Vanity: How to decorate around a Christmas tree with very large base holder?

Jewish person with no experience here ^ | 12/08/16 | Newbie

[Yaelle]

Ok, we are surprising someone tomorrow with a Christmas tree. We are Jewish so pretty clueless as to how this works. Got a beautiful tree about 6 feet, best watering stand we could find, even got millions of little lights all up around it (thanks, YouTube!). But it needs something around the base. Thought I could just grab a tree skirt, but this tree has an enormous stand, diameter maybe 2.5 feet. The skirts only have a small hole for the trunk.

What can we put under the tree that would fit? So many Christians here who put up trees every year, I know someone will have an idea. Should we get Christmas blankets and bunch them around the base? Or would that look sloppy? Please do not suggest lifting the whole thing up to put a regular skirt under it, because that is not happening before tomorrow. The base is full of water.

Thanks for helping our surprise with this finishing touch!

[nopardons]

The copper in the penny and the sugar help to keep the tree in good shape. Some tree places give you a packet of some crystals/some sell the packets, to put into the water to keep the tree fresh. The penny and sugar are old fashioned remedies that do the same thing.

Either I'm older than you are or you never watched your parents.you never set up a Christmas trees. Okay, okay, there is another possibility....your Christmas tree looks like a mess before Dec. 25th ever comes and you spend Christmas day vacuuming up a massive amount of needles. LOL

[nopardons]

Long ago, when I was a kiddo, we always had white cotton wool/batting around the tree. :-)

DO NOT COVER THE STAND'S WATER BASIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nopardons]

Many thanks! :-)

[Shortstop7]

I think that is what I actually bought to use for “fake snow”... I’m not crafty at all...but it was some kind of quilt filler or pillow stuffing. Amazing how good it looks with a few items placed on it. Good thing is you don’t have to cut or measure anything. Just pile it under the tree. Pets love it :)

[nopardons]

We always put down a BIG sheet of plastic or a slit open garbage bag under the tree ( for spill ), then the skirt, and then top all with the stand and tree.

When the boughs are all open/down ( and the ornaments will also help bring down the boughs ), you really can't see the stand.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Sure, happy to help! Merry Christmas.

I also solved the problem of our Christmas trees falling over. We put them against a wall, so one side is always heavy with ornaments. We had a couple go over, one time with a kitten climbing up inside.

Now I attach a BIG tree stand to a BIG plywood square (maybe 3 feet square) which fits into a washing machine water containment tray. That way there’s no fear of any water overflow ruining our hardwood floor. No tree is going tip over in the POF household ever again!

We cover the whole shebang with a nice big square of Christmas red felt.

[smokingfrog]

That won’t help. If anything, the copper would be bad for the tree.

[nopardons]

And a very Merry Christmas to you and yours! :-)

Do you know about "tree bags"? They're like normal black garbage bags, but much bigger. When you buy one, put it on top of the plactic, cover both with the stand & tress, then when you have denuded the tree, all you have to do is have someone hold the tree, as you remove the stand and then you just pull up the tree garbage bag. :-)

[minnesota_bound]

You can learn from this guy on how to decorate the tree.

A Christmas Story, Fuse is out, Don’t Anybody Move
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCOnV59HWoI

[nopardons]

NONSENSE...I grew up with this trick and it works like a charm!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I’ve heard of the, but always forget to buy one in advance of getting the tree home. Thanks for the reminder! This year I’ll get one and avoid the New Year’s Day mess.

[dangus]

My tree has a very whispy, cotton-ball-like material around it that is marketed as “snow.” It comes shaped rather like a tree skirt, but is incredible stretchy, almost like Halloween “spider webs.” (But its fibers are much, much, much finer, creating almost cloud-like wisps, rather than web strands.)

[az_gila]

Put an electric train set around it.

---

A great excuse to buy that train set you always wanted as a kid...:^)

But, of course, you can now buy bigger and better.

[poobear]

Merry Christmas Yaelle! May God Bless you and your family!

[nopardons]

You’re welcome; one good turn deserved another and I am very happy that I was able to remind you of this handy Christmas tree trick to avoid the usual mess. :-)

[doorgunner69]

And here we are wondering how to decorate a tree with a two month old kitten on the prowl..........

[doorgunner69]

But, of course, you can now buy bigger and better.

Had the larger (whatever it was) gauge as a kid, always lusted after the HO stuff, it was just so cool and precise, not clunky like the big Lionel stuff I had.

[Yaelle]

Merry Christmas, Poobear!!

[Yaelle]

I would say with that kitten who WILL be up in that tree, No Glass Ornaments!

[Vendome]

I think you are fine with you have and this person will be grateful