish it off. I get out the chocolate decorations and the dc eat one each as I put them on the tree. They have one after school as a treat and I restock it fairly regularly.

Very last thing to go on is the fairy. She's only a couple of years old but she will be the fairy for many a year to come and I'd like her to stay in the family as a sort of heirloom. One of the dc stands on the arm of the sofa so they can reach the top with our help. We make sure a light is sticking up her skirt so she glows.

We decorate the lounge too and hang lights over the fire and on the banisters of the stairs in the hallway. It's a shame when we have to take it all down just before we go back to school after the new year. Sometimes I leave something little up so I have a little reminder that Christmas has passed and we've had another lovely, if hectic, time.

We decorated our Christmas during the first weekend of December this year. My dh can't be bothered to get us a real tree, so we make due with an artificial tree. I normally put the lights on and then let the children decorate the tree. The children put bought decorations and their homemade ones from school on. Finish off with tinsel and the star on the top. We bought a new star last year for the tree as my angel (who I have had for the last 40 years) was looking really tired and looked like she couldn't cope with being redressed again.

Always with the first weekend December with Christmas music playing, letting the children do their best (or worst). It will never win any prizes but the ritual of getting out the ornaments and them cooing over them is the best it!

Our tree goes up after the boys go to bed on the 30th November so that they wake up to the magic of Christmas on the 1st!!

We have lots of red on our tree, and clear twinkly lights, with a gold star. I love it!

We do have all the decorations the kids make on it but I hide them at the back we have loads of fun/tacky Christmas decorations about but the tree is mine

Me and DH start our tradition by bickering about when to put up the tree (he wants 23rd, I want December 1st).
When we agree, he gets the boxes in from the shed and checks for spiders. We used to go to buy the tree together but we have an artificial one now as we've been away the last few christmases.

Now DH gets everything ready then goes out. I spend an afternoon with either a Christmas film or Christmas music on and decorate.
Our decorations are mostly one-offs as I don't like sets, and they're collected from our various travels. We also have a homemade one that dn made with me last year, a cartoon one that he gave me this year and one which is part of a set my DM had when she first moved out. There are only 4 left - DM has 2 then dsis and I have one each.

I love looking at the decorations and remembering where we bought them / what we were doing that year