Merry Christmas, everyone! I was thinking about where I would put our Christmas tree from the moment we first set foot in this house. I quickly knew it would be SO magical to put 2 trees in the matching bay windows on the front and that dream became a reality! Since I’m very pregnant at the moment, my mom and I worked together on this and I’m so happy with how they turned out. Let’s get into the 6 tips I have for you as you decorate your Christmas tree.

1. Identify Ornament Spinner Placement

If you’ve seen any of our Christmases before, then you know about ornament spinners. They are such a magical touch when decorating your tree! Since my mom has loved these for years, I have such wonderful memories of ornaments magically spinning on the tree and it almost doesn’t feel like Christmas without them. In this first step you want to mark where they will go so that you can prioritize these special ornaments. Be sure to use incandescent lights so that your spinners will plug into them correctly!

2. Start with your tree topper

By starting with the top of your tree you can set the tone. Fill in your top with picks and ribbons and then use it as a guide to create a cohesive design on the rest of the tree.

3. Add Picks

Picks are great for making your tree look full and adding interest. This year we added in picks with red berries. You want your picks to fill in any gaps in your tree and add variety to the branches.

4. Add Bows

Next you want to add your bows. Because they are typically a larger element you want to get them on the tree and see where they fit best. Adding them in kind of a sweeping pattern always looks really pleasing to the eye. A great tip if you have a flocked tree is to place them and then later go in an shake them off and secure when you are done with everything else.

5. Add fairy lights

This came as step 5 because we found that the deep hunter green bows needed some illumination on top of them, so we put fairy lights on after rather than before. They gave just the right amount of glow!

6. Add Your Ornaments

You want to have smaller ornaments towards the top and add any large ones towards the bottom to make everything look balanced. We typically start with one color and get it evenly dispersed before moving onto the next and always making sure that we’re layering the depth of the ornaments. When you just put them near the outside of the tree then it will look flat and not have as much dimension. Once you’ve got your pops of color and any neutral ornaments, then you add your specialty ornaments to the spinners and you’re done!