A Christmas tree is a beautiful Christmas decoration, but there are many problems with maintaining it and then taking it apart. Perhaps it's time to think about an alternative. In this guide, we present the best ideas for the modern equivalents of a Christmas tree.
Everyone associates the Christmas tree with beautiful Christmas. The tradition is not old, but it has become so entrenched in the memory of generations that we cannot imagine holidays without it. Unfortunately, bringing home, maintaining, and then cleaning up the Christmas tree raises many problems.
First of all, dressing cut Christmas trees for the holidays is very uneconomical. We use the tree as an ornament for several weeks and then it goes to the trash. At best, it ends up in the compost or in the furnace. Considering how many millions of Poles, as well as Polish churches, hospitals, offices, and supermarkets, want to have their own Christmas trees, we can easily imagine how many trees are cut each year.
In addition, caring for the Christmas tree and cleaning up after taking it out is a big problem. For these reasons, it makes sense to think about alternatives. Preferably those that will keep the mood of Christmas, but save us labor and environmental losses.
There are situations when we can afford a Christmas tree. Unfortunately, it is not a good that can be shared equally between everyone. People with a garden can decorate home trees with baubles. They do not have to be Christmas trees, even apple trees or linden trees are suitable. However, conifers decorated with lamps and toys look the most beautiful. When decorating what grows in front of the house, we do not destroy the trees (it must be done delicately) and we have no problem with the disposal of dried stalks after Christmas.
The second situation in which you can dress up a real Christmas tree is if you have a conifer in a pot. If a small thuja, juniper, or even pine are on our balcony, they can be decorated with lamps and baubles during the holiday season. You have to be careful with bringing the conifers home because in a heated apartment they can start to dry out. If we don't put them next to the radiator and we water them regularly, it shouldn't be a problem.
If you have some time and manual skills, making a Christmas tree yourself can be a lot of fun. There are many ways to DIY your Christmas tree. Below you will find some suggestions. We chose those that are three-dimensional and will most closely resemble the classic shape of a Christmas tree:
This is one of the most fashionable ways to create your own Christmas trees lately. A cone-shaped cardboard frame of any size is simply covered with decorative noodles. Especially bows and shells are perfect for this. The pasta is best painted with spray paint. There are many versions of this type of Christmas tree. The simplest is plain-colored pieces of pasta stuck to cardboard and a star or a bow on the top. You can arrange twigs of two-color pasta, you can attach baubles or other decorations. It all depends on our creativity.
If you live near a forest or park, you can make a beautiful, modern arrangement of dry branches. They can be arranged in different ways. We propose to arrange successive layers, from the largest to the smallest ones, and glue them with glue for a gun. It is best to knock or glue a triangle from the first branches first. Nail it to a small stump or a piece of a very thick branch, which will be our base. Then we arrange and glue the next tiers of branches, giving the whole shape resembling a Christmas tree. You can hang ornaments on the branches, just like on an ordinary Christmas tree. It's a good idea to paint the branches with white, silver or gold paint.
This installation requires some work and a good sense of space, but the result is worth every effort. It is a minimalist, light structure, well suited to large, modern interiors. We hang the baubles under the ceiling, preferably on a specially prepared rack, so that they form the shape of a Christmas tree. You can illuminate it from the bottom with a lamp placed on the floor. You can also decorate with gifts underneath.
Since such a Christmas tree is difficult to make, you can also buy a ready-made frame. It is hung from the ceiling and its shape is given by circles attached to ropes. Such a ready structure can be freely decorated with Christmas decorations.
It is a simple replacement for an artificial Christmas tree. On a frame such as a macaroni tree, glue around the chains imitating coniferous branches. Preferably green, but you can also use alternating green and white, for example. Lamps and baubles can be attached to this structure with wires or paper clips stuck in cardboard. Another option is to prepare a cone with previously made discreet tabs of cardboard on which you can hang something.
In fact, the type of self-made Christmas tree depends on what we choose. The above methods can be adapted to different interiors. In addition, instead of making a Christmas tree, you can hang Christmas balls and lamps, e.g. on a ficus or on large, dry branches, which we arrange in a large vase or pot.
The great advantage of industrially produced artificial Christmas trees is that they very much resemble living trees. If we put a reed made of live pine or fir branches nearby or we spray a fragrance, the impression is almost identical. If someone cares about the traditional appearance of the apartment and does not want to buy a live tree for a dozen or so days, an artificial Christmas tree is an excellent alternative.
It can be perceived differently by guests. If the Christmas tree is of high quality, they probably won't even notice the difference. However, artificial Christmas trees are associated with dubious beauty with the mass utility design of the times of the Polish People's Republic. Therefore, the purchase of such an ornament is very dependent on the individual sense of aesthetics. The more so because you have to be prepared for a large expense. If we want to have a large Christmas tree, it will be an amount of several hundred zlotys.
Undoubtedly, the artificial Christmas tree does not lose needles, it does not need to be watered and if we take care that it does not get too dusty, it will serve us for many years.
Do we really have to put a Christmas tree in the apartment? Maybe a headdress or meaningful decorations will be enough to create a unique atmosphere? Sometimes it is enough to design a Christmas tree by hanging a triangle made of cardboard or branches on the wall and decorating it with a few lights.
Another modern alternative to the Christmas tree is coniferous branches arranged in a vase and decorated with baubles.
You can also put on a fairy-tale interior decoration. Decorate the walls of the living room with lamps, instead of hanging them in one specific place. It can be a good idea to put elf or holiday gnome figurines on the shelves and decorate the curtains and curtain rods with chains and toys. In this way, we create a festive atmosphere in the room without placing a Christmas tree in it.
Giving up the traditional Christmas tree may turn out to be a very good decision that will activate our creativity, allow us to modernize the interior, and have a positive impact on the environment.
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