Things you need to know while decorating a Christmas tree – Part 1

I grew up in a family of creative and talented siblings. All three of us have unique skill sets when it comes to the arts. From painting, fashion designing, cartooning, photography, designing; you name it we got it. My skill set at which I excel, kicks in at the Christmas season. I could be planning the next Christmas season in my head the day Christmas gets over; that’s how much I love the Christmas season.

One such fun activity is decorating the Christmas tree. I grew up at a time when Christmas decorations were limited and standard. Today, you have a choice of trees and decorations to pick and choose from and if you don’t have a few basics in place you can end up with a lot of money spent and an ugly looking tree.

I plan to give you a few tips on how and where to purchase a Christmas tree, how to light it up and how to decorate it. I plan to limit these articles to a page for easy reading so look for the next part of this article which will give you many tips.

Let me tackle the most difficult part of decorating a tree; purchasing one! The Golden rule is to figure out where you want to set your tree up. Most residential homes in Mumbai are apartments. If you live in one, identify a nice corner that works well for you. This way you don’t have to decorate the entire tree but just the side that faces everyone in the room. Consider moving your furniture around at Christmastime. Make the tree the focal point of the room and let your other pieces of furniture take a back seat. Pick a tree that towers to the ceiling of your room. It won’t occupy much space if you don’t open up the leaves that face the corner of the room. Once you have found a nice spot, tuck the tree far back as I can into the corner.

There are several shapes and types of artificial trees that you can buy. A ten-foot tree from a wholesaler at Crawford market can cost you Rs 9,000/-. A ten-foot tree will touch the ceiling of any apartment in Mumbai but a word of caution, the base of the tree can spread out to a little more than a meter and five inches even if you tuck the back leaves upwards to fit in the corner. So, take a tape and measure out the space you have identified before you buy a large tree.

I buy my tree from CRYSTAL which is located in Crawford market just behind Sadanand restaurant. Viral who owns the store is a wholesaler and entertains wholesale purchases only but he will sell you individual trees. His stock this year is almost sold out and so I suggest you hurry up if you want to buy a Christmas tree at a decent price this year.

When buying a tree think twice. While you can change your decorations, you are stuck with your tree. I avoid buying any tree that stands out; for example, a white tree or a tree with bottle brush bristles. Do not buy a tree where the branches are too spaced out from each other unless you have many decorations to fill it up. IKEA had a rather realistic looking tree last year but its branches were too spaced out and it was a challenge to decorate it. (Google the IKEA tree to get a visual of what I am saying). Your tree should also have space for you to hang ornaments not just on the outside but also in between the branches. This is a technique of layering that I will write about soon.

As a tip; If you are purchasing a new tree do not throw your old tree out. Cut its branches at the centre next to the main stem to get a nice length of a branch. Save these and I will share a tip in my next article as to what you can do with them, to make your new tree look smashing.

Look out for the next article coming soon on how to set up your tree.