Decorating a Meaningful and Beautiful Holiday Tree

Christmas is my favorite time of year, and while I love all of the traditions and decorations that come with it, one of the things I enjoy most is decorating trees. This year, I had the special opportunity to decorate a tree for on the set of Good Day PA, a lifestyle show where I have my own “Getting Crafty” segment three times a month. I thought it would be a great opportunity to show how easy it is to decorate a tree that’s both meaningful and magazine-cover beautiful at the same time. Here’s how I do it, and you can too!

You need:

a real or artificial tree (ours is a 7 1/2′ Fraser Full Profile Pre-lit Tree from Frontgate)

garland (mine is 2 1/2″ wide glitter ribbon)

a topper (I used a bow made from the same ribbon)

personal, unique, meaningful ornaments

ornament sets that go with your desired color scheme

Step 1: Choose a color scheme.

We picked a traditional red, white, silver, and gold for the Good Day PA tree.

Step 2: Add your garland and topper.

I know, you always see people in the Christmas movies adding these last, but the decorating process actually goes much more smoothly if you start with them instead. Also, if you have a real tree, or a non pre-lit artificial one, you’ll want to start with the lights.

Step 3: Add your personal ornaments.

The first ornaments to put on the tree are the one-of-a-kind ones that mean something to you. They may be handmade, they might be monograms, or they might represent activities or other things you enjoy. These are the ones that get passed down through the years and bring a special smile as you put them on display. Typically, these are larger and/or heavier than the ones we’ll add later, so these go a little farther down into the tree on sturdy branches. Be sure to spread them out all over the tree.

For our Good Day PA tree, we asked viewers to send in ornaments that represent themselves or the hosts. We have golf ornaments for Brett, a cupcake for Amy Kehm, a “baby’s first Christmas” for Amanda, and more. The adorable painted wood slice ornaments are handmade by Amy Abbott of free-hand studio. The hosts also brought in some ornaments from home.

Step 4: Add coordinating ornament sets.

Once all of the individual ornaments are in place, it’s time to add your ornament sets that match the color scheme you picked. These can be round balls, icicles, snowflakes, or anything you like. Ours are the Peppermint Dreams 40-piece Ornament Collection from Frontgate and the Gradient Glass Ornament Collection, Set of 30 Crimson from Frontgate.

Spreading these out all over the tree unifies everything, bringing all the pieces together and creating a tree that looks themed while still having those meaningful ornaments too.

My pro tip for tree decorating is this little secret: MORE IS MORE. While in many areas of our lives, less can be more, this is not the case when creating a stunning tree! Add ornaments until you think you can’t possibly find a spot for another, then add more. A full tree is a gorgeous tree!

Once your tree is decorated, finish it off by adding a coordinating tree skirt. Ours is the handmade, reversible Silky Gold and Cream Oval Tree Skirt from CroftonLiving1 on Etsy. Love it? You can actually save 10% on any tree skirt in the shop now through November 30 with the code GOODDAYPA at checkout.

We also added a few other festive touches to the set for the holidays; everyone needs a stocking, so we got the three hosts Personalized Stockings from BelamodaCo. We needed a way to hang and display them, and after searching around on Etsy, I found just the thing; this handmade Wooden Stocking Holder Box from The Wooden Owl. You can have it customized with the number of hooks you need along with a family name, or in our case, the name of the show. I filled the box with some artificial garland and ornaments, along with three adorable handmade wooden trees, also from The Wooden Owl.

The set has never looked more festive! I hope some of these tips help you as you decorate your own tree.

 

Be sure to hop on over to the Amy Latta & Friends Facebook Group and share photos with us of your decorated tree(s) so we can all be inspired and share some holiday joy! See you there!