PETALING JAYA, Dec 22 — Putting up Christmas trees has become a fond pastime during the year-end holiday season.
But year after year of doing the same old thing can get boring for some.
So, if you’re one of those few looking for something a little different, albeit last minute this Christmas, you can try some of these unconventional ways to put up your tree.
Floating ornament tree
If you’re in the spirit of trying something new, why not ditch the Christmas tree entirely?
While it’s definitely not the traditional way of doing things, a “floating ornament” tree looks simply amazing — and it’s really easy to pull off.
Firstly you’ll need to cut a piece of cardboard into a large circle and poke random holes into it, to act as a base for the ornaments to hang from.
Then you have to stick different lengths of fishing wire through the cardboard base and secure it with tape, before tying the other end of the wire to your ornaments.
Hang the base from your ceiling and you now have a majestic and really cool looking Christmas “tree”.
Although, you might want to reconsider trying this out if you have pets, because we all know what’s bound to happen.
PVC pipe tree
Something that requires a little more effort, but is well worth it, the PVC pipe tree is something that will surely leave all your family and friends in awe this Christmas.
For this, you’ll only need a couple of things including a variety of different sized PVC pipes, a strong adhesive and a board to act as a base.
You’ll basically have to cut the pipes into pieces about two inches long and then stick them onto the board into the shape of a tree.
Let it dry, put a few baubles and sparkles in there and you have yourself a really beautiful and unique Christmas tree.
Branch Tree
Another unconventional way you could put up your Christmas tree would be to just use some branches and string.
It’s really simple to create and it doesn’t take up a lot of space around your house either, as you’d only need an empty wall to hang it from.
To do this, you’d have to first find and select the branches you’d like to use and arrange them according to length, tapering them to form a tree shape.
Then using a single piece of string, tie knots on each branch or stick and make your way up the arrangement, without cutting the string.
Go all the way around back to the bottom-most branch, finish tying the last knot and your branch tree is ready to be hung anywhere around the house.
You can even weave your Christmas lights through the branches to give it a more eye-catching effect.
Wall-hanging tree
Similar to the branch tree, a wall hanging tree is also a space-saving and easy alternative to your traditional Christmas tree.
Just get some tinsel out from your Christmas storage boxes, look for an empty wall around your house, and get to work.
All you have to do is place the tinsel on the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree and secure it with some tape, before adding lights and ornaments to decorate.
If you’re not keen on using tape, you can also get a foam or corkboard and place pins in it in the shape of a tree, and proceed to hang the tinsel on the pins instead.
If you don’t have much tinsel available, the LED Christmas lights also work nicely using this wall hanging tree method.
Newspaper tree
If the old newspaper collector hasn’t come around yet this month, there might be another use for that pile of old newspapers in your home.
It’s eco-friendly and it doesn’t cost you anything as well as it makes use of what would be considered waste materials.
To build your own, you’ll need at least four or five days’ worth of newspapers and a lot of cellophane or duct tape too.
You’ll want to start by building a base by rolling up sheets of newspaper and sticking them together to create a backbone for the “branches” to stick to.
Then you have to roll up your branches by placing a sheet of paper flat and rolling from the bottom corner on one side all the way to the top corner on the opposite side.
Once you’ve created enough branches, all you need to do is tape the top of each branch onto the backbone you made earlier, starting from the bottom and working your way to the top.
After a lot of taping, you should have a pretty neat, upcycled Christmas tree.
