DYI Christmas tree

Here we are: for those you like and feel concerned, advent time has started this last weekend! Hello decorations, cooking and… Advent calendar and Christmas tree! Well, if you don’t have the space, the money, have young children or simply will not really be at your home for the end of year celebrations (because family festivities), maybe you could consider having a Christmas tree, without have a plastic or real one! And what about advent calendar?! I am starting to be tired of chocolate calendars or already-hell-expensive-all-made calendars with always a part of the days with things you don’t like… So, why not considering mix an advent calendar on a stand for decorations (as is a Christmas tree)!?

It is what we did during this last weekend: shaping our own Christmas tree, to be hanged on the wall, and advent calendar. My idea started with these three conditions:

1. Use at max what we already had at home
2. Make a reusable calendar and Christmas tree
3. Push me to create and look for originality and home-made for the gifts

So, if that’s also your aim for this year, here we go!

We used (yes, easier with two people but not mandatory!):

• 2 Bamboo sticks (from garden centre but you can also try with dead branches. In this case you might consider colour them with a white spray from Wilko or wherever that will give you a nice surface by transforming them from dark brown to ceruse patern)
• Sharp knife, serrated is better
• Cooking twine
• 1 knitting needle, number 2 (if you use bamboo sticks)
• Ribbon (about 5 meters, following your shape)

Here are the pictures to show you how we built up the shape

Here is the idea: a shape enough large to display 31 wooden slices. So we cut 4 pieces from the Bamboo sticks, every one with a length less and less long.

We started by the central “pillar”. For practical reasons, we made 5 pieces (like this, we can fold up the shape after Christmas and that will take a minimum of space) with a string, doubled, of cooking twine. But you can perfectly choose to have only one stick/branch as pillar and that works also perfectly well (tested last year!). If you choose with pieces, a nice way to finish nicely extremities is to cut two short pieces of bamboo and pass the string inside; one for double the string, the second to make the final node and hide it inside.

Note: think about the necessary height you need between branches and then cut your central “pillar” pieces

We made a light cut in the middle of every horizontal sticks to help the cooking twine to stay still… I don’t know yet if that’s really important or not but that wasn’t hard to do.

We made a node to fix every horizontal stick with the cooking twine. If you use a single “pillar”, use wire to fix it at every horizontal branches.

Now, place to the ribbon to block the Christmas tree! Start with the top of the shape and make a double node at the end of each branch/stick. Be careful to keep the same height at every extremities.

Here we are with our shape of Christmas tree! Now, time to make the days. Because I wanted something with natural materials, I found on Amazon rounded wooden slices on which ones we painted the numbers of the December days. You can, of course, choose what you want as materials, colours, shapes, textures,… Be wild! To hang the days slices, I use decorations hook, very really convenient!

By browsing on internet, I found different ideas of folding and creative shapes (like elves or pyramid,… Or using carton cups, with or without lid,…) for the gifts themselves that will be hanged on the day; once the gift open, it will stay “only” the slice, that is still very decorative! And, as it is our Christmas tree, we will hang other decorations!

tadaaaa!