Secrets & Tips To Decorate A White Christmas Tree

How to decorate a white Christmas tree and make a white Christmas tree look fuller? If you’re looking for that information, this post is about WHITE CHRISTMAS TREES and how to take them beyond the way that they come to you in the box! Take it and make it gorgeous with a few tips and go from the box variety to a WHITE CHRISTMAS TREE that has a LUSH LOOK!
white-christmas-tree-flocked-shabbyfufu
I’ve had several white Christmas trees over the years and generally speaking they don’t last more than a season or two and need to be replaced or reworked.

White Christmas Trees

Living here in South Florida has it’s climate challenges and since fake white Christmas trees (or faux…as I prefer to call them) are made of plastic. Plastic yellows in the heat and we don’t have basements for storage since we sit on top of oolite rock, so it’s garage storage for our Christmas items. It gets so hot in there that it turns any and all white plastic yellow. Yuck! You can see it below…
white-christmas-tree-yellowed
I talked about some budget white Christmas tree decor in THIS POST from a couple of years ago, but that tree honestly had to go. The lights didn’t work (another garage humidity item) and it was time to do something new.
white-christmas-tree-with-lights
Presenting my new tree! I am pretty sure that this tree will last longer because it’s a WHITE FLOCKED TREE, and the flocking is nice and thick.
christmas-tree-stuffing

Secrets and Tips To Decorate A White Christmas Tree

The first thing that you’ll want to do is to set up your new tree and fluff out the branches. It’s more tedious the very first time, and I like to store my trees in a tree bag and take off as little as possible to make next year easier! This tree is a WHITE FLOCKED CHRISTMAS TREE with LIGHTS.
how-to-redo-an-old-christmas-tree
Now you can stuff your tree. I used WHITE POLYFILL to stuff my tree and make it look like a tree that perhaps had been sitting in the forest during a heavy winter snowfall. Take the polyfill and form it into snowball shapes and stuff it deep inside the tree to cover any of the stem or light connectors that show. Keep going back to observe where you want to stuff some more and add more wherever the tree looks bare.
champagne-glittered-ornament
Next I added ornaments and in terms of WHITE CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS I feel that white, silver and champagne suit me best without being too girly. Be sure to go around the tree and add with symmetry. If the more TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS suit your style they would look stunning on a white Christmas tree with lights! If you love blue then my coastal white tree might be an inspiration for you!
white-tulle-roll
I used only what I had in my studio and found a roll of WHITE TULLE to use instead of ribbon for an ethereal look. Wind it around your tree starting from top to bottom and leave it loose so that you can tuck in and play to see what looks best.
decorating-christmas-tree
I went into my stash of vintage Christmas craft items and found some white vintage floral picks and vintage white angel hair, sometimes called SPUN GLASS.
angel-hair-christmas-tree
Not sure that I’m quite finished and may add a few white pinecones that I painted and talked about in this post about PAINTING PINECONES. You don’t need to use vintage Christmas decor items and can easily find new at the craft store, but I’m a VINTAGE LOVER and have these available to use.
white-christmas-tree-picks
***NOTE*** Do not leave your Christmas tree on for long periods of time if you are not in the area or not home. Although today’s trees are safe you don’t want to take the chance of electrical fires in the unlikely event something goes wrong.

 

pretty-white-christmas-tree

RECAP:

  1. Fill in bare spaces with white polyfill
  2. Add metallic ornaments (I used new shatterproof to avoid breakage).
  3. Wrap with rolled white tulle for an ethereal look.
  4. Embellish with picks, garlands, and textural objects such as white pinecones.

It’s looking pretty magical in here and a tree that I’ll love for years to come!

Secrets & Tips To Decorate A White Christmas Tree

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16 Comments

  1. kay raymond says:

    Absolutely beautiful!

    1. Thank you so much Kay…so glad that you like it!

    1. Thank you so much Leslie!

  2. Anna Newcastle says:

    The tree is beautiful. I purchased a white plastic tree this year and bought poly-fil to fill the gaps but before I go ahead and do this I wanted to make sure the poly-fil is flame retardant. It does not say anything on the bag. I tried to google it but still no luck. Do you know if it is flame retardant? I am concerned that it may get too hot with the lights and plastic branches.
    Thanks for you help,
    Anna

    1. Anna…personally I’ve been doing this for about 10 years with no issue. The newer trees that are pre-lit have bulbs that don’t get that hot and you can touch them after they’ve been on for hours to see. I don’t leave my trees on though when I’m not home or overnight, whether stuffed with poly or not. That being said, I take no responsibility for anyone else’s tree and simply use my own common sense. Hope this helps…

  3. I love these ideas! I have had a white tree on my wish list for a long time ..hopefully 2021 I will have the perfect spot for it!
    Thank you for so many inspiring and practical posts.
    I look forward to them every week !

    1. White trees are so ethereal Deborah, but they can be a bit sparse I find. Happy Merry Christmas to you and yours! xo, Janet

  4. This is so timely for me because I just purchased my first white tree yesterday! Thank you

  5. This is a lovely tree Janet. I have always appreciated white trees, but you are right the yellow comes after several years. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

  6. Stunning Janet, thank you for sharing the tips!

  7. Elegant and beautiful.

  8. If you’re still posting comments regarding white Christmas trees, here’s a tip of how I added fullness to my white tree last year. The prior year I used the fiberfill as you suggested in your column, which I loved but found it was a little more tedious trying to get it deep into the branches. The next year I bought yards and yards of tulle on the bolt, 45” wide, bunched it up as I went along, starting from the top of the tree I wound it around, as you would garland, filling any and all spaces, but shoving it deep inside the tree, fluffing it out as I went. LOVED THE LOOK. Tulle is very inexpensive and will last almost forever. The tree was magnificent as the lights cast a beautiful, muted glow within the tulle.

    1. I actually have used tulle as well and have that in another post! I personally prefer the batting because I store the trees with it intact and only need to do it once!

  9. AHHH, just breathtakingly ethereal! Love so much!
    This flocked tree or similar may be my NEXT Christmas tree!
    Now the question-I have a very expensive, designer store tree (bought straight off the floor 8 years ago, HAD to HAVE it!) still in perfect shape so will use another year or two.
    This is what was called a “snowy wonder tree” and is pre lit deep inside and is huge (9 ft plus) BUT is a “bare branch white tree” with attached white pinecones, some type of paint/ flocked branches and looks very “natural”. Looks almost like a bare branch tree in a forest snowstorm (branches nearly to the floor) I have done everything from traditional, family Christmas ornaments to just white and clear glass to natural material, woodland (pale) creatures to silver and gold…..
    Any ideas what I can do to make things seem NEW for at least THIS year?
    LOL, it was considered to be a Birthday gift the year it was bought due to its cost! Next year (maybe) it will sneakily move it to another room (under cover of darkness) That FULL, flocked tree might just come in the front door and be fluffed and ready by first light! 😉
    IDEAS PLEASE! I KNOW I’m late but just “frozen” this year for ideas on this tree.
    Would tulle look ok? It is way too bare (the intended look) for the poly snowballs If you think Tulle, where do you get yours?

    1. Sorry for my delay in answering you but what about loading up with a ton of silver tinsel? Or lots of white ornaments that look like snowballs? I found my tulle online years ago by the giant roll, but someplace like Joann fabrics would carry it. Good luck!