How to Make a Christmas Tree with Family Ornaments Look Good

As a blogger and all around Christmas decor enthusiast, I can truly appreciate a polished, coordinated, themed designer Christmas tree. But if I can only put up one tree, displaying all the meaningful, sentimental family ornaments we’ve collected over the years trumps a purely decorative, perfect theme tree every time.

Both types of trees have their place. A themed tree with a planned color palette can beautifully bring Christmas to a room that maybe you don’t spend all your time in—the dining room, a bedroom, or the entryway.

The family tree tells the story of our family’s Christmas past. It showcases all the meaningful ornaments that help me relive memories that melt my heart. And around here it’s a holiday tradition to tell the same stories every. single. year. about where each one came from.

But a tree decked with sentimental ornaments can look a little haphazard, and not very polished compared to those “pretty trees”.

Making the family tree look put together is a challenge because those collected ornaments don’t “go” with a color scheme, theme, or even each other.

Over the years, I’ve found a few easy ways to help dress up and unify the unordered look of the family Christmas tree— a nice mashup of eclectic meets elegantly put together!

These tips make it easier to focus on what’s important—reliving the memories of each of those special ornaments as we take in the tree.

Steps to make a family ornament tree look more polished.

I usually put our sentimental ornaments on the big tree in the living room. But this year I moved them to the smaller tree in the family room. And I’m loving it! Because 1) it puts more focus on the ornaments since they’re more concentrated, and 2) I see them a whole lot more because the tree is in the room where we spend more time.

The family tree should feel warm and nostalgic. Although an artificial tree is always easier to decorate, if you love a real tree, it’s definitely fitting to the feel of a sentimental tree. And though I usually prefer white lights, this is the one kind of tree decor where colored lights also feel right because of all the different colors of the ornaments.

Let’s look at some ways to pull all those holiday treasures together to make a more cohesive tree!

1. Tie it together with ribbon.

The first thing is to add one or two coordinating ribbons. Ribbon is not just for fancy, themed Christmas trees! Even on the family tree, it brings uniformity in color and style, gives a more balanced look, and moves the eye around the tree decor.

This year I chose a classic red velvet ribbon and a plaid because they both feel homey, cozy, and nostalgic—perfect for a tree full of memories. Plus, Christmas red ties into most ornaments. And the plaid brings in even more colors!

For a simple tutorial on how to put ribbon on the tree, see the post “How to Put Ribbon on a Christmas Tree the Easy Way!“

2. Add some consistent base decor or ornaments.

The next step is to put on one or two sets of solid color ornaments. Because all the ornaments are so different in color and style, these uniform ornaments are a great way to help the tree look put together, giving the spotlight to the special ones. On the family tree this year, I used a set of red glass balls that really catch the light.

And here in the living room in a past year, I used solid color ball ornaments in white, silver, and red to unify the tree. This is a large tree, so it has more nonsentimental ornaments than I would usually do for a family ornament tree. But you can see that the ribbon and cohesive ornaments can really dress up the overall look of the tree!

3. Add a topper with style.

If you want the family Christmas tree to take a nod from the designer theme trees, give it the same kind of treatment with the tree topper.

Here I’ve used a group of berry picks and a couple of bows. The picks also give this tree that little extra height I wish it had for this ceiling.

This simple wreath bow method in the post, “How to Make an Easy Bow for a Wreath in Minutes ” can also be used on the top of the tree. Add 2-4 bows and make them look like one big one!

4. Stick a few picks in throughout the tree.

Another trick from the designer tree is to add a few picks for depth, dimension, and fullness. I brought a few more of the berry picks down throughout the tree.

Want more tips for making a skinny tree look larger? See the post “The 10 Best Ways to Make a Sparse Christmas Tree Look Fuller“.

Tips for putting sentimental ornaments on the Christmas tree.

These first few tips have been about setting a uniform background. But now it’s time to let the sentimental ornaments shine!

Hang ornaments by size.

Just like decorating any tree, the general rule is to hang the larger ornaments toward the bottom of the tree and the smaller ornaments near the top.

These large ornaments like the puzzle wreath frame and bear dough ornament sign need the support of the branches and look best when tucked into the tree a little bit.

And the tiny ones get noticed most on the tips of the branches.

Group meaningful ornaments in clusters.

Keepsake small ornaments can get lost on their own. I like to hang them with buddies in a little collection. Like these homemade ornaments made of felt:

I made the wreath, snowman, and Santa with my favorite babysitter back in the seventies (so yes they are very old thank you very much).

And I grouped the tiny frame ornaments, with photos of my kids and of my best friends.

Shine the light over an ornament.

Position some special Christmas ornaments under the Christmas lights. This is especially pretty if they have a little glitter or sparkle!

See more tips like this and how to decorate a tree like a designer in the post “How to Decorate a Christmas Tree Like a Pro Step by Step!“

Now with all my special ornaments nestled close together in this smaller tree, I get to enjoy them more throughout the holiday season, while snuggled under a blanket watching Christmas movies.

Some remind me of the place I got them. Some take me back to a certain moment in time. Some reconnect me with being a child. And some remind me of the excitement my kids had about everything Christmas.

My favorite Christmas tree decorations may be the ones that my kids made at school. The spelling on this one from kindergarten or first grade always chokes me up:

And this one bookmarks the end of the school years for both of my girls with the green cap and gown and their high school activities:

The choir mice I painted in 9th grade. And my sister in law loves to tell the story of the smelly ordeal of making a huge amount of the oyster shell Santa ornaments.

Tip for hanging sentimental ornaments: If it’s breakable and irreplaceable, it’s a good idea to take a few seconds to secure it well by wrapping the ornament hooks or floral wire around the tree branches.

One of the best things is that the new ornaments that get collected each year live in harmony with the ones from fifty years ago in this cozy and colorful tree.

Wishing you a very merry holiday filled with new memories,

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