Alternative Christmas Tree with Balloons
This alternative Christmas tree started out life as a balloon advent calendar.  I have a friend who’s daughter is doing 11+ exams in the new year.  Its really tough, and understandably she’s struggling to stay motivated.  I filled the balloons with sweets, and thought it would be a nice start to each day is she could pop a balloon every  to get a treat.
The idea came from a balloon pop birthday count down for Abbi a few years back that was a huge hit.
However….
I completely underestimated how difficult it would be to push sweets into 25 balloons. And definitely didn’t consider that I would stretch the rubber and compromise the rubber in the balloons, meaning that they started to deflate after only 2 days!
Part of the problems was that the sweets I chose were too wide.  (It was seriously difficult getting some of them into the balloons). I’m sharing what I did anyway, as you could substitute thin sweets, which slip in without stretching the neck – or little motivational messages on paper. Though in all honestly they would definitely not be as well received as chocolate in our house.
It made a made a funky alternative Christmas Tree for a few days before starting to deflate.
So rather than an advent calendar, it would make a nice party decoration, or space saving Christmas tree. Â Without the sweets this could easily last up to a week.
Materials
For the tree:
- 24 balloons
- 1 gold
- 20 assorted green
- 3 brown balloons
- String
For the “branches”
- Green masking tape
- wooden garden skewers/stakes
- bubble wrap
Method
Inflate all the balloons.
Next make the “branches”. Â Garden skewers cut into 5 different sizes worked well for this. Â Wrap them in bubble wrap to give a bit of depth before covering in green masking tape.
Attach the green balloons and string in a vague christmas tree shape.
The gold balloon is a star at the top, with 3 brown balloons for the trunk.
As an advent calendar, pop the balloons one at a time until you get to the gold star. Â Or just hang as a cute easy and cheap space saving Christmas tree.
Here are a few more alternative Christmas Trees if you need some inspiration to get started:
Small Apartment friendly pieces of tree
From an old Ikea christmas promotion for Billy BookcasesFound on pinterest.  I have been unable to find the original source.  I think its an Anthropologie store.
Another unidentified Pinterest find
And finally, combining stationery and Christmas, Two of my favourite things:Â Post It Note Christmas Tree
What creative christmas tree idea do you like best?