Comments on: A Special Christmas Tree This Year

By: Midweek update | Be A Good Mom

Midweek update | Be A Good Mom — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:30:19 +0000

[...] us, its our first time with a real (fake) tree in a few years. The last few years we just did our felt tree. But, this year we decided to do both. Our new real (fake) tree is almost 8 feet tall, and much [...]

By: Alternative Christmas Trees - Try Felt | Be A Good Dad

Alternative Christmas Trees - Try Felt | Be A Good Dad — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:34:47 +0000

[...] Relax people. We figured it out for you all last year. You can make your own Christmas tree out of felt. [...]

By: More Felt Christmas Trees — Be A Good Dad

More Felt Christmas Trees — Be A Good Dad — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 11:00:53 +0000

[...] my original post, I speculated that the felt trees might be great for pet owners. Angela has evidence that while the felt Christmas trees might be safer than real Christmas trees, [...]

By: Thrifty Karen

Thrifty Karen — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:35:32 +0000

A 7 foot tall felt tree? lol I’ve never heard of such. lol When I was teaching, we made a big huge tree out of bulletin board paper,attached it to the bulletin board and let the kids decorate it. Then we put their gifts under it. hahaha

We bought an expensive artificial tree at Sam’s a few years ago. I told my husband we had to use it for at least 5-6 years so that we could get our money out of it. I’m sure we’ll use it for much longer than that.

“Girls like guys with skills.” –Napoleon Dynamite

By: Bald Man

Bald Man — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:51:24 +0000

1998! That tree was still young!. A couple years ago we finally threw away the tree I had while growing up. It’s hard to count rings on a fake tree, but my best guess it that it was nearly 25 years old.

I like the felt tree though. May have to do something like that in the kids room next year, where floor space is at a premium.

By: beagooddad

beagooddad — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:38:52 +0000

Awesome. Looking forward to seeing the tree. Kids/pets/neighbors are perfectly welcome and encouraged in the photo. One thing we did with the tree is practice on a small piece of paper to figure out what the basic shape should look like before cutting the big giant sheet of felt. My first one on the paper was too skinny. That would have been a bummer if I had used the big sheet of felt and ended up with a super skinny tree.

By: Angela

Angela — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:37:49 +0000

OMGosh! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! Your directions are actually pretty clear. I’m hoping to get to the store tomorrow. Of course I’ll send pics! I can’t promise that they won’t have kids/pets in them as well though, and I don’t know if my art skillz are nearly as mad as yours. I’ll make do though. Thanks again!

By: beagooddad

beagooddad — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:49:49 +0000

Angela,

We bought some little plastic rings (about a 1/2 diameter – we found them in the sewing section). We hand sewed one up near the top of the tree and one near the tip of each branch by just looping the thread around the bottom of the ring several times. Then we got some of that putty stuff that you can use to stick stuff to the wall. We kind of wrapped some of that around each ring and then stuck it to the wall.

Don’t forget that only the tree needs to be cut from the big roll. For the ornaments, we used the little felt rectangles I was used to from art projects as a kid.

BAGM just said there’s a good chance that the putty stuff would hold it up by sticking it directly to the felt but I would at least have the rings ready in case that doesn’t work.

A couple little tips. When you get the giant sheet of felt, fold it down the from top to bottom and then draw one side of the tree and when you cut it out and unfold it you will have an old tree that is pretty much even on each side. Also, make sure you leave room for the star and the trunk. Our green part of the tree is about 6 feet tall and the stump is about 12 inches. The star is about 12 inches but only 6 inches are above the top of the tree, so over all the tree is about 7 1/2 feet.

Nothing is holding the ornaments onto the tree (including the star at the top). Since they are felt, too, the felt ornaments just stick to the felt tree and are easy to pull off and move around whenever you or the kids feel like redecorating. Our kids are constantly (like over an hour a day) pulling down ornaments and moving them around.

If some of that doesn’t make sense, let me know and I can try to take some pictures of the part of the tree that you are having trouble with.

If you (or anybody else) do make a tree like this, could you send me a picture or two that I could post on the blog (or let me know where you post the pictures on your own)? I’d love to see what kind of ornaments other people make.

By: beagooddad

beagooddad — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:47:13 +0000

pickel, I never even thought of it being an alternative for kids with sensory issues. Nice job. In addition to no lights, there are no poky branches either.

By: Angela

Angela — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:59:39 +0000

What are you using to hold the tree to the wall, and the ornaments to the tree? We want to go to Jo-Ann and I’d like to get everything all at once. My husband is actually excited about it, and so is my 11 yo. Thanks!!