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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As I've been very unwell and am waiting for surgery on my spine my ds's put up and decorated the tree. Our first year with a black tree, copper baubles, stags and white lights. And we are a little traditional with an angel on top.

We also have a nativity and numerous wooden angels on top of the fire place, each one representing a loved one who has passed away.

This year we did make our own advent calendar which is stringed up around the fire place

Each year DD and DS join together to throw every sparkly thing in the house at our elderly Argos plastic tree. It looks indescribable but the fact that it's all their own work means that I have the perfect excuse for its hideousness - it doesn't have to look "chic" or "coordinated" or "classic" or "hygge" and yet I am still Alpha Mummy because I have heroically sacrificed my need for elegance because I love my kids so much . It's in no way a choice I make because because I'm lazy and lacking in interior design skills.

We have a potted tree that we wheel in from the garden every year. Seems wrong to kill a tree for 2 weeks of enjoyment... DH and I decorate together, he handles untangles the lights and I do the artistic bit Less is definitely more, it's a beautiful tree. Couple of strings of beads, some warm lights, a dozen or so baubles/small hanging decorations and a star on the top. We re-use previous decorations. I dislike waste and I am also quite sentimental about some of our tree ornaments. We have always had the same theme, traditional warm Christmas colours, red and gold mainly.

tried to have colour scheme of gold and red but in reality all the favourite old decorations make it on there too as well as things the kids have made. Definitely an angel on top - either our usual one or if the kids make a specific one each year (or both!).

I let the kids do the tree and only 'rearrange' if it is truly hideous.

No tinsel on tree - that's a rule! But strings of beads and lights are permitted.

An artificial tree, but is a very realistic one, with red and gold baubles, gold filigree decorations , and individual special tree decorations, I buy a new tree decoration each year. No tinsel so that you can see all the decorations. Warm white led lights and have a wonderful Santa in red and gold robes at the top of the tree. My son and his partner are expecting a baby in February so I have bought them lovely personalised Christmas baubles as a Christmas gift to start off their own family Christmas decorations.

As a child our family tradition was to put the tree up on my mums birthday (19th Dec) this year we've continued that tradition although mum isn't here. When my mum died I inherited a 12 year old child as well as an 8ft Christmas tree which we've crammed into our house and used all her decorations which are beautiful. I must admit I sat back and had a cup of tea whilst the child assembled and decorated the tree, Christmas music on in the background and a small Christmas buffet for tea. We then did a toast to my mum wishing her a happy birthday. New family traditions

This year it's all silver and gold. A mix of baubles, gold rope, white lights and a gold star. A real tree bought at beginning of December. Teenage dd loves the job of choosing the theme so we leave it to her.

All the other years i have basically just let the kids do whatever buy whatever and put whatever they want Christmas is the magic for children, alot of the family loved it.... some looked at it and though good god.... but it didnt matter My children had the most amazing fun! Now they are a little older we have themed the tree with blues and silvers..... but we also have another tree upstairs for them, they put whatever they want on it and some wooden toys that my husband had when he was a child As long as my children have had fun That will be there memories xxx

DD1 helps me decorate.

I let her take the lead. I don't have a lot of matching decorations so it doesn't have to be done a certain way. Just lots of colour!

Then I subtly move all the heave ornaments that have been piled onto thin twigs, to avoid smashing them.

Mixture of baubbles n ornaments with some made by my daughters in school,and a star right at the too

Firstly what type of tree....well we go for a real tree and go right against the grain with a traditional Norway Spruce.
This year it is Red and gold baubles, soft white lights (lots of them) some gold chains and a fairy on the top. What is missing is the tree chocolates which I forgot to buy and now can't find anywhere!
Also missing is the lametta (?) which we used to love as kids but it's a nightmare to get off the tree and everything has to come off so the tree can go off with the green waste.
I love having a Christmas tree and the room looks decidedly bare after the twelfth night.

I look on the tree as a work of living art that will be with us like an ice sculpture for a snap moment in time.
We buy our tree from HB actually - with nectar points ( now discontinued) .

I like a very sweet childrens carol cd we have sung by children - we put that on - and some up beat Motown carol cd's. I decide on the feeling and mood and inspiration of what the tree will be year on year. I have a good amount of decs so can tweak it either way.
This year my inspiration was the Nutcracker. At the ROH - so deep reds, velvet's - ballerinas, bouquets of flowers given to the principle ballerinas....sparkles, gold - nutcrackers, etc. ( obv in good company as this is what liberty also decided on this year )

So we put a thick lush strand of gold tinsel round the trunk of the tree to add spakly depth, or the gold trim on the rich velvet curtain. Then the lights - two sets one with different functions one static so its not too over powering having the whole thing flashing - we set one set to gently fade away and gentle go to full bloom.
Then goes on red ribbon, some thin velvet sparkly from Paris - thick ribbon wound down from the top to the bottom like a helter skelter. 3 different types of ribbon, to add depth and variety, Then beads, pearl type - and green sparkly - again draped over the branches.
Thats all the back ground, then come the small players - the baubles, nearly all different, so three fluffy white owls, stars with faux diamante, some round baubles glass - with pearls on them, some large red faux roses, deep deep red - covered in red glitter.

Then come the main players all placed in easy to see prominent place around the tree to tell the story.
A set of matching nutcracker men - red, the most matching items on the whole tree. Two mouse kings, some ballerinas, and fairy sprite figures.

To set it all off - its draped in Lamenta. I have toyed with the stuff on and off but feel its the finishing sparkle - the ice - the final dressing. Moves and glistens, and the scene is set, all is ready, with a large star on top.

The dc all help and we put their decs elsewhere on display - they also have small trees in their rooms.

We have a seemingly unlimited supply of decorations made by DD! Some very tasteful, some less so...

I'd like to say she decorates the tree herself but I just can't help making a few rearrangements. My DM was exactly the same, I don't think it did me any harm!

Up on the 1st of December, down on 6th January - I LOVE having decorations up in the house!

My tree is rather garish though, a right mish mash of ornaments, colours, styles, homemade and bought - but I love it! And helped in great parts by 3yo dc.

And multi-coloured lights are a MUST, ambulance blue or warm white can bog off!

We have an artificial tree , I don't like the smell of real ones and DH has to have symmetry . DH and DS generally decorate , coloured lights , assorted baubles , no tinsel ( I don't like it) , we have too many baubles so most of them only get an outing occasionally bug the special ones get used each year . We have a star on the top . We have a selection of Christmas animals that loiter around the tree including illuminated polar bears and penguins and for some reason a fluffy goose , although I have no recollection of where he came from .

We have two trees. One that has a colour scheme of red, white and silver which is the main tree and the other has a mixture of ornaments that we've gathered over the years. Many of our tree decorations have special memories of visits to see santa, holidays (as I try to buy decorations from different places we've visited), ones the children have chosen through the years etc.

We decorate ours with carols playing and make it a family occasion.

It's decorated with lots of children's decorations that were mine when I was a little girl. I love that each year I get to reminisce about my childhood whilst making memories with my own children.

we always have a real tree and have a mismatch of decorations.
This year we have coloured lights on the tree as they remind me of my childhood. We always have red beads as my husband had those when he was growing up.
The baubles all have special memories and have been bought over the the years in different countries.
We don't have an angel or star at the top we have a pointy tree topper very common in Eastern Europe, my mother's family was Ukranian and this is a nod to them.
we keep the tree up until January 7th to celebrate the Ukranian Christmas just as I did as a child.

Real mix of decorations, chosen by the kids and an angel on top at the end. We all decorate together!

A mix of old and new that will grow over time. We try to get a new meaningful decoration each year. We like to get some Christmas music on to get in the festive spirit and do it together.

This is our first year with a Christmas tree. DH was nervous that DD would get overexcited and pull it over so we've kept the decorations pretty basic with just tinsel and a single bauble that DD made.

We have a real Christmas tree, usually put up no earlier than the 3rd Sunday of Advent. There is a carrier bag for each possible colour of Christmas decoration in the attic but some colours are fairly sparce. When it's time to decorate we pick the year's colour scheme - usually max 2 colours but occasionally 3. If necessary we might then go and buy more sparkly tat of those colours. I will also try (but usually fail) to find wrapping paper that will fit with the design concept. Decorating the tree must take place with Christmas music CD and with alcoholic beverages being consumed.