How to keep a tree topper straight all season

Does your tree topper start leaning the minute you walk away? Mine used to tip over every single year! The reason is pretty simple. On an artificial tree, the top tip is just one thin wired branch. On a real tree, it’s the newest, softest growth on the whole thing. Neither one was made to hold up a star with a battery box. So today I’m sharing how I keep my topper straight all season so you never have to climb back up there to fix it!

The quick version: zip-tie a wooden dowel or a green garden stake to the pole so it sticks up 4 to 6 inches above the top, slide the topper over the dowel, and tuck the battery pack down onto a sturdy branch.

What You’ll Need:

1. A wooden dowel or green garden stake, about 18 to 24 inches long

2. Zip ties

3. Green paddle wire

4. A step stool

5. Green or brown paint, if your dowel is raw wood

Step 1. Figure out why yours is leaning

Before you add anything, look at what’s going on up there. It’s usually one of these:

• The top section isn’t pushed all the way in. On a lot of artificial trees, the top section slides into a plastic piece, and those wobble. Push it all the way down and see if it still tilts before you blame the topper.
• The battery pack is hanging. A dangling battery box acts like a weight on a string and pulls the topper toward it. This is the most common one I see, and the easiest to fix!
• The topper is too heavy for the tree. A big metal star on a slim or pencil tree is never going to sit right without some help.
• The top branch is bent. If the tip came out of the box crooked, everything you put on it will be crooked too.

Step 2. Straighten the tip

Stand back across the room and look at just the top tip. If it’s leaning, bend it upright from down near the base of the tip (where the wire is thickest) so it lines up with the pole.

On a real tree, sometimes the top just grew at an angle, and bending won’t fix that. That’s when the dowel in the next step really comes in handy.

Step 3. Brace it with a dowel

This is what I do every year now, and the topper doesn’t move until January! If your dowel is raw wood, paint it green or brown first so it disappears in the branches.

1. Hold the dowel against the center pole (or the trunk on a real tree) so the top of it sticks up 4 to 6 inches past the tip. You want it lined up with the tip, not next to it.
2. Zip-tie it to the pole in two or three places, starting about a foot down from the top where the pole is solid. Pull the zip ties tight and snip the tails.
3. Slide your topper’s base down over the dowel and the tip together.
4. Wrap a piece of floral wire around the topper’s base and the dowel so it can’t spin.
5. Fluff the top branches back up around the dowel to hide it.

The dowel holds the weight, so the thin tip doesn’t have to. This works on real trees too, as long as you tie it to the thick part of the trunk below the soft top. (If you’d rather not DIY it, a ready-made tree topper stabilizer does the same job as the dowel.)

Step 4. Tuck the battery pack low

If your topper lights up and runs on batteries, don’t let the box hang off the back. Follow the cord down to a sturdy branch near the pole (a foot or two below the top is usually right) and rest the battery box on it. Then wrap a little floral wire around it so it stays put.

Put it on the back side of the tree, facing the wall, where you can reach it to switch it on without a ladder. (Or don’t, and borrow a taller person every night. Ask me how fun that is!)

For a plug-in topper, run the cord straight down along the pole and zip-tie it every foot or so. A cord pulling sideways out through the branches will drag the topper the same direction.

Step 5. Wire bows to the pole, not the tips

Bow toppers flop forward, spin around, and droop because people tie them to the tip branches. (I did this for years!) Here’s what fixed it for me:

1. Run a piece of floral wire through the loop or wire on the back of the bow.
2. Wrap that wire around the center pole, a few inches below the top. The pole, not the branches!
3. Pull the tails straight down and tuck them into the branches every 12 inches or so. Each tuck pulls the bow back against the tree, so it can’t tip forward.
4. Fluff the loops last, after the bow is secure.

If you’re making your own ribbon cascade from the topper down, I show how I make those in DIY ribbon designs for your tree.

Step 6. Angels, Santas, and toppers with a cone base

Toppers with a hollow cone base are actually the easiest, because the dowel slides right up inside the cone. If the cone is too wide and the topper still slides around, stuff a little tissue paper or some fiber fill into the cone around the dowel so it fits snug.

Flat stars with no base need the dowel tied right to the back of the star. Two zip ties or a few wraps of floral wire through the frame will do it.

Step 7. Put it on early

The topper goes on right after the lights, before anything else. You’ll be pushing branches around up top and reaching over the tree, and it’s so much easier when there aren’t ornaments to knock off. I go through the rest of the order in what order to decorate a Christmas tree.

Use a real step stool, not a dining chair. You need to be eye level with the top to see if it’s straight, and you need both hands free for the zip ties.

And if your tree is new and the top looks thin around the topper, fluff the top section first. A full top hides the dowel and zip ties much better than a skinny one.

What kind of topper are you putting on your tree this year? I hope this helps it stay straight all season! Be sure to post on Instagram and tag me @sugardesignco because I love seeing the beautiful decor y’all create!

-Ciera

Made something with this? Tag me @sugardesignco — I love seeing them.