Build Your Own Reusable Christmas Tree

Throughout my childhood, we always had a real (fresh-cut-off-our-property) Christmas tree. So many cherished holiday memories took place around the tree – decorating it with retro ornaments and enjoying the magical scent of the tree’s shedding needles while we opened gifts.

When I moved into my own first home, my husband and I continued with the real tree tradition – though, without our own forest, we opted for a local tree farm.

But after years of fresh cut real trees, we decided to create a new – more sustainable – holiday tradition with our family: building our own re-usable Christmas tree!

Each year, our kids get a kick out of sorting the branches, building the tree, and arranging the pieces all the way to the top – admittedly, sometimes a little lop-sided, but always unique, completely natural and endlessly reusable!

Plus, this entire tree was made for under $10!!!! Interested in building one for yourself or your loved ones? Check out the instructions below 🙂

Materials needed

• Branches of various lengths – ours range from 6″ – 32″ in length (between 1.5″-4″ in diameter)
• 2 Stumps – 1 short and wide for the base; 1 narrow and taller for the trunk support (our stumps measure 5″ x 22″ and 7″ x 10″ respectively)
• Drill, including spade bit and long bit (to get through stumps)
• Saw – either chainsaw, chop saw or even a hand saw
• Rebar/rod to secure the branches together (the length of the rod will determine the height of your “tree” so choose according to your space) – we used approximately 6 foot length

Instructions

1. Collect wood

Start by finding stumps and collecting branches. If you do not have access to a wooded area on your own property, check with friends, relatives, neighbours or even local farms.

The preference is to use branches that have already fallen, rather than cutting branches from healthy trees. However, if you have access to trees that would benefit from trimmed branches, this works too. The same goes for stumps – we ‘rescued’ stumps from our wood pile as they were meant to be chopped into firewood.

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Any type of wood works here – though, try to avoid wood that is overly sappy or rotting. Dry wood is best. White birch would look really festive, but again, any type works! Branches do NOT have to be uniform in thickness, wood type or even shape (a few of our branches aren’t straight, but branch off into a Y-shape) — this keeps your tree interesting and can even offer more versatility when decorating 🙂

2. Cut wood to size

Using a saw, cut the branches into various lengths. Our branches range from 6″ to 32″ in length, with a diameter of between 1.5″ to 4″.

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3. Drill holes

Using the long drill bit, drill a hole through the center of each stump. Ensure the hole is wide enough to fit the rebar through.

Using the spade drill bit, drill holes mid-way along the length of each branch. Again, ensure the holes are wide enough to fit the rebar through.

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4. Build your tree!

Insert the rebar into the two stumps to secure them together. This should form a solid base that is able to stand on its own.

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Sort branches by length. Beginning with the longest pieces first, slide the branches over the rebar and continue to stack the branches on until you reach the top of your ‘tree’.

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THAT’S IT!

No watering or messy clean-up needed!

Now you can decorate your tree as you like.

We have many handed down retro ornaments, plus some hilarious ones crafted by the kids in pre-school, and more recently crafted pieces made of natural materials like pinecones, dehydrated oranges and our stick-star tree topper.

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After the holidays, we opt to leave the stumps and rebar together and disassemble the rest for storage. We stack the branches in a large storage bin, but you could also keep the entire tree assembled.

Our branch tree is on its third Christmas so far. It’s definitely a fun, natural, eco-friendly and almost-free option worth trying!

Green Travel Blog gives a good overview of Christmas tree sustainability (and even features yours truly!)

Do you have a sustainable alternative Christmas tree? Please share ideas below!