When you buy a new tree, you might want a tree skirt, but do you really?
Tree skirts sit there and collect debris, and don’t shield your bare toes from that blasted moment when…..
you run into the tree stand and suddenly have a more colorful vocabulary than a box of crayons has colors!
Christmas tree collars are chic, and effortlessly cover those ugly tree stands that support the trees.
That’s my personal opinion and I made a DIY Christmas Tree Collar for one of our trees.
If you have priced Christmas Tree Collars you know they can be very pricey.
Additionally, the DIY Christmas tree collar I am about to share with you will cost you under $6 to make.
For those that add different bows and so on, it might cost a few dollars more, but these are custom-made.
Each will be yours, and match YOUR decor, which really makes a huge impact on presentation and decorating overall!
DIY Christmas Tree Collar
Whether your home is traditional, modern, shabby chic, or farmhouse, dressing up the Christmas tree is easy.
Stop using a tree skirt, which is a total dust collector, and make the tree look impressive by simply surrounding the base with a tree collar.
For those of you who have NOT seen a tree collar, it’s an item that goes around the exterior of the base tree legs on its stand.
A Christmas Tree Collar can be square or round.
Christmas tree collars are bottomless and go AROUND the tree stand base.
My Pencil Tree
With a pencil tree, I really wanted to avoid a tree skirt.
Naturally, the less at the base of a pencil tree the better.
I started searching for the perfect Christmas Tree Collar and could not find one I liked.
As a DIY kind of gal, I made my own and I did it for Under $6.
In the end, I would do it all over again and I have for many friends who wanted the same one with a few alterations!
Rather than purchasing a generic one, you find in the store, or a basket that looks like you took it from the dinner table, try this!
Plus, when you create a DIY Christmas Tree Collar, you can tailor it to fit any tree, so you make what you need.
Holidays, Tradition & Decor – DIY Christmas Tree Collar
Chances are you’ve stored at least one Christmas Tree Skirt and you know that they capture all the lint, fuzz, and moss from Manger sets.
The traditional tree skirts are ridiculous, in my opinion.
You have to make sure they are not too small or the tree does not look balanced.
Basically, you are swaddling the tree stand in the material that either looks good or does not.
There’s no happy medium.
Of course, there’s also the velcro closures that stop working or the ties that break, but there’s more.
The Famed Belly-Boob Crawl & Christmas Tree Collars vs. Skirts
For those of you that love your tree skirts, you may relate to this story.
Tree skirts create the belly-boob crawl.
If you have a small pet like a cat, consider how you have to wiggle UNDER a bed to get them when you need them for a vet appointment etc.
In general, you gotta get on your belly, and bust, and move towards them.
It’s definitely not a good feeling.
You are smooshing things that never should be, and you are basically eating the floor along the way.
Now compare that to tying a tree skirt or fastening a tree skirt.
The Christmas tree skirt has to be fastened right?
You do this by getting on your belly, and tying or fastening.
IT’s the famed cat belly/boob crawl all over again, isn’t it?
Don’t Forget To Add In The Water Mess
Plus add in the fact that many of you still have open pans for tree watering and well you have a mess when you are done!
Add-in the fact that most people don’t have others helping them put the tree skirt on.
Therefore it is a requirement to be flat on the ground to put on a skirt and to GET it around the tree is it not?
Oh, fun. STOP the insanity, make this DIY Tree Collar and simply put it down when you put the stand down.
Then put the tree in.
All done.
No fussing, no belly/boob crawling, no back pain, no belly crawling.
Enjoy your family and friends instantly with effortless tree stand coverage.
Check out the Best Tree Base that Holds Water and Does Not Spill!
Shop For Your Materials
Now a trip to the Dollar Tree & Fabric Store was a priority.
Also, just to see what other tree collars looked like, I stopped in my favorite store HomeGoods.
The price tag on this was insane for a basic bread basket with the bottom cut out, almost $30???
I was not actually committed to what looked like a bread basket, so I moved on but checked their diameter too.
Since coupons are a great option, at Joanne’s I captured Burlap for Under $1.50 a yard ($3 for 2 yards) and I had excess!
The Dollar Tree has FLEXIBLE plastic buckets, for $1 each.
If you don’t have zip ties, pick them up there too they are $1.
In total, I spent $9 because the roll of the bow was more expensive than ALL the materials but well worth it.
Meaning, if I had just used the bow I had, it would have cost me $6 total
Do you want to make outdoor trees for decor that are Easy and Under $7?
Tips To Consider for Your DIY Christmas Tree Collar
Since the plastic bucket I used was blue, I was more concerned about finishing the material over the top but keeping it FLUSH with the bottom.
Why?
The bottom needs to sit EVEN and FLUSH on the floor.
SO that you could NOT see the color of the color, it was easy to just make sure I folded over material just over the top of the collar.
I made a basic envelope seal over the top of the whole collar.
In other words, I was 1″ taller on the top of the material and folded it over.
Gluing that material both along the very top with a fine line of glue on the top frame and then a few drops on the back (inside) of the collar.
After that step, no plastic showed!
Yeah.
Again, totally optional, just my choice to make it look very finished and pro.
How TO Make This Project Yours?
So, you will want to set aside about 2 hours for this project from start to finish.
Also, if you are decorating your tree a certain way you can match the tree collar.
Therefore, if you have gold in your tree, you can use gold ribbon trim, or red, or snowmen.
Really, this is your collar, and you can theme it, style it, etc. your way!
Make a TableTop Tree For Under $5
What You Need To Know
To create my collar, I took the width of the midsection of my tree.
That’s the bulkiest point of the tree and assures that the collar WON’T be lost under your tree, in other words too small.
This is very important because the tree collar could look, ‘cheap’ if you don’t craft the right size!
To test my theory before I started I bought a collar to see what would look best, so hopefully, you don’t have to now, since I did the trial and error part!
Your tree collar, unlike a skirt, will shield you from walking too close to the tree as it provides a border.
Also, to finish the look, you could use the sparkle cotton material or burlap inside the collar to finish the look, I did.
Christmas Tree Collar Tips
Do try to blend some of your room decoration theming into the collar so it pulls the room together.
Maybe use a color or a material to coat.
Don’t limit yourself to material, instead use sequin bows sold in rows, or pom poms, the sky is the limit!
Glue guns work fabulously to craft this.
Depending on the materials you choose to create one, you might be able to use a staple gun.
Last, before you add the BASE to your Tree, I suggest putting the collar on.
Basically, have the base(legs) on the floor, place the collar over the legs.
Then place the tree into the base (legs) which is already inside the tree collar.
This makes it easier!
How To Make The DIY Tree Collar Directions
DIY Christmas Tree Collar
Equipment
- Scissors
- Zip Ties
- Glue Gun & Glue
- Big Clips (optional)
- Drill (or a boxcutter to make crisscross cuts)
- Tape measure
- Marker for measurement marks
Materials
- 3 Dollar Tree Plastic Buckets see image - I purchased 9" tall buckets
- Burlap or Material YOU choose 2 Yards
- 30 Feet 1 Roll of Bow with Wire (your color choice) *Optional
- Scissors
- Zip Ties
- Glue Gun & Glue
- Big Clips optional
- Drill or a boxcutter to make crisscross cuts
- Tape Measure
Instructions
- BEFORE BUYING MATERIALS
- Measure the tree stand and then measure the middle of the tree.
- That is the THICKEST part of the trick and how wide you want your tree collar.
- You don't want the Christmas Tree Collar to HUG the stand exactly
- Next, measure Criss-Cross of your tree stand, and left to right to check and double-check the width (diameter)
- **Consider how far your lowest branch is from the ground (which translates to how much you will be cutting off to the bucket. Will your tree collar be flush with the tree or a bit lower? Ours was a bit lower and I will show you what I did to pull it all together!
START HERE
- First, cut both handles off of the bucket, and then cut out the bottoms, on ALL three.
- Throw the handles out.
- Be sure to use good scissors with sharp blades and watch your fingers.
- Second, cut from the bottom to the top, to make this one 'sheet' of flexible plastic.
- In other words, the buckets are becoming sheets of flexible plastic.
- Repeat the same process above until all 3 buckets are disassembled and each in long pieces.
Putting All The Pieces Together
- Drill holes at the top and bottom of each of the 4 corners, of each long piece. (obviously, you will have 12 holes 4/sheet).
- Now use zip ties to fasten. Don't pull too hard or it will buckle once you join all the pieces together.
- GOAL >> The object is to join all the pieces together.
- As you work, I suggest checking the fit under the tree, each time you join an additional piece on.
- Each top and bottom should match, and look uniform, as though they are ONE piece.
- Continuity and flow of look matter here.
- For the last piece (the third), makes sure it too is uniform and flush with the others.
- You will have an overlap on the inside (no one will see it no worries).
- The overlap is good as the plastic is a bit more flexible, but when reinforced by itself (the other pieces) it is stronger.
- Trim the zip ties and I suggest adding a bit of glue to the areas between the zip ties.
- Totally optional
Gluing Process
- Measure from top to bottom of the plastic bucket for height, and then the length for your material cuts.
- Cut material to size.
- Since your collar may be a different size than mine, I won't suggest a particular length here.
- However, I will tell you that I unrolled 3 feet of material if you are curious.
- Glue the material on.
- If using burlap and not a solid material, you may want to double coat the material.
- Glue the material all the way around the exterior.
- Using a glue gun, glue at intervals.
Material Again or Finish It - DIY Christmas Tree Collar
- Since I could still see the blue underneath the first layer of material, I decided to go against the grain and wrap the collar again.
- Now, this step can be skipped for those who don't care and are just happy that the bucket plastic is not showing.
- I cut a large piece of material, about 3-4 feet in length.
- Rather than going around the collar, I went up and down, giving it a bit of texture and depth (IMO).
- Gluing at the top and bottom only.
- It's more of a swirling effect now.
The Bow & The DIY Christmas Collar
- Measure up 1/2 way from the bottom to the top.
- Use that middle measurement as the 'sweet spot' for fastening the bow.
- Cut a strip of the bow to go around the entire tree skirt.
- Glue the bow around the middle measurement to fasten.
If you want more of a 'stand-out' bow, continue on with the next steps here, otherwise, fast forward to the next paragraph.
- I added a second round of Bow in order to achieve a 'WOW' factor.
- Simply make a 'u' inside out leaving just 1" or so glued down, in between.
- Repeat this ALL the way around the tree collar.
- The wire ribbon is easy to work with and adheres nicely to the material.
- Each inside out 'U' shape is approximately 2" done freehand and eyeballed. Super easy to do.
Add the Tree To the Finished DIY Christmas Tree Collar
- Place the tree stand inside of the collar without the tree attached.
- Once the tree stand is inside place the tree in it.
- Put the tree in place, stand back, and enjoy!