If you keep a live tree for your Christmas tree, chances are you end up with some trimmed pieces.
Perhaps your tree was too tall, and you had to take some off the top.
Perhaps you needed to take some off the bottom. Often, we need to remove a few of the large bottom branches to make the trunk long enough to fit into our tree stand without interference.
And we know we always have to make a fresh cut on the bottom of the trunk so the tree can take up water. That is key to keeping a fresh Christmas tree living for the whole month.
All that trimming creates a fair amount of scraps and trimmings. It’s a shame to see them go to waste.
But we don’t have to!
There are a lot of ways we can use those “scraps” to deck the halls, and then some.
Jump to:
- Tips for Keeping Your Christmas Tree Alive and Thriving:
- 12+ Ways to Put Christmas Tree Trimmings to Good Use
- 1. Use for filler in flower arrangements
- 2. Make fragrant bud vases
- 3. Make homemade “Pine Sol ™” Pine cleaner
- 4. Make Spruce Tip Jelly
- 5. Make a simple swag
- 6. Make a Christmas wreath
- 7. Accent a wreath to make it merry
- 8. Scatter on mantles or table runners for display accents
- 9. Use in bowl fillers
- 10. Decorate gifts and packages (eco-friendly option!)
- 11. Use as miniature decorative accents on smaller displays
- 12. Use for outdoor displays in hanging baskets or plant pots
- Bonus: Trunk Slice Ornaments or Coasters
- Make the Most of Your Real Christmas Tree
Tips for Keeping Your Christmas Tree Alive and Thriving:
Check out these articles for Christmas tree buying tips, prep, and maintenance -- for the longest-lived Christmas tree this year and every year!
- 8 Christmas Tree Buying Tips: Long-Lived Trees Start with Buying
- 9 Tips To Make Your Christmas Tree Take Up Water & Last Longer
- A One-Step Hack to Keep Your Christmas Tree Fresh All Season
12+ Ways to Put Christmas Tree Trimmings to Good Use
Whether you have a little or a lot, there’s something you can do to spread your tree’s holiday cheer around a little further.
Here are a baker’s dozen ways to put those scraps and trimmings to good use in the spirit of the season!
1. Use for filler in flower arrangements
Sprigs of evergreens are perfect in flower arrangements. Use them as fillers with seasonal flair.
The bonus is they spread that fresh tree scent around your house, too!
2. Make fragrant bud vases
The same sprigs and trimmings make a nice little bud vase all on their own. Nothing could be faster or easier.
You can also dress them up with tiny tinsel or a little flair, but small bud vases with just a couple of sprigs of spruce (or whatever type of tree you have) have a simple, rustic, seasonal look all on their own.
And again, there’s that air-freshening factor!
3. Make homemade “Pine Sol ™” Pine cleaner
Pine cleaner is easy to make at home. It requires very few ingredients (as simple as vinegar and evergreen tree sprigs). You can add a few other things, like citrus peels if you like.
This is the perfect thing to do with your leftover pine or evergreen scraps! (No, it does not have to be pine needles).
The best part? Not only will your home smell great after you clean up, but this is a non-toxic alternative to chemical home cleaners!
4. Make Spruce Tip Jelly
Here’s something a lot of people don’t know. A lot of evergreen trees (pine, spruce, fir) have edible parts of their plants. And they make great jelly!
If the flavors of juniper or gin are your jam, you’re bound to love this jelly!
Spruce tip jelly is best made from the young tender tips of the branches. So if you have lighter tips on your tree, target those to make your jelly.
5. Make a simple swag
You don’t need a lot of tree trimmings to make a simple, seasonal swag. Even if you only trimmed a branch or two or just a few ends, you’ll have enough to make an evergreen swag.
Swags can be as simple as tying the tops together and adding a bow, or you can add other ornaments, or perhaps some pretty natural berries the birds will enjoy (safely!).
6. Make a Christmas wreath
If you have a significant amount of tree trimmings, you probably have enough to make a whole wreath!
Making a wreath is a matter of cutting the branches down to about equal size and then making bundles that are layered and wired consecutively around a wreath frame. It’s easy to do! And you can even stretch an old metal coat hanger into a circle to make the frame.
Add berries or accents to suit your decor.
Free wreath!
7. Accent a wreath to make it merry
If you don’t have the materials, time, or inclination to make a whole wreath, you can dress up a simple grapevine wreath or another wreath you already have.
Work in your sprigs of evergreen boughs in whatever formation looks good to you.
This is a good way to use something you already have and trim pieces that would otherwise be trash. Who doesn’t love saving money during the holidays?
After the holidays, just clip off the greens, and you’ll be back to a year-round wreath again!
8. Scatter on mantles or table runners for display accents
Decorating in Christmas style can be as easy as strategically placing trimmed evergreen branch pieces on mantles or in the center of a table as a runner accent.
You can then work in candles or candle holders, fruit, ornaments, or all sorts of accents.
Don’t worry that the living branches won’t be in water; they’ll dry similarly to dried flowers, and the needles will still hold for a long time through the holidays.
Just do keep dried wood and needles in mind if you’re lighting candles around them. Battery or flameless candles are a good option, or candles completely housed in glass jars or holders.
9. Use in bowl fillers
Are you into bowl fillers? They make lovely accents and are a great way to scent the home, too.
So why not throw in some evergreen sprigs to make that scent merry and bright and Christmasy?
Add sprigs of evergreen to decorative bowls or to potpourri.
10. Decorate gifts and packages (eco-friendly option!)
Want an adorable and eco-friendly way to dress up your gifts?
Save those Christmas tree sprigs!
Tie them to your gifts with a bit of ribbon or string. You’ll be amazed at how beautiful -- and simple -- this rustic touch can be!
11. Use as miniature decorative accents on smaller displays
Make the smaller sprigs into a little wreath or a tiny Christmas tree. Tiny little swags are a good option, too.
Wreaths are easy -- just bend the trimming into a circle, twist tie or wire where it comes together, and add a little bit of red ribbon, yarn, or a bow.
Now, you have a fresh evergreen wreath that can be used in a Christmas town display, on dollhouses, birdhouses…any tiny house you think could use a wreath!
12. Use for outdoor displays in hanging baskets or plant pots
Take those branches outside and trim them to tuck them into bare pots or hanging baskets.
Add some native berries, a bow or accent if you like, and voila! You now have an inviting, spirited accent piece for your porch, drive, stairway, or entrance.
Bonus: Trunk Slice Ornaments or Coasters
When your tree comes home, it should get a fresh cut off the end of the trunk. This opens up sealed pores that pack with dried pitch. That pitch stops the tree from being able to take up water.
Cut a fresh slice, and the water has contact with the tree, and it can now drink again.
This will leave you with a single fine slice of trunk. Use that, too!
Sand the slice, paint, or decorate it if you wish. Add a hole and some string, and you will have an ornament from your tree. Mark it with the year. Do this every Christmas, and before you know it, you'll have a collection of rustic ornaments that track the history of your Christmases.
Another idea -- make those slices into natural wood coasters!
Make the Most of Your Real Christmas Tree
Any and all of these ideas help make good use of your fresh Chrstmas tree. It’s one more way to spread the spirit around -- and make the most of your purchase!
Happy decorating, and Merry Christmas!
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