How To Decorate Your Christmas Tree: A Step-by-Step Guide
The excitement about Christmas has started already, and if you’re like us, our Christmas tree goes up in early November. Decorating your Christmas tree is a fun family activity, and is easy when you have the right ornaments and type of tree. To really make Christmas your own, you can try out popular maximalist or minimalist trees, or add some homemade ornaments to your tree. In this guide, we will offer our tips and tricks on decorating various types of Christmas trees and how to make yours the talk of the neighbourhood this festive season!
Choose your tree
The type of Christmas tree you choose is important because it will add harmony to the rest of your Christmas decor. The usual choice for Christmas trees are fir or pine trees, but you can also add your own type. If you’re not a fan of Christmas trees, maybe add a centrepiece in the form of lights, branches or simply spruce up your house plants with some fairy lights or even a sprinkling of fake snow.
Faux Christmas trees are usually the popular choice, as a real fir or pine trees can be on the pricey side, and can also shed pine needles all over your house which can irritate the perfectionists among us. The way their leaves are arranged make them perfect for holding decorations, such as tinsel, baubles and other ornaments. If you opt for a faux tree, you’ll usually need to separate out its branches to make it look less sparse. Trending Christmas tree shapes are bottlebrush, honeycomb and frosted.
Add your lights first
You might end up with a tangled mess of ornaments and lights if you put the lights on the tree after the ornaments. Instead, add them to the tree first, and leave it like that for some low-key and minimalist decor, or add ornaments to the tree on top of the lights. This can make the decorating process run a lot smoother as you won’t be standing there untangling the lights from the bauble strings for hours.
Decide on colour schemes
Deciding on colour schemes for your tree is important, as you want everything to harmonise together. It won’t look good if you throw every colour ornament you own onto the tree, as colours may clash and it can make the tree look too full or mismatched. Instead, if you stick to a clear colour theme with a combination of colours like red and gold or white and silver, it can look like you spent time and effort on the details.
Don’t overdo it
If you enjoy shopping for and collecting Christmas ornaments, you’ll probably be very excited to start layering them onto your tree the first chance you get. Remember the colour scheme and take your time with making everything harmonise together. It’s okay for areas of the tree to be showing, or for there to be a couple of spaces here and there, as the ornaments and lights should make any spaces unnoticeable. Keep your tree minimalist and let the ambience of the room combined with the tree decor transform your home.
DO overdo it
A popular type of Christmas tree decor is maximalist decoration, and we’re talking every ornament you can dig out of your attic or storage cupboard. Extravagant maximalist trees are really on trend, and luckily they’re very easy to achieve. Now this isn’t about throwing a bunch of ornaments onto your tree and leaving it there, it’s about cohesion and harmony.
Having a colour scheme or pattern will make your tree look like it is deliberately full, and not just as though you quickly decorated it. Maximalist trees are usually the centrepiece of the room, with little festive touches placed around the room to stick with the Christmas theme, but to avoid making the decor look excessive. But if you’re the sort of person who goes all out for Christmas, then add as much decor as you like to the room and your tree!
Add the finishing touches
You’ll definitely want a centrepiece for the top of the tree to top it all off. The usual choice is a star or an angel, or even a miniature of Santa or something associated with Christmas. This will make the tree truly come together. You can even decorate the surrounding areas with lights or stockings to tie everything together nicely. Our Mila Maven scented candles and reed diffusers would be a nice touch to your mantelpiece or coffee table for some fresh and festive scents.
How to decorate a small Christmas tree
Smaller Christmas trees are ideal for places with minimal space or if you want to add a festive touch to your room. These are usually popular in white or green, and can be decorated in a similar way to traditional Christmas trees. You’ll want to cut down on the amount of ornaments you place on the tree, as over-decorating small Christmas trees is much more easily done and can overwhelm it.
It’s all about the little touches, so adding a few ornaments and some fairy lights can look much better than piling on ornaments. Perhaps you could add a small Christmas tree to your room and keep the decoration minimal, and then go all out on the decoration on a larger Christmas tree for your living room or kitchen.
Christmas tree trends 2022
Some of the top new Christmas tree trends in terms of types of trees and Christmas tree decorating trends include honeycomb trees and bottlebrush trees, as well as unique and re-used decorations. This year, it’s predicted that decor that was popular in the past will make a return, from neutral coloured ornaments to white and frosted Christmas trees, to ornaments made from paper, wood and glass.
In terms of Christmas tree colour trends, frosted Christmas trees and matching colour schemes, such as red, blue, white, silver and gold remain popular, as well as pastel and neutral colours. Give your Christmas tree your own twist if you want to stand out from the crowd this Christmas.
Get festive with Mila Maven
Check out our blog on how to prepare your home ahead of the festive period, and browse our unique ranges of apothecary, ceramics and cushions and throws. Our femme vase is also now in stock, available in black or white, which we suggest adding to your home this Christmas for some funky and quirky decor that you can spruce up in your own way. Our cushions and throws will help to keep you cosy throughout autumn and winter and will complement your Christmas decor perfectly.
