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How to Decorate Your Christmas Tree
By Sophie Carter - 4th November 2025
The winter seasons are fast approaching, and you might be beginning to wonder how soon is too soon to put your Christmas decs up. While many like to use the 1st December as a benchmark for beginning the festivities, some people decorate their house for Christmas as early as the 1st November. The truth is, whenever your tree goes up, it should be an exciting event, something to bring a little festive joy to your space and help you begin the Christmas countdown. For some, however, the selection, assembly, and decoration of the tree is a stressful affair, adding unnecessary pressure to get it looking ‘insta-worthy’. Our helpful guide to tree decorations is on hand to help ensure your tree is decorated to perfection, and should take the stress out of what should really be an enchanting occasion.
Where did the tradition of Christmas tree decoration come from?
The history of the Christmas tree has many possible roots, ranging from the use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome to the more European traditions of trees decorated with lit candles. Though they largely began with higher status households, by the 1890s, tree ornaments and decorations were beginning to become more popular in the US and UK. In the early 20th century, many people in the US were known to partake in the decoration of trees, mainly with homemade ornaments, while the European tradition was based much more around using edible treats such as apples, nuts, and cookies to decorate. With the advent of electricity, Christmas lights were born, and many people would delight in lighting up their trees, with the intention of allowing their decorations to glow for days on end.
Is a real tree better than an artificial tree?
Like any Christmas decorations, Christmas trees are a matter of personal taste. There are so many sizes, styles, and types to choose from, whether you go for a real tree or an artificial one. If you're a fan of the nostalgia, tradition, or the smell of a real tree, you'll be pleased to know that come November, real trees are fairly easy to find. Alternatively, many people opt for artificial trees for ease, and if you're someone who can't bear the mess of needles dropping, then an artificial tree may be more your style. You also won't need to worry about the branches drooping way before Christmas Day, and can pull out your tree year-on-year, saving you money and time.
How do you decorate a Christmas tree?
There are many factors to consider when selecting Christmas tree decorations. Once you know roughly where you'll be placing the tree with consideration for the size of the space, you can begin to plan your decorations. If the space is quite small, you may not want to go overboard on fairy lights, as it can overpower a corner of the room. On the other hand, if you have a lot of space to play with, you can afford to be a bit more extravagant with the size of your baubles and the amount of lights.
Other things to consider when decorating your tree are:
- Your décor style - do you have a specific décor style in the room you're choosing to decorate? If you have a colour scheme in your room already, it may look good to fit your tree in with this theme, with no clashing colours to offset the vibe you've already carefully curated
- Your desired theme - if you're thinking you'd like to stick to a theme, this can be a fun way to narrow down your decoration options. For example, if you love all things retro and want to feel like you've travelled back in time this Christmas, a 90s-style tree full of gaudy baubles, shiny tinsel, and bright, colourful lights can be super fun.
- The size of your tree - of course, when it comes to buying your decorations, the last thing you want is to have too many or not enough. Smaller trees not only have less space for larger decorations, but they also have more frail branches (especially on a real tree) and will need the weight of the baubles and the amount of the lights to be carefully considered. More on this later…
In what order do you decorate a Christmas tree?
When you're decorating something as complex as a Christmas tree, it is easier to break down the process into steps. These are the steps we would recommend:
Step one - lights!
This can be one of the most frustrating parts of decorating a tree, particularly if your lights are from last year, and someone wasn't very careful about how they were stored away. Begin with untangling the length of lights (this may require more than one pair of hands), before plugging them in and turning them on. Start from the base of the tree and work your way up, using the light from each bulb to help guide you to the more shadowy areas. Once you've reached the top, you'll see how much more of the length you have left, and you can play around with this excess, adding it where you feel necessary.
Step two - tinsel, ribbons or garlands
They may not be to everyone's taste, but retro accessories such as tinsel and garlands can provide texture, colour, and even more festive fun to a tree, before you've even thought about adding your baubles. Much like your lights, you should aim to start from the bottom of the tree and work your way up, as the tree is always more dense, with a lot more space towards the bottom. Always ensure you tuck the garland, ribbon, or tinsel into the branches enough that it will hold its place and is less likely to unravel or droop over time.
Step three - baubles and ornaments
This is where you can really have some fun, depending on what baubles you have chosen. For larger, heavier ornaments, hang these lower, on the fuller, bushier part of the tree. These branches can take a lot more weight and the baubles are less likely to look out of place as there are many more branches on offer. Follow with the more medium-sized, and finally fill in the gaps and dress the smaller, higher branches with your smaller baubles. If you've chosen a colour theme, consider adding all of the same colour, tone, or texture first, then go in with the next ones, as this will allow you to evenly space them and get a good range of tones and textures across the whole of the tree. If your style is a little more random, just go wild with this part, as every bauble may well be totally different to the next! For more sentimental decorations like our Personalised Photo Glass Dome Bauble, you'll want to ensure they're pride of place with a good vantage point from around the whole tree. It can be easier to add these ones first, and add the simpler ornaments around them.
Step four - the topper
Largely down to personal preference rather than having much to do with the colour scheme of the baubles themselves, a tree topper is an essential finishing touch to a Christmas tree. Many like to pop a star at the top, to reflect the shining star mentioned in the telling of Christmas in the bible. If you choose an angel like our Festive Angel Mouse Tree Topper, it's likely you want to bring peace, protection, and care to your home for Christmas, and the best way to symbolise this is with your sweet, smiling angel sat atop your tree. Many like to get little ones involved with this part, as it's the easiest decoration to add to the tree and creates a magical memory they'll likely not forget. Whatever topper you choose, make sure it's something you'll love to look at every day, and also ensure your top, upright branch isn't too big or frail for the chosen topper. For real trees, you can always carve a bit off the top to ensure your topper fits perfectly.
What is the best way to decorate a smaller Christmas tree?
Everybody deserves a Christmas tree in their home, even if limited for space. While you could be a little more cautious on your choice of decorations on a smaller tree, you don't need to fully hold back. It's always helpful to consider lights and ornaments that suit the size of the tree. You can be sure that anything lightweight like felt, plywood, or thin glass baubles won't weigh down your branches, and as long as they're small enough, they're unlikely to overwhelm the tree. Smaller bulb lights such as our 30 Battery Powered LED Silver Wire String Lights are a better option, too, as the malleable wire can easily grip onto the branches and base of your small tree to ensure they stay in place and still allow your tree to twinkle.
What are the Christmas decoration trends for 2025?
Brilliant bows
Just like 2024, bows are back this year. Bigger, brighter, and bolder than ever, this year Christmas tree bows are taking centre stage on trees of all kinds. Whether you opt for striped, textured, or brightly-coloured, adding a beautiful bow to your branches is a great way to inject some sweet nostalgia and create a candy-shop-inspired scheme that adds bountiful fun to your space.
Whimsical woodland
With a little more a focus on calming earth tones and cosy textures, a woodland theme is typically favoured for the autumnal months. This year, however, many are transferring this whimsical vibe to their Christmas decs, by filling their tree with toadstools, hedgehogs, and other mystical midnight creatures. Explore our beautiful range of toadstool baubles, combining natural elements with lightweight textures for a fun change from regular baubles.
Novelty nic-nacs
The novelty bauble trend has been around for a few years now, and doesn't look set to leave any time soon. While people have long been adding food-shaped baubles and quirky animals to their trees for time, this year funky, fun, and quirky decorations are all the rage. Whether you choose to stick to a story-telling theme with festive mice baubles, or you decide to go completely off piste and random, adding a novelty bauble to your tree is the best way to make your festivities extra fun.
Celestial splashes
Starry symbols are always in style, but this year they're filling up Christmas trees in an attempt to add even more sparkle and wonder. If you're keen to carry the cosmic theme throughout your whole tree, consider crescent moons, sparkling stars, and more twinkling string lights than you've ever owned before, and soon your tree will become a solar system of its own.
Retro bangers
With millennials more keen than ever to bring back the 80s and 90s Christmases we knew and loved, adding some retro classics into the mix when you're decorating your tree can be a great way to spark that inner child and create true Christmas magic. Think tinsel in bright colours and bigger string lights with colourful bulbs, finishing with metallic baubles in peculiar shapes, and hey presto, you've got yourself a tree straight out of the 90s.
It's time for shops to begin filling their shelves with gorgeous decorations to begin the festivities in your home, so if you're thinking of getting started already, this guide should help you to know where to begin. From baubles to garlands, toppers to personalised trinkets, we've got a host of magical decorations in our Christmas Decorations shop, ready and waiting to fill your home with boundless festive joy. Take it easy and enjoy the process, and before you know it the tree of your dreams will be right before you, with plenty of presents beneath and special people surrounding.
