Every year on the 26th of December my heart breaks when I see all the thrown out Christmas trees on the street. Good, super green and healthy trees turned into trash. Which means wasted money as well. It happened to me last year. We spent $45 on a small tree we had to throw away because it was almost February and there's no such thing as a Valentine's Tree. Even in the good shape it was in, it's culturally pointless. Puerto Rican Christmas lasts forever. We celebrate till January 14th, we call it "Las Octavitas" (eight days after Three Kings Day). I decided I didn't want to spend more money on a tree I will eventually trash. So I improvised.
This is our Christmas tree for this year. I went crazy looking for a Charlie Brown Christmas look-a-like tree; sad, lonely...the one no one buys because it's "ugly". Like we say in my country... "un arbolito defalcao". I saw a reference two years ago via Design Sponge of that perfect not-so-perfect tree, but since I couldn't find it, I made it.
1) I took those branches they throw away at the tree shops, tied them all together and voila! If you notice on the second picture, I took a bamboo stick (or any long stick you can find) and you start putting all the branches together.. as if you where mounting a fake tree but with real branches.
Stick the tree in a pot with soil or sand or anything with enough weight to hold it. I had painted some rocks white for a project I never did, so I used them to cover the soil. For extra support I tied it to the bucket handle with the same twine I used to tie the branches.
2) For the tassels, Grace (from Design Sponge) shared a great tutorial you can find here.
3) The stars are from a 99 cent store. They cost 50 cents (not even 99!)
This is a great alternative to spending $45 on a tree since it wont dry up and doesn't need any maintenance.
It's a real fake tree made with real Christmas magic!
*note: your fingers will be sticky after this.
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