I recently attended a seminar on how to professionally decorate a Christmas tree.  I always thought I did a pretty good job with my tree.

However, now I’m thinking there are several things which I could do the improve the appearance of my holiday tree.

I thought my Readers would enjoy a quick update on what I learned.

Professional Tips on Decorating a Christmas Tree

If you have an artificial tree, the first thing to do is to fluff out the branches of the tree.  Pay particular attention to the bottom line of the tree.  You do not want it to look like a straight line of greenery.  It should look like a real tree.

The instructor then talked about adding two different types of floral picks to the tree.

In rethinking my tree, I definitely need to add some holiday floral picks.  Currently I have no floral picks on my tree.  The picks gives the tree another layer of dimension.

Depending on the size of your tree, you might need more than a dozen of each floral pick for nice placement.

One of the instructors then proceeded to add the floral picks of white berries and variegated leaf holly sprigs.

The instructor also added what was called maiden hair garland which had some sparkle to it.  I’ve never seen it before but will look for it next time I am craft store shopping.

Pink Berry Floral Pick Making a Large Silver Bow

The next items to go on the tree were the handmade bows.  They made both a large tree topper bow and smaller bows to tuck into the tree.

Red and green wired ribbon was used.  If you use only red on red color, the finished ribbon will look too heavy so you need to coordinate your colors.

The ribbons used were also of different widths.  It is generally easier to work with wired ribbon since it will hold its shape.  It can be bent into either a full or flat bow.

It is important to place the center of the finished bows back far enough into the tree and then pull the ends of the ribbon out to pull your attention forward.  It makes the tree more interesting to look at.

When hand making a bow use six or seven loops.  Most times try to end up with an odd number of loops.  Don’t forget to twist each segment in the middle so the finished side of the ribbon is showing.  I actually removed the floral wire from my bows and redid them adding a wired red ribbon to the top.

Use 20 gauge floral wire to wrap around the finished bow center to keep it securely held in place.

Instead of cutting ribbon ends to a point, try cutting the ends at angles for a cleaner look.

Silver and Red Jumbo Bows Attaching Red and White Tree Topper Bow

With a live tree you can fill in any holes in the branches with ribbon bows, moss orbs, or small wrapped presents.

The next step is to hang your bulbs.  Every ornament should be on a different plane.  Remember imperfection is perfection.

The larger bulbs should be placed further back into the limb.  The small ornaments should be nearer to the end of the tree branch.

Special ornaments or one of something that should also be placed on the ends of the branches.

Try to add some unusual ornaments such as red cardinal birds, bird nests, or bird ornaments.  All these touches gives the tree a very natural look.

If you have your choice of ornaments buy a variety of items.   For example two different types of red birds were used.  One was looking down and the other was looking up.

From today’s blog, I hope you can take away a few tips for decorating your tree.

After the holidays, store your ribbons with tissues paper placed into the loops so that it keeps its shape in storage.

Happy holiday tree decorating!

Time to Deck the Halls, (and also the trees)!

We would love to hear about your holiday tree. What special decorations are on your tree?  Please send us a comment below.  Thank you.