One of the highlights of living with Lars (among the many, many great things) is that I get to decorate for and celebrate Christmas! Though I always get together for Christmas with my Dad’s family, it is more about family coming together than the holiday. And I love any kind of themes and decorations, and Christmas is a great opportunity for both those things.

Hannukkah is great and all, but the pins and opportunities for decoration are more plentiful for Christmas. So since we are hosting Lars’s family next week for an early Christmas celebration, we had to get a tree together!

I know for many families an actual Christmas tree is nostalgic. Either real or fake, it carries a lot of memories. For me personally, if I’m going to have a tree, it’s going to be in the most environmentally friendly way.

Last year I did a lot of research and decided that a potted plant that we could decorate year after year was the greenest option. Well, unfortunately for Lars and me, the plant we got was infested with fruit flies and no matter what we tried, we couldn’t get rid of them. I don’t have the best green thumb. So the potted plant wasn’t a great option for us.

So this year I wanted to try something new. Enter, the $10 upcycled tree!

What you’ll need for this project:

• A tomato cage (the taller the better- we got ours at Lowe’s for $4)
• Green fabric (ideally used- we bought a used tablecloth at goodwill for $6)
• Masking tape
• Needle and thread
• Adhesive backed velcro
• Scissors

Step One. Tape top of tomato cage

The first thing you’ll want to do after turning your tomato cage over is to tape the tip together so it comes to a point. Easy peasy. Masking tape works great.

Step Two. Drape fabric and trim

Using some more masking tape to keep the fabric from falling, drape it over the tomato cage. Trim off any extra fabric from the bottom.

Step Three. Sew top closed

Using a needle and thread, I hand sewed the tip of the tree so that it would rest on the tomato cage. I only sewed about 4 inches. I’m a terrible sewer, so if I can do it, you can. It doesn’t have to look neat because it will be covered in lights and a tree topper!

Step Four. Add velcro

To keep the fabric laying correctly, I also added a few pieces of velcro. Now the fabric cover is removable and rests wonderfully on the tomato cage.

Step Five. Decorate!

This is the most important step! It’s not a Christmas tree without lights and ornaments!

The tallest tomato cage we could find was 54 inches, which was just fine for us. I don’t need a tall tree. But if you want a tall tree you could stack the tomato cage on a box or stack a few tomato cages on each other.

Bonus points if you recycle wrapping paper too! It’s cheaper and greener. We use the circulars they leave outside our apartment all the time. They just get tossed otherwise.

I love our sweet little upcycled tree! If you make one too, send me a picture and I’ll feature it on the blog!

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