Felt Christmas Tree

The days following Thanksgiving, I so look forward to picking out our family's Christmas tree. We've had an extremely busy holiday season thus far full of family gatherings, traveling, weddings, and hours spent in the studio for my final critiques. So... we squeezed in our tree-picking-outing after a long day at work & school. After dinner, we bundled up and headed to a small tree-lot just a minute up the street. 

The space we have designated for our tree isn't huge, so we picked a small one! As we approached the lot, the tree-handler asked us what kind of tree we were looking for tonight... I quickly replied with, "short and fat!". I don't know why... but they're my fav! 

Walter had fun at the tree-lot and was completely occupied by his first candy-cane. 

Having a fresh (I loooove the smell) and fully decorated tree with all of the lights, garland, and glass ornaments is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. As soon as we set it up I told Matt that I wish we could keep it up all year. He responded with... "Well then it wouldn't be as special then, would it?" This is true! 

As much as I adore the aesthetic of our tree, with a curious toddler, it is a task to teach him to not to touch! I don't know about you, but my little boy is a hands-on learner and loves to "feel" everything. He thrives in all things arts & crafts. In aims to give him something special to touch that isn't necessarily our big tree, I created this felt Christmas tree!

This is a very simple craft that can be done in under an hour, during nap time or while you're catching up on Netflix in the evening ;-) It's also cheap! Costing me under $10! Felt sheets are 35 cents at Michaels. Joann's Fabric Store carries larger sheets of felt fabric for the tree green. I got a yard for $3 and it made two trees! Command strips are just a couple dollars as well. 

Supply list:

-Green felt for the tree, brown for the stump

-Variety of colored felt for the "ornaments"

-Command strips 

-Pom-poms (optional)

-Scissors

-Hot glue gun (optional)

I used command strips to attach the tree to the wall, next to our real tree. The command strips prevent any paint from being damaged! 

^^ Fold your green felt sheet in half and draw half of a tree (sharpie) on the folded edge. Cut along your marker lines. This ensures a symmetrical tree! 

Now cut different shapes for the ornaments! You can be fancy and use your hot glue gun to add pom-poms or just use sharpie markers to decorate them. Don't add anything too heavy to the felt ornaments (like rhinestones or jingle bells) or else they won't stick to the tree! Luckily, felt sticks to felt, so there is no velcro or adhesive needed! Your kiddos can have fun rearranging the ornaments over and over again! 

Lastly, attach your tree to the wall. I placed our felt tree in the same room that our "real" tree is in. This visual and tangible craft helped him realize that this is "Walter's Tree", while the more fragile tree is just for looking! 

 I hope you have fun making this Felt Tree for your kids, and I hope it helps save an ornament or two on your tree! ;-)

xo,

Monica