Few things capture the feeling of Christmas quite like a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. Whether it’s a towering fresh-cut evergreen filling the house with the scent of pine, a carefully shaped artificial tree covered in treasured ornaments, or a tiny tabletop tree glowing in a cozy corner, the Christmas tree often becomes the heart of holiday decorating.
At Holly Jolly Christmas, we love Christmas trees in all their forms — traditional and colorful, elegant and whimsical, real and artificial, perfectly coordinated and delightfully mismatched.
This Christmas Trees guide is your starting point for choosing, caring for, decorating, and enjoying your tree throughout the holiday season.
🎄 Choosing the Perfect Christmas Tree
Before the lights, ribbon, ornaments, and tinsel come out, you need the tree itself.
There really isn’t one “best” Christmas tree. The right choice depends on your home, decorating style, available space, budget, traditions, and how much maintenance you want to do.
Real Christmas Trees
A fresh Christmas tree brings natural texture and that unmistakable evergreen fragrance into the home.
Depending on where you live, popular Christmas tree varieties may include fir, spruce, and pine. Each has its own appearance, needle texture, fragrance, and branch strength.
When choosing a fresh tree, look for:
- Vibrant green needles
- Flexible rather than brittle branches
- Good needle retention
- A straight trunk that will fit your tree stand
- Strong branches if you have heavier ornaments
- A shape that works with the space you have available
Once your tree is home, proper care can help it stay attractive throughout the holiday season.
Read our guide:
How to Make Your Christmas Tree Last Longer
Artificial Christmas Trees
Artificial trees make decorating wonderfully convenient.
They can be reused year after year, don’t require watering, and are available in an enormous range of sizes and styles.
You can find:
- Traditional green trees
- Flocked snowy trees
- Slim trees
- Pencil trees
- Pre-lit trees
- Tabletop trees
- Colorful trees
- Extra-wide trees
- Vintage-inspired trees
Artificial trees can also be a great choice when you love decorating early and want your tree to remain up for a long holiday season.
Don’t worry if your artificial tree initially looks a little sparse after coming out of storage. Careful fluffing and decorating can completely transform it.
Try These 5 Easy Hacks to Make Your Christmas Tree Look Fuller and More Lush
✨ Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas
Decorating the Christmas tree is where the fun really begins.
There are no rules saying your tree has to look like something from a magazine. Some of the most beautiful Christmas trees are filled with a mixture of childhood ornaments, handmade treasures, travel souvenirs, gifts, family keepsakes, and decorations collected over decades.
Other people love creating an entirely new theme every Christmas.
Both approaches can be wonderful.
Classic Christmas Tree
You can hardly go wrong with traditional Christmas colors.
Think:
- Red
- Green
- Gold
- Plaid ribbon
- Berries
- Pinecones
- Bells
- Stars
- Candy canes
- Classic glass ornaments
Add warm white lights for an especially cozy, nostalgic look.
Winter Wonderland Tree
Create the feeling of a snowy forest with:
- White
- Silver
- Pale blue
- Snowflakes
- Frosted branches
- White ribbon
- Crystal ornaments
- Icy picks
- Woodland animals
A flocked tree makes an especially beautiful foundation for this style.
Rustic Woodland Tree
Bring the outdoors inside with natural textures such as:
- Pinecones
- Wooden ornaments
- Burlap ribbon
- Berries
- Twig stars
- Mushrooms
- Owls
- Deer
- Woodland creatures
- Natural greenery
This style works especially well with warm white lights and simple handmade decorations.
Vintage Christmas Tree
Bring back Christmases of decades past with colorful glass ornaments, tinsel, retro Santas, vintage-style lights, shiny baubles, candy canes, and ornaments that look as though they could have come from Grandma’s Christmas box.
Colorful & Whimsical Christmas Tree
Christmas does not have to be limited to red and green.
Try:
- Pink
- Turquoise
- Rainbow colors
- Candy themes
- Gingerbread
- Peppermint
- The Grinch
- Nutcrackers
- Santa
- Snowmen
A themed tree is a wonderful way to bring personality into your Christmas decorating.
For even more holiday decorating inspiration, visit our Christmas Decorating Ideas hub.
🎀 Decorate Your Christmas Tree With Ribbon & Bows
Ribbon can completely transform the look of a Christmas tree.
It adds color, texture, movement, and — when placed strategically — can even help disguise gaps between branches.
You can:
- Cascade ribbon vertically down the tree
- Weave it loosely through branches
- Create ribbon loops
- Combine several ribbon patterns
- Add oversized bows
- Use one dramatic bow as a tree topper
Wired ribbon is especially helpful because you can shape it and tuck it securely among the branches.
Want to make your own bows?
Read The Ultimate Guide to Creating Stunning Christmas Tree Bows
🔴 Christmas Ornaments
Ornaments are what give a Christmas tree its personality.
A tree can be coordinated around a carefully selected color palette, but it certainly doesn’t have to be.
Mixing new ornaments with old favorites often creates a tree that feels much more personal.
Try combining:
- Christmas balls
- Handmade ornaments
- Family keepsakes
- Photo ornaments
- Wooden decorations
- Glass ornaments
- Bells
- Stars
- Snowflakes
- Candy canes
- Angels
- Santa ornaments
- Travel souvenirs
- Children’s crafts
When decorating, place some ornaments deeper among the branches instead of hanging everything from the outer tips. This creates layers and gives the finished tree more depth.
Want to create some of your own decorations?
Easy DIY Christmas Ball Crafts to Decorate Your Home
Handmade ornaments can become some of the most meaningful decorations on the tree — especially when children help make them.
💡 Christmas Tree Lights
There is something almost magical about the moment the Christmas tree lights come on.
Before adding ornaments, work your lights throughout the branches so the glow comes from both inside and outside the tree.
Popular choices include:
- Warm white lights
- Cool white lights
- Multicolored lights
- Vintage-style bulbs
- Twinkling lights
- Pre-lit trees
Warm white lights create a cozy traditional feeling, while colorful lights can make a tree feel cheerful and nostalgic.
Whichever style you choose, always use lights designed for Christmas trees, inspect cords and bulbs for damage, and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
⭐ Choosing a Christmas Tree Topper
The topper provides the finishing touch.
Stars and angels are two of the most traditional choices, but your tree topper can be almost anything that works with your theme.
Ideas include:
- Star
- Angel
- Large bow
- Snowflake
- Santa hat
- Crown
- Floral spray
- Oversized ornament
- Nutcracker
- Woodland arrangement
- Whimsical themed topper
You can also combine ribbon, branches, picks, berries, and ornaments around your topper to create a dramatic finishing arrangement.
🌲 How to Make a Christmas Tree Look Fuller
A sparse tree doesn’t have to stay sparse.
Before buying an entirely new tree, try working with the one you already have.
Start by carefully separating and shaping the branches.
Then use decorations to create additional depth.
Helpful fillers include:
- Ribbon
- Garland
- Greenery picks
- Berries
- Pinecones
- Larger ornaments
- Floral stems
- Extra lights
Placing some decorations closer to the trunk and others near the branch tips creates layers that can make the entire tree appear much fuller.
See all of our tricks in:
5 Easy Hacks to Make Your Christmas Tree Look Fuller and More Lush
🏡 Christmas Trees for Small Spaces
You don’t need an enormous living room to have a wonderful Christmas tree.
Smaller homes, apartments, bedrooms, offices, entryways, and kitchens can all accommodate a little Christmas magic.
Consider:
- Slim Christmas trees
- Pencil trees
- Tabletop trees
- Miniature potted evergreens
- Half trees designed to sit against a wall
- Small trees placed on tables or stands
You can even decorate several miniature trees throughout the house instead of having one large tree.
❤️ A Christmas Tree Filled With Memories
Not every ornament needs to match.
In fact, sometimes the ornaments that match the least mean the most.
A child’s slightly crooked handmade ornament, a decoration purchased on vacation, an ornament inherited from a grandparent, or a tiny keepsake commemorating a first Christmas can turn an ordinary evergreen into a family history.
Consider adding a special ornament each year.
Over time, decorating the Christmas tree becomes more than decorating.
It becomes rediscovering memories.
📜 The History of the Christmas Tree
Christmas trees have changed considerably over the centuries, but evergreen plants have long carried winter symbolism.
Over time, decorated Christmas trees developed into one of the holiday season’s most recognizable traditions. What began as a regional custom ultimately spread internationally, with different families and cultures developing their own ways of decorating and celebrating around the tree.
Today you’ll find Christmas trees covered in everything from candles represented by electric lights to handcrafted ornaments, family photographs, popcorn garlands, ribbons, candy canes, glass baubles, collectible decorations, and elaborate themed displays.
Discover more about how the tradition developed:
The History and Evolution of the Christmas Tree
🖍️ Christmas Tree Fun for Kids
The Christmas tree isn’t only for decorating.
It also inspires holiday crafts, games, worksheets, and coloring activities.
Christmas tree coloring pages are especially easy to use during the busy holiday season. Print a few pages, set out crayons or markers, and children can design trees covered in whatever colors and decorations they imagine.
Explore:
You can find even more printable holiday fun in our Christmas Coloring Pages collection.
🔥 Christmas Tree Safety
A little care helps keep Christmas tree decorating fun.
Keep your tree stable and securely positioned, and avoid placing it where it blocks an exit or walkway.
With real Christmas trees, check the water regularly and avoid allowing the tree to become excessively dry.
Keep trees away from fireplaces, radiators, heating vents, candles, and other significant heat or flame sources.
Inspect electrical decorations before use, follow product instructions, and never use real candles on a Christmas tree.
🎁 Make Your Christmas Tree Your Own
The most beautiful Christmas tree isn’t necessarily the biggest, most expensive, or most perfectly coordinated.
It’s the one that makes your home feel like Christmas.
Maybe yours is covered in matching gold ornaments and carefully curled ribbon.
Maybe it’s filled with decorations your children made in kindergarten.
Maybe you bring home a fragrant fresh tree every December.
Maybe you’ve used the same beloved artificial tree for twenty years.
Maybe your tree changes completely every Christmas.
Traditions don’t all have to look alike.
Turn on the lights, hang the ornaments, put on your favorite Christmas music, and create a tree that makes you happy every time you walk into the room.
That’s Christmas magic.
🔗 Explore More Christmas Tree Ideas
Continue exploring Christmas trees and holiday decorating with Holly Jolly Christmas:
- 5 Easy Hacks to Make Your Christmas Tree Look Fuller and More Lush
- How to Make Your Christmas Tree Last Longer
- The Ultimate Guide to Creating Stunning Christmas Tree Bows
- Easy DIY Christmas Ball Crafts to Decorate Your Home
- The History and Evolution of the Christmas Tree
- Christmas Tree Coloring Pages
- Christmas Decorating Ideas, DIY Décor & Holiday Inspiration
