Putting up a Christmas tree is a lot of work, especially if you’re putting up a real tree and you have to haul it from a Christmas tree farm. Some people think that the expense, storage space, and maintenance required to decorate a Christmas tree aren’t worthwhile because the tree only stands in your living room for a single month. Here’s a fun solution: get a year-round Christmas tree that you can decorate for multiple holidays. Obviously, you’ll need to get an artificial Christmas tree—preferably a smaller one that’s more akin to a decorative house plant. Here’s how you can decorate it throughout the year to coincide with different holidays.
1. New Year’s Eve
Silver and gold are the two predominant New Year’s Eve colors. Once Christmas is over, re-decorate your tree with only gold and silver ornaments (you could also add a few black ornaments). Deck out your tree in silver and gold tinsel and add white or yellow Christmas lights for glow. Place a bucket of champagne bottles underneath your tree as a finishing touch.
2. Valentine’s Day
For Valentine’s Day, you’ll want to cover your tree in red and pink decorations. Print out large, pink hearts and hang them on your tree. You could also hang red and pink tinsel around your tree and add any color lights to give it pop. One of the most fun ways to decorate your tree for Valentine’s Day is to place your valentines on it. You can throw a Valentine’s Day get-together and invite all your friends to find their valentine on the tree.
3. St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is a difficult holiday to decorate your tree for. Green is the holiday’s main color, but your Christmas tree is already going to be green all over.
Print out large four-leaf clovers and hang them all about your tree—you might want to highlight the edges of them in gold paint so they contrast a little bit with the tree. You should also infuse the tree with lots of gold colors, like gold ornaments and chocolate coins. Order some St. Patrick’s Day flowers and place them in between branches to give your tree a little more color. Finally, place a small pot of chocolate coins beneath your tree as a finishing touch.
4. Fourth of July
The Fourth of July is a fun and easy holiday for which to decorate your tree. Choose any color lights for your tree—white lights or blue-and-green Christmas lights will look great, although you might be able to find Fourth of July lights at some party outlets. Hang vintage buntings around your tree for an old-school patriotic style. You could also cut up small rolls of parchment and roll them into little scrolls, and then hang them on your tree—they’ll resemble the Declaration of Independence.
5. Halloween
Halloween is undoubtedly the easiest holiday to redecorate your tree. There are so many fun things you can do, given the abundance of Halloween decorations on the market. Get fake cobwebs and plastic spiders and turn your tree into a creepy spider’s nest. Use black-and-orange lights to give your tree a Halloween glow, and hang up any creepy things you can find at the local Halloween store—plastic skeletons, skulls, mini Jack-o’-lanterns, and more. Place a full-sized pumpkin or Jack-o’-lantern underneath your tree as a finishing touch.
6. Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving can be a difficult holiday to decorate your tree for. Try and make it look as rustic as possible—hang pinecones, twigs, and clove orange pomanders (very easy to make). Ribbons and red tinsel also make for great Thanksgiving ornaments. Try and go minimalist with your tree for Thanksgiving, and then go all-out for Christmas.
How to Decorate a Year-Round Holiday Tree
7. In Between Holidays
So what do you do with your tree in-between holidays? Obviously, you’re probably not going to want to leave up your Fourth of July decorations until Halloween. During the months in-between holidays, think of your tree as a decorative house plant. Let it be an accent piece in your living room, or wherever you decide to keep it, and consider decorating it so that it matches or brings out your home décor style. If you have a vintage chic-styled home, you might decorate your tree with white or gold decorations. If your home has a blue-and-grey color palette, then decorate your tree to match it. Make it an accent piece that blends in with the rest of your décor.
There’s nothing that inspires joyful feelings quite like a Christmas tree, so get a year-round tree and enjoy that cheeriness throughout the whole year.
