Can someone give me advice on how to buy a Christmas tree, ornaments, lights? I have never owned a Christmas tree before, but now I have 2 grandkids ages 1 and 6 months and I would like to put up a tree this year for them. There are just so many types of trees and Christmas decorations I really don't know where to start. Any advice?
By Onesummer
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First of all I am a firm believer in artificial trees, as I have got older I also am a firm believer in the ones that come with the lights already on them. Putting the lights on a tree is the hardest part, especially as you get older. Depending on how tall of tree you get it will be in sections that you have to put together. When I do that I plug the bottom section into an outlet so that I make sure to get the upper sections plugged into the lower section right, sometimes that can be tricky. A couple years ago I got a really nice looking five foot tall, pre-lit tree at Home Depot for about $40.00. It is in two sections. Anyway when I put it together I decided it really looked too short in front of my window, so I had a friend make a wooden box about 12" high and about 18" square for me to set the tree on. But I can have the tree sitting on the floor and I can reach to decorate the top part and then set in on the box to finish decorating the tree. My balance is no longer good enough to get on a step stool to reach things. Then when I get all done I wrap a couple layers of the polyester batting like for quilts around the box and trunk of the tree.
I'm at the end of buying Christmas stuff - want to be simple.
I have two trees - a 3 foot boxed tree with lights from Big Lots that goes on a buffet, and then a 3 foot one that you connect the rods lift the tree from it's box where it's stored flat. This one also has lights. These generally are decorated with inexpensive candy canes and gift cards.
In the past, I started a Christmas ornament "collection" aimed for each grandchild - a "first" Christmas, then assorted metal ornaments with the child's name and the year. Each of the kids got their ornaments when they establish their own traditions and therefore had some ornaments for their own tree.
I also had ornaments to represent family members - i.e., a car with Santa was for my father, a poinsettia was for my mother, snowmen was for my youngest. You get the idea.
I wish you luck - the previous poster had good ideas, too.
I bought a Led tree that had a string of regular lights also, It is about 3 ft tall, and super easy to put up. It is so bright and the lights flicker so nicely. It doesn't take a lot of ornaments, I use the small scale ones.
Go to stores that sell Christmas trees-artificial ones! I recommend getting one with no lights on it. The trees that come with lights never have enough lights on them. The rule is 100 string of lights for every foot. So if your tree is 6 feet tall you need at least 600 lights on it. There is nothing uglier than a tree with not enough lights on it! You need to decide if you want white lights or colored lights. I have 2 trees and I put white lights on one, this one has all my snowmen on it. The other tree has colored lights on it with lots of different ornaments on it. When my kids were little I had nothing on my tree that could break. I taught them to look but not touch, but sometimes kids forget so I had nothing that could break and hurt them.
Ornaments are so easy to make, you can purchase some clear ornaments at any size and then fill them with memories of your family members or whimsical items like artificial feathers ,ribbons, buttons, personalized items such as a child's baby ring, the hospital bracelets that were on your children's list at their birth ,wedding memorabilia, etc. Tie a pretty ribbon on the ornament and then hang it on your tree or give it as a gift.
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