CHRISTMAS TREE TUTORIAL!

Okay, guys, so the very first step, obviously, to putting your tree up is make sure you have lights on it. Now, the rule of thumb for Christmas trees is for every foot, you need about 100 lights. For this tree, it is a seven and a half foot tree, so I would recommend getting around 500 to 700 lights. That is going to give you a really bright tree, and it'll be perfect for the size. Now, this tree is pre-lit, so I have yet to buy lights for it. This is the second year that I've used it, and honestly, most of my trees with the pre-lit lights only last me about two years, because I leave my lights on for so long, but if you're starting with just a tree that has no lights, that is kind of the rule of thumb you want to go by. Now, the next thing when it comes to putting your lights on the tree, a lot of us will go around and around in circles around our tree to put lights on it. I'm pretty sure everybody has done that at some point, or they're still doing that. What I personally do, and I have found this has helped tremendously, it's helped save time and it makes it look better, is to start in the back corner of the tree, and you're going to go up the tree, and then back down the tree. Now, I don't go straight up, but you'll kind of like shove it, so if I'm going to start my tree lights, I would probably start back here somewhere, and then I will just kind of tuck and shove all the way up the tree. This makes it so much easier, not only to put up, but when you're taking the lights off the tree after Christmas, you kind of can just pull, and all of the lights come off at one time, so it'll save time, and it will honestly look better, so you don't kind of get that like circular look to your Christmas lights. It kind of gives it more of this look to the tree. Okay, guys, step two is putting on the ribbon. Now, as you can see here, I have two different kinds of ribbon. I always suggest using at least two different kinds. You want different colors and textures to really give that tree variety. Okay, when I start with the ribbon, I'll start about right below where the topper will be is where I will start the ribbon, and I'll show you guys the technique that I use. I will just stick one up there, stick the end, and then shove it in. Can you guys kind of see that? And shove it. Something I like to do with ribbon, I only use two full spools of ribbon. I didn't get like a whole bunch. It's just two individual spools of ribbon, and what I do is I'll cut them all at different lengths, and there's really no rhyme or reason to it, but I don't cut them any less than like about three feet because you want room to do at least three bunches. Otherwise, it kind of looks silly if it's a little bit too short, so I do it at least three feet. Some of them I have like six feet long. Now, these spools were really big. I can't quite remember exactly how big they were. I got these at Taipan, so if you have one of those in your area, definitely check them out. I think it was about $12 for this, but it does, I mean it covers the entire tree for what I need it for. Once I have my starter ribbon on, I'll go next to it, and what I will do, where this bunch is out, I will put one, I'll start one in there, okay? The technique I really use is honestly just shove, shove, shove, and I just make like little lumps everywhere throughout the tree. Using the same like zigzag technique, I'm going to start putting all the sticks on. This is going to help with any large open spaces. I would definitely suggest having something that you can kind of spread open and stick in those areas where there are bigger holes.