I saw this Christmas Tree in a basket on Southern Living last year and I loved the idea of the basket instead of the traditional stand and tree skirt, but I wondered how sturdy it would be.
This week I was reading the current Country Living magazine I saw a great solution, a basket with the bottom open for the traditional stand! Doh, of course! If you had the right basket, you could probably make one but if you want to buy one ready to go, the basket I saw is for sale here.
I love this little tree in a great old pail, from Better Homes & Gardens.
I also love this tree in a big metal tub seen in Country Living magazine. Another charming and interesting idea for thinking outside of the traditional stand and Christmas tree skirt.
In this same home they put a smaller tree in a white pot and yet another tree in a large bowl! (via Country Living). I love that they used several trees and they all have different containers! The variety of informal trees gives the home a much more laid back, homey feel!
This is a fun tree on a coffee table, from Better Homes & Gardens in a white flower bucket.
This room from Coastal Living also has a tree in a white bucket with a handle. I always put a small tree in my bedroom, I really love that look. The bucket is so cute and is in keeping with the coastal beach theme of the home (find a post on coastal holiday decorating here)!
You’ve got to check out the link to this tree stand left by a reader in the comments, SO FABULOUS!
{post updated from 2009}
What creative ideas do you have for trees?
So….then the idea is to put the stand in the pot? I just love all these…but cannot figure out how they stay in there…altho…I’m thinking of a live tree.
Those are great ideas! I put my tree in a galvanized bucket this year, but my tree stand didn’t want to fit in the bucket. It kept tipping over. I had to take it out. :(
It looked cute for a little while. :)
Have a great week!
Very cool! Love the basket and the pail.
I love this look as well!
Those are all great inspiration, I wish I had something to add, but I don’t. Thanks.
Cindy
you’ve got my wheels turning…how pretty to use a basket of galvanized container!!! I’ve never been too crazy about my tree stand and skirt…great pictures!
These are all cute ideas. :) I love the trees in the buckets and bowls. Too cute. We’re hauling out our Christmas decor today. I don’t know how I can make our tree creative without buying anything new. I will have to check out what we have.
I have donr a few of these thru out my home this year. To keep them standing, I just added rocks on the top of the stand. To cover the rocks, I put leftover balls on top and filled to the brim of my buckets. Adds a little sparkle and covers up those ugly rocks!
Just want to tell you I love your new winter decorations up top! Thanks again for all the great ideas.
Our tree skirt is a wool red plaid Pendleton blanket that my Mom used as my carriage blanket 64 years ago. (a real antique)
I love the basket and bucket idea! I’m pondering on what type of tree to get this year. I’m thinking a small one :)
Nothing original, but my little tree is in a kitchen bowl and my bigger table tree is in a bucket. Love the look! I really like the basket you’ve shown as well.
Love these ideas. I think I might try something like this!
Thanks for the inspiration.
Denise
My cats are always laying on and under my tree skirts, so I wanted to do something different. I tried my baskets but none were large enough for the stand. I remembered years ago the fences that were popular for the table trees. Viola’!! I’ve got it! After many years of being the art director for our VBS I knew that creating “stuff” that looked real from cardboard had to have uses beyond VBS. So I grabbed a box…saw that it was the right height….cut the bottom and top off (actually used 2 boxes the same size) and took some craft paint in white and quickly and lightly brushed paint on the cardboard…inside and out….it was looking like worn painted wood. Then I cut the cardboard in 2 inch strips…only cutting one lay of the paper…not going all the way through. Then I bent back each cut and painted a dark barn red on those open cuts (to help create depth). After that I made little triangle cuts to form a ‘Y’ at the top of the vertical cuts to create a wide dog-tooth fence look. I didn’t need to do the whole second box…I only made about 6 more “fence pieces” to complete my little fence. I taped it together on the “inside” with packing tape. My tree is a snowman tree so I added fiber fill inside the fence for snow! I love it!! And the best part…it was free…and easy!! Hmmm…what else can the cardboard queen make for Christmas???
My friend used to get root-balled Christmas trees so she could plant them in her yard after Christmas. This necessitated a bucket or other type of container to house all the dirt and muss. Maybe some of these pictures are of live trees that can be replanted. This would answer the question of fitting a tree stand….they don’t need one;)
Good point!
A friend of mine made an awesome tree stand. She posted it on her blog, here is a link to her post, please check it out
http://dejavucrafts.blogspot.com/2010/11/cutiest-christmas-tree-stand-ever.html
I’m adding it to my facebook and tumblr, that is very cute! Thanks for sharing it!
Oh Melissa, I adore them all but my favorite is the Country Living photo…dreamy~ you have such great taste!
I saw that big galvanized pail and got all excited because I have one out in my yard that I could use, but my tree stand is too big and won’t fit in the bottom of the pail. Rats! Cut idea anyway!
All the “CountryLiving” ones remind me of growing up. All our trees were live,rootballed in burlap from the elderly farmer across the road. He had named pine groves all along his lane,past the pond&stone cottage he opened up for skating parties, with a roaring fire, and every kid in the township was invited&knew him as “Grampy”. How blessed was i? ;) he honestly popped corn&roasted chestnuts over the fire&had a castiron swingpot full of cocoa. Sorry-about the trees…i can remember them in metal tubs, pickle crocks, and a couple times he’d put 2 smaller ones in an enameled dishpan big as his apron sink. I have a treasured crocheted red/green/white throw made by a disabled neighbor that I use for a table topper, and I think this may be my year to start collecting “FatAlbert” dwarf Alberta spruces to plant outside the first Spring thaw. A jaunt to the nearest TSC (TractorSupply) or their website for a galvanized tub or trough may be in order? And i’ve been collecting Christmas hankies&ittybitty clothespins for several years,so those&teeny white lights will be the decorations. Since am in Cleveland,OH I think i’ll be using my Valentine’s hankies come Feb. Hopefully my FatAlberts will be planted b4 I need to use the St.Paddy’s hankies! :D Thanks for all your gr8 ideas &reminders of a wonderful childhood. More Grampy legends available (he had a sleigh!). -s-
I love all these ideas too, and i am trying to figure out how to keep a 8 ft tree stable… now i want lots of small trees… which has my hubby rolling his eyes!!! SO i’m going to take a deep breath love everything but not buy everything… i think i’ll need a latte to keep me from purchasing things i shouldn’t :)
xo,
LuLu
This post takes me back to the big old galvanized bucket my parents would fill with rocks to hold our Christmas tree. I still vividly remember the night my Dad brought home a real tree, stuck it in the bucket and it fell over strewing rocks everywhere. The festive atmosphere kinda went south that evening.
Genius! Melissa…these are great!
I love all of these ideas! So fun!
I love these ideas and they look great, but I wanted to try a basket for my tree last year . Even with the stand on it was a VERY tight fit and the tree would not stay up. It’s hard to find things that fit the stand of an artificial tree. Any suggestions?
Hmmm, maybe rocks? Sand?
My spruce tree will go in a galvanized bucket this year, tree stand and all. I love the rustic look.
Jody
i have a bucket! but my tree is already up and my husband refuses to pick it up and see if it will fit in the bucket. Men! why didn’t you post this yesterday before i decorated my tree?
lol, always a day late and a dollar short.
I love this topic and love putting my trees in different containers….A few years back my husband made a wooden insert for my metal tub so it would hold our 7′ tree… That won’t work for our 12 ft. tree so I’m racking my brain for a soulution! Thank you for the inspiration!
I LOVE the idea of a basket or a bucket. I just wonder how I could make that work…? Maybe next year I’ll give it a try! Love the inspirational photos.
Me again…so many tipovers&Melissa mentioned sand–if you dont want to chance a beach party, what about tube sand? The kind for sandboxes & repurposed to hold temp sign bases&such for road crews&law enforcement? We used a literal ton of it for large special events like the DewTour,GrandPrix,etc. The tube bags take abuse well, you coud pack the tubes around the base of the container and cover with a throw or felt or a length of polarfleece? Reuse them for extra weight over your wheels for the winter&into the sandbox for summer! -s-
Love the buckets! Such a cute idea.
We are galvanized bucket aficianados. It takes at least 2 strongish people to do this. You use a five gallon plastic home depot bucket inside the large galvanized bucket/pail. The plastic bucket is filled with dampened playground sand. Make sure your tree is trimmed so you have at least a foot of bare trunk at the bottom. Scoop out the sand from center and lower in the tree, then pack the sand around the trunk. This is how we have done our tree for years. I cut felt and glued it to the bottom of the galvanized bucket to protect the floor. We always get a 5-6 foot tree, so I am not sure it would hold a giant specimen! The damp sand keeps the tree fresh much longer too, no dry tree stands!
Love the photos in this post! So breathtakingly beautiful!
We stuck our tree in a big ol’ basket my Mom gave us last year.
I love it!
Layla :-)
I see these trees with buckets …. Very cute buuut, do you have to use glue or tape?!
I want that tan couch! What store, brand, style? I wish you had put a link to it.