Decorate Your Christmas Tree On a Budget

I am a complete conundrum. Just ask my husband-ha!

That’s OK, I like to keep him on his toes. That’s the secret to a long marriage, right? Never be predictable. [wink] Case in point: I love our “family” Christmas tree. It has a beautiful assortment of memories-ornaments from childhood- and some pretty colored balls thrown in too. But…I also had an itch to have another tree in our sunroom (aka the “playroom”). With homeschooling and playing, we spend a LOT of time in here. I wanted this (hypothetical) tree to be one where the ornaments would match….Since this wasn’t a holiday “necessity” I needed it to be VERY budget friendly (ahem…cheap).

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Well, after doing a bit of hunting, I found one at Walmart for $20! I had been creeping on craigslist for a couple months, hoping to find an eight or nine foot tree (this room has the tallest ceilings in the house, so I wanted to “go big or go home” -well, I already WAS at home, but you get the idea. I struck out with finding a bigger tree for cheap, so when I found the six foot tree from Walmart for $20, I was convinced it could be perfect.

Because it was a little shorter than I was hoping, I put the tree in a little “box” I found for about $4 at Goodwill. (Here it is being prepped for painting.)That lifted it up about 18 inches off the ground. (To make sure the tree was in the box “super securely” (yep, it’s a technical term…all the licensed contractors use it….), I used 2 concrete bricks to anchor the tree legs in place.)

Bobby Pins-Not Just For Hair

Now that the tree was up, I needed decorations! I’ve never put ribbon on my Christmas tree, but when I saw this “Joy to the World” ribbon at Michaels for 60% off, I decided to try something new! And I’m so glad I did-I love how it turned out!
Want a tip for attaching the ribbon to the tree? Gather the amount of ribbon you will need to make the “poof” and then twist the ribbon to pinch it together. Where the ribbon is twisted, put a bobby pin. Then you can easily attach your ribbon where you would like it! (I used about one and a half rolls of ribbon to have 5 long ribbons going down the tree. Each spool of ribbon was $4.)

Ribbon: Check! Now the tree needed ornaments. Remember my Dollar Tree holiday post? Dollar Tree for the win! I had bought a variety of things, but in the end I decided to keep it simple and just use a variety of red balls. Depending on the size, the ornaments came in packs of seven or fifteen.

In the process of hanging the ornaments, I decided it would add some different texture and a bit of festive “whimsy” to put some jingle bells on the branches. Using an ornament hook, I bent it so I could thread several jingle bells on it. Once I had as many as I could fit, I twisted the ends of the wire together to secure it. Then used a second ornament hook to hang the little jingle bell cluster on the tree. (The red jingle bells also came from Dollar Tree. 2 bags made about 10 ornaments.)
I added a red, glitter tree topper (also from Dollar Tree) and I was all done! An entire Christmas tree decorated for $15!
All in all the WHOLE thing cost $50.
Tree: $20
Lights: $15 (I used 7 strands for the 6 foot tree. Yes. 7 strands. I like a lot of lights….)
Ribbon: $8
Ornaments, Hooks, Jingle Bells, Tree Topper:$15
Total: $50 (Can’t beat that with a stick! Or a candy cane…)

I have been loving having this Christmas tree up! It’s so pretty and adds some extra “jingle” to our day! 

What is your favorite thing to get at Dollar Tree?