What order to decorate a Christmas tree (and when the topper goes on)

My daughter wants to hang ornaments the second the tree comes out of the box, and every year I have to explain that we have about four steps to go first! She’s nine now, so she gets it, but she still doesn’t love it. The order really does matter, though, because every step makes the next one easier. Today I’m sharing the order I use so you can decorate your tree without redoing anything!

My order is fluff, lights, topper, ribbon or garland, picks, big ornaments, small ornaments, skirt. The only part people argue about is the topper, and I’ll explain why I put it on early.

Before You Start

Set the tree up in its stand right where it will stay, and make sure it’s straight. If you’re using a one piece tree collar, it has to go around the stand now, before the tree goes in.

If your tree is pre-lit, plug it in before you fluff. Finding a dead section with nothing on the tree is a two minute fix, but finding it at the end takes a whole evening. (I learned that one with half my tree dark and the ribbon already on. The fixes are in half my pre-lit tree went out.)

Step 1. Fluff

Fluff every branch, bottom row to top row, before anything else touches the tree. Lights and ribbon both flatten whatever shape the branches are in. If you fluff later, you’ll be bending branches with wire wrapped around them.

On a 7 ft tree this takes about two hours the first year. Put on gloves (I use rubber coated garden gloves because PVC tips scratch) and put a movie on! The full method is in how to fluff a fake tree.

Step 2. Lights

Lights go on next because they need to go deep, and you can only get deep into a tree with nothing else on it. I wrap each branch from the trunk out to the tip and back. That puts light inside the tree instead of just on the outside.

For a 7 ft tree, I use 1,050 to 1,400 lights. The numbers and the wrapping method are all in how many lights your tree actually needs. If you’re running a green extension cord up the trunk so each strand plugs in where it lives, that goes on before the first strand.

Step 3. Topper

Yes, already! I put the topper on right after the lights. Most guides say topper last, and I did it that way for years. These are the reasons I switched:

1. You’re not reaching over a finished tree. Every time I stretched over the top to place a star on a fully decorated tree, I knocked something off. It was usually something glass!
2. A lit topper has to plug in. If you put it on now, its cord runs down the trunk with the light cords and you’ll never see it. If you add it last, you have to thread a cord through ornaments.
3. A bow topper is where the ribbon starts. If you’re doing streamers that cascade down the tree, they come out of the topper bow, so the bow has to be there first.

The one exception is if it’s your family’s tradition for a kid to put the star on last. Definitely keep doing that! Use a sturdy two step stool instead of a dining chair, and let them have it. That’s the part they’ll remember.

Step 4. Ribbon or Garland

Ribbon goes before ornaments so you’re not working around them and so it doesn’t cover them up. I tuck it in, leave about a foot of slack, and tuck it again all the way down. My favorite ways to do it are in DIY ribbon designs for your tree.

If you use bead garland or tinsel instead, it goes in this same spot. It goes on before ornaments for the same reason.

Step 5. Floral Picks

Picks fill the holes that fluffing couldn’t. Once the ribbon is on, step back and you’ll see exactly where the tree still looks thin. That’s where they go! I use frosted pine picks for the big gaps and push the stems in toward the trunk so they look like part of the tree.

It’s important to do picks before ornaments. If you fill holes with ornaments first, you’ve used up ornaments on the spots that needed greenery.

Step 6. Large Ornaments

Big ornaments (5 or 6 inch) go next, pushed about halfway into the tree toward the trunk. They fill the dark middle and make the tree look deeper. Space them around the tree so no two are right next to each other, and keep the heaviest ones on the sturdiest branches near the trunk.

For heavy ones I skip hooks and use green floral wire wrapped around the branch, so they don’t slide down to the tip and droop.

Step 7. Standard, Small and Special Ornaments

Standard 3 inch ornaments go on next, spread in a loose zigzag so you don’t end up with stripes of the same color. Then add the minis, clip ons and your special ornaments out on the tips and at eye level where people will actually see them.

If you have little ones, put the breakables in the top half and the shatterproof ones on the bottom third.

Step 8. Skirt

The skirt goes on last, once you’re finished crawling around the bottom of the tree. If you put it down earlier, it just gets pine needles and ornament hooks all over it and you’ll be straightening it every five minutes.

How Long It Takes

On a 7 ft tree my first year, it took two full evenings. I did fluffing and lights one night and everything else the next. It gets faster every year after that, because the branches hold their shape and you already know where everything goes.

What order do you usually decorate in? I hope this helped make your tree decorating a little easier this year! If you try this order, 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.