Christmas Tree “Ribboning”

I have always been a lover of using Garland and I have always done it the traditional way of round and round the tree. Well, last year I scored a 12ft Christmas tree off Facebook Market places! For those of you who haven’t experienced decorating a 12ft tree…it’s not only a LOT of work but it’s also a touch SCARY! So I did the round and round last year with the help of kitchen tongs and a 10ft ladder (I should mention I was also 3 months pregnant doing this).

Beau (our middle child) has a birthday right before Christmas and so we have started a tradition with his birthday party, it’s Christmas themed and Santa comes to see all the kids! This year I am doing Polar Express theme and our house will be decorated up like the North Pole.

So, I decided our 12ft Christmas tree needed to really shine! So I decided to start with changing up the garland to a “Ribboning” look. Yes, I know that isn’t a word but what else do you call this look?!?

How I got this look….

I had 3 different wired Ribbons and they varied in width too. I cut several pieces of each but not the whole roll before I climbed my ladder to begin. Each piece ranges from 1 to 3 feet roughly (I didn’t measure i just unrolled cut unrolled cut).

Then I wrapped on end around a branch or secured it slightly in the tree (this is easier with an artificial tree). Someone could use green pipe cleaners to help attach too (this will help with real trees). Then I rounded out the wired ribbon and attached somewhere else.

I didn’t cut all the ribbon in the beginning because I wanted smaller pieces at the top and mostly bigger ones at the bottom. As I got closer to being done I cut the size I needed in the area and that worked better than precut pieces.

As I went I would take a break and step back to take inventory of what areas needed ribbons. This is a great way to fill in areas that maybe aren’t real filled out with branches.

The beauty of this project… You can cross the ribbons or layer two ribbons. You can really do anything you want! Just make sure you step back away from the tree to see what areas need what. This also can cut done on the amount of ornaments you need!

This project definitely gave me anxiety because of my perfectionist personality but I finally had to give into the imperfections of this look and I’m glad I did! I love how it looks!! How about you?!?