How to Make a Themed Christmas Tree

Growing up in a family with 5 children we had a hodge podge of ornaments on our tree every year.  We had ornaments we made in school, and ornaments my parents or other family members gave us.  I don't remember ever thinking our tree wasn't pretty.  As a child I think you just delight in the wonder that is Christmas, but as an adult, for my own family's tree I knew I wanted something a little more Martha Stewart.  Now, I am not even close to being comparable to Martha Stewart, but I have been known to be crafty and creative, and frugal in doing so.  So, today in honor of all of my readers who will be decorating for Christmas in their own homes over the next few weeks, I share a few of my own tips on:

How to Make a Themed Christmas Tree

1. Set up tree stand and your tree as usual- you can do this with a fake tree, real tree, or even a really a really old tree (don't go buying a new one if you can't afford one...you can still make an old tree look awesome!)
2. Hang your lights on your tree (PS for all you 1st time Christmas Tree decorators- if you are using old lights please plug them in first to make sure your strand works and if they don't work well I'm going to have to refer you on to another bloggers article on how to revive old Christmas Lights...I give it about 5 minutes tops of messing with the bulbs before I toss them and get a new set (buy them on clearance after Christmas and that's a convenience I don't mind spending money on!)
3. Next hang your themed Christmas tree decor.  For example I bought blue, silver, and white balls on clearance when we first got married (day after Christmas clearance sales...it was so long ago I might have bought them before Christmas which was dumb if I did it full price...at any rate at least wait for a 40% off Christmas decoration sale!).  I still use them and I love them.  I spread those out all over my tree  (try to space them out evenly and put different colors next to each other instead of an area where there is all one color and none of the other color).  I also purchased little plastic,  glittery snowflakes.  Those go all over the tree dispersed around the colored decor next. 
4. Next, I hang my topper.  I always use a bow that I've made with coordinating colors to my Christmas tree decorations. (Again buy ribbon on sale after Christmas for next years tree, or roll it back up again and use it again next year).  Some people use ribbon going around the tree horizontally.  I let mine hang from my bow topper vertically (see picture below)

This is a picture of our tree before I added any of our nostalgic ornaments to it (notice also that I made my ribbon hang vertically)

Here is a picture from a magazine I found online of how to use ribbon horizontally on your tree:

My husband and I both have some ornaments from our childhood as well as ornaments we have added to the mix now that we are our own family that we also put on our tree.  I love these sentimental ornaments!  Each one brings back so many memories.  Without the "color theme" our childhood ornaments are just scattered on a tree without focus.  I like organized.  I like pretty.  I like lovely, and adding a color theme to your Christmas tree does just that.  You can still make your tree look lovely and keep your sentimental ornaments (yes even the overly glittery ugly one from 1st grade!) The bow and colored decorations pull everything together and turn an unorganized mess of sentimental ornaments into a pretty, stylish, almost Martha Stewart looking tree....I'll emphasize the almost :)   Personalize your tree to your taste and your budget.  Your theme doesn't have to even be about a specific color although coordinating colors will help make your tree be appealing to the eye and tie everything together.  Your theme could be about your favorite hobby:  hunting, animals, wildlife, travel, etc.  Get creative and make your tree be a reflection of you, or your family!  

Happy Decorating!