Christmas Tree Centerpiece Step by Step Tutorial

See how to make a Christmas tree centerpiece with pine, cypress and fresh roses! A small tabletop Christmas tree is an excellent holiday decoration for small spaces and a beautiful Christmas table centerpiece. You also learn small Christmas tree decorating ideas and tips for extended vase life.

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Christmas tree centerpiece – Cute tabletop Christmas tree idea

I’m so excited to share this Christmas tree centerpiece tutorial with you because, well, CUTE! While this small holiday tree looks a little fancy, I’ll show you how to make and decorate a tabletop Christmas tree, and you’ll see how easy it is. Grab some evergreen, whatever ornaments you want to add and let’s get to it!

I work as a florist and love holiday flower arranging projects. These decorated miniature Christmas trees sell like hot cakes during the holiday season, and I create quite a few of them every year. So I thought you might enjoy this Christmas tree decorating idea, too.

This DIY holiday craft project is a little more advanced and takes 2 to 3 hours to finish, but I walk you through every step and share plenty of tips along the way. And even if you don’t make this project, you’ll learn how florists create the intricate mini holiday trees that you see in shops and on websites.

The post consists of two parts:

• First, I show you how to build your own Christmas tree centerpiece from scratch using fresh pine and cypress.
• Then, I’ll show you how to decorate a mini Christmas tree.

So, if you already have a small Christmas tree and just need small Christmas tree decorating ideas, skip the first section and scroll down to decorating portion of the post, where you will find inspiration and tips for decorating small Christmas trees.

What is a Christmas tree centerpiece?

A Christmas tree centerpiece is essentially a handcrafted flower arrangement that looks like a mini Christmas tree. But instead of using a live tabletop Christmas tree, this DIY holiday tree is constructed

from evergreen twigs, which are inserted into floral foam. I made mine with pine and cypress clippings, but you could use other conifers or boxwood, too.

Making this type of Christmas table centerpiece gives you full control to customize the tree size to your needs. Need a 3-foot tabletop Christmas tree? Check. Looking for Christmas decorating ideas for small spaces or tiny Christmas decorations? Check.

With this holiday flower arranging project, you can craft creative Christmas trees for small spaces and tabletop tree centerpieces.

How do you make a Christmas tree centerpiece?

How to make a small Christmas tree? Creating a small Christmas tree takes a little time, but is pretty easy, and I promise it’s well worth the effort.

Here’s how to make a Christmas tree centerpiece at home:

Cut and soak the floral foam

First, we need to trim 2 pieces of floral foam. Cut away 3 triangles at one end of the floral foam to form a tip as you can see in the pictures.

Next, soak the floral foam in plenty of water, for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Then push the round floral foam base into a round container or bowl. Insert 4 long skewers and stack the rectangular foam pieces on top.

Push a few skewers diagonally through the floral foam to connect the two pieces and trim the skewer ends that stick out.

Now we have the base of our Christmas tabletop centerpiece.

Arrange the evergreen

Now cut evergreen branches or Christmas tree clippings into smaller twigs.

First, put 1 twig at the very top. This twig will be the tip of the mini Christmas tree and define the height. My mini Christmas tree was 2 foot high, but you can make yours can be shorter or taller.

Next, insert 4 long twigs at the very bottom on opposite sites of the tree. These will determine the width of the tree.

Then fill in the tree with more twigs. Start at the bottom of the mini holiday tree, cutting the twigs shorter as you go up. Think of the tree as a triangle and try to create a triangular shape.

Use small twigs to fill in the top of the tree.

Tips: When arranging the green, I constantly mixed the pine and cypress to create visual interest. While making the mini holiday tree, step back occasionally and study your creation from various angles to see if there are empty areas to fill.

Finally, use garden shears or scissors to trim any twigs that stick out too much.

How to decorate a mini Christmas tree

How do you dress up a mini Christmas tree? Small decorated Christmas trees look so festive and cute!  Here is the step-by-step for how to decorate a small Christmas tree:

Fresh flowers

Since the tree is built around floral foam, we can use fresh flowers to decorate your mini Christmas tree centerpiece. Fresh flowers are a great way to create a truly unique Christmas tree. I used large roses ranging from apricot to light pink.

It’s best to use flowers with a sturdy stem since the stem has to be pushed into the floral foam. Cut the flowers at a flat angle and insert them into the foam. Aside from roses, you can also use lilies, carnations or chrysanthemum. These blooms are relatively long-lasting and should stay fresh for at least a week if freshly harvested.

If using a small live Christmas tree, use silk flowers instead of fresh blooms.

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Large ornaments

The next step is to dress up our mini holiday tree with larger ornaments, spacing them evenly around the tree. I used a few bauble ornaments in pink and dark red, some matte, some shiny, and a few powder pink star ornaments. The goal here is to fill in any empty spots between the roses and create a harmonious arrangement.

Be sure to use only lightweight ornaments as the small pine and cypress twigs won’t be able to support heave decorations. The best way to secure an ornament is to tie it on a branch.

Mini Christmas tree ornaments

Working your way from the top down, fill in around the large ornaments with small- and mini-size decorations. It’s a good idea to put some ornaments closer to floral foam to create depth and interest. They will reflect light and make the tree sparkle from the inside.

I used hot glue to adhere the tiny ball ornaments and glitter snowflakes, which allowed me to put them on the very tip of a twig.

Christmas tree topper

I simply used a pretty satin ribbon as an easy Christmas tree topper idea. This mini Christmas tree won’t hold lager and heavy tree toppers, but if you attach an ornament (e.g. a star) on top of a skewer, you can insert as a topper.

More small Christmas tree decorating ideas

This Christmas tree centerpiece is super easy to customise, and you can use almost any decorations you have to dress it up! Right now I’m loving dusty rose and glitter ornaments. It looks fresh and modern but still cosy and cute and makes for an elegant Christmas centerpiece.

Of course, you can also go for a classic red and gold theme, or try or make a snowy flocked Christmas tree with snowflake ornaments and silver accents. Another possibility would be to use Christmas cookies, cinnamon sticks and dried orange slices as decorations.

Using ornaments from one colour family in several sizes and textures will give the tree a continuous look from the tip to the truck. Even an eclectic Christmas tree will look better when the colours compliment each other.

Let me know your suggestions to decorate a DIY tabletop Christmas tree in the comment section below. I can’t wait to hear about your ideas!

How do you display the Christmas tree centerpiece?

Display the tree in a cooler place out of direct sunlight and away from a radiator. This is the best way to ensure that the mini Christmas tree centerpiece doesn’t dry out but stays fresh and beautiful. You can also replenish the floral foam every 2 to 3 days, by watering it with a watering pot.

Can I change the flowers?

Yes, of course! As I mentioned, the flowers should last for about a week. After that, you can replace them with new flowers to continue the tree looking stunning.

Over to you!

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Irena xx