How to Decorate a Patriotic Christmas Tree

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Well, you may have guessed that eventually I would decorate a Christmas tree with a patriotic theme. Since my name is Liberty, is it any wonder? You’ve probably already seen my extensive patriotic decor collection….
It has decorated my kitchen, and my bathroom, and my other bathroom…. and even my patriotic FOOD!

When I decided to do a patriotic Christmas tree this year for my theme, I had forgotten that it was an election year! A presidential election year here in the good ‘ole USA.

Once again, King of Christmas was kind enough to gift me with a beautiful Prince flocked prelit tree. (Check out the Queen flocked tree they sent me a couple years ago– and the garland/ wreath/ mini tree set they sent me last year!)

I’m always excited to see what they will send me, and how I can best show it off! Now that we have 2 full sized trees— I can decorate one with a pretty theme, and my daughter can decorate the other one with our sentimental ornaments. Don’t you love that?!

• Get a good tree- bare, flocked, pre-lit– or both!
• Remember a tree skirt– you can add this really at any step, but I find it easier if I add it first. Use fabric or even a curtain or sheet if you don’t want to buy a Christmas tree skirt. [Last year was the first year I finally used one– and that was because I got it on sale the year before!]
• Add more lights!
• Add garland or tinsel. This helps those lights sparkle.
• If you’re using pinecones, add them now.
• Decide if you’re using ribbon– and if you want it to be hidden a bit behind the ornaments, or as an accent over the ornaments. I’ve done it both ways (on different trees). Ribbon can be tucked in in single strips, spiraling in soft curls, or used in bows– either several bows or one big one as a topper– or both. So many options! Here are some pictures to show what I mean.

After you’ve laid the foundation– then it’s finally time to add the ornaments!! Hopefully if you’re doing a themed tree– you kept the ornaments in mind when you were choosing your ribbon and other accents.

• Add ornaments
• Add a topper

So that’s it- ornaments and a topper finish out our list! Hopefully if decorating a tree seemed overwhelming to you, now it won’t.

When you decorate a tree– it’s always good to have a plan. Even with a plan, you may wish you had done something different– and that happened to me this time. So— remember that even though you may have a pre-lit tree– that you can still add more lights to it!!

If I had added little blue Christmas lights first thing, it would have made the tree more colorful and added to the patriotic WOW factor.

The next thing after lights is to add garland or tinsel. And it just so happened that I had saved a bag of red and blue tinsel strands. You know how people might make fun of you for saving something that you might never use?! Well…. not this time! I think the key is to save those things in places where you might likely use them– if this bag of blue and red tinsel strands had not already been with my patriotic decor, mostly likely I wouldn’t have remembered that I had them to use.

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes picture so you can see the chaos….

Money is tight this year, and I didn’t want to spend anything extra. That’s one of the reasons I chose a patriotic theme– because I thought I had enough supplies in my craft stash! And I did. I don’t know how many years ago I bought the red and white sheer ribbon– on clearance of course…. I ended up not using the silver velvet ribbon– as it just blended into the tree!

The next thing I worked on was the topper. Last year was so easy– I just spray painted some dried hydrangeas the right color to match the tree– I thought I might do that every year– but this didn’t look right. I tried a paper plate (as you know they can be a great way to decorate) but no– not this time.

I tried some dried flower stems. I’ve seen other people use dried stems like this and their tree looked fabulous. But mine? no.

Then I had another idea to try. I had made some little ornaments with ribbed cardboard and music pages. I decided to make a giant one and see if it would look right or not. If it didn’t work I would’ve only lost a few minutes time– because everything was free!

I hot glued chenille stems onto the back so I could easily tie the star topper to the tree. You know, I didn’t realize that I had used a traditional topper shape until just now when I typed star topper. Stars are what is traditionally used for the top of a tree, isn’t it?! I wonder why? Somebody should research that…. Why, I guess I’ve even used a star topper before!

But because this one was cardboard, it hadn’t occured to me, and I thought I was being innovative….! hahaha.

I added the cardboard star topper and…..

While it looks okay…

Don’t you think it looks better without those white flower stems?

These candle sconces were at a free yard sale recently, and are very heavy duty. They seemed perfect for these spaces between my windows— and it was fun figuring out how to decorate them to go with the tree. Do you recognize the Paper Star?

And…. here’s my Patriotic Christmas Tree!! Do you see the bucket of white stems at the left window! They look better there than on the tree, don’t you agree?

Here’s my family of Liberty Bears that were gifted to me. The oldest one is 28 years old! They are so cute.

And of course you must see it lit up at night, also….

Well… Merry Christmas!

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