25 Creative Ways to Reuse Christmas Trees

If you want to upcycle or recycle your Christmas tree after the holidays, there are all sorts of crafts and decorations to make from the wood, branches, and twigs for your home and garden.

For more projects also see 50 Creative and Recycled Garden Art Projects.

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Upcycling Old Christmas Trees

After the holiday season, there are a lot of xmas trees being tossed out! And that’s a lot of useful wood, either for basic gardening (mulch, edging, plant supports) or countless craft and decor projects.

Once you realize how precious a resource it is, you may just want to ask your neighbors if you can have their unwanted trees too.

Some municipalities collect old Christmas trees for mulching.

There are also conservation efforts underway where the trees are used to restore the boundaries of creek beds.

Some areas still allow burning although it’s less common due to pollution concerns.

Some gardeners like me hang onto them to decompose in their own gardens: decaying wood is an essential source of food and habitat for many living things.

To make use of an old tree, you’ll need a saw (hand or powered) and space to make a mess while you lop off the branches and slice up the trunk.

Or, keep it as it is and use it as a bird feeding station in your garden.

There are numerous things to make. And you don’t have to do it right away: it’s fine to simply stash the tree or wood for later use.

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25+ Ways to Reuse Your Tree After Christmas

Most of these ideas make use of a tree, some also use other wood lumber.

Uses for Tree Trunks and Branches

Assuming your tree is all-natural and has no sprays or paints on it, it has many uses in the home and garden.

It’s just like any other wood, except at this point it’s free and has a lovely rustic look.

1. Chop it into firewood and fire starters.
2. Chip it into mulch.
3. Create an outdoor bird feeding station. Secure the tree against a fence and add bird feeders and suet cages.
4. Use the leftover greenery (branches) for winter wreaths, window boxes, and urns.
5. A whole tree provides shelter for birds and animals in the garden or over a small pond (fish need hiding spots from predators).
6. Use the wood for DIY garden trellises, arbors, obelisks, privacy screens, and plant supports.
7. Make a didgeridoo (musical instrument).
8. Make a log bird feeder. Dig out a section of the trunk and fill with bird feed. Suspend from a tree branch. [see ideas at Pinterest]
9. Create tree branch coat hooks. [see ideas at Pinterest]
10. Craft twig gnomes. [see ideas at Pinterest]
11. Make wood stump snowmen. [see ideas at Pinterest]

Uses for Wood Slices

One tree provides a good number of wood slices! The thinner you slice them, the more you get. I guess you knew that already. There are so many possibilities.

Some trees are not sappy at all and work great. Others can be really sappy and mess up painted surfaces. You just have to be willing to play with it. You know: try stuff out and have fun.

This shares how to dry wood slices in the oven.

Outdoors

12. Make a wood slice garden border edge (use wood slices or branches and tree trunks). [see ideas at Pinterest]
13. Create wood slice garden path stepping stones.
14. Make a wood slice decorative wreath. [see ideas at Pinterest]
15. Make a fairy house. [see ideas at Pinterest]
16. Make wood slice garden signs (put a letter on each wood slice) or form letters with the wood slices. [see ideas at Pinterest]

Indoors

Safety Note: Any items like candles and tealights with open flames can never be left unattended.

17. Make wood slice coasters. [see ideas at Pinterest]
18. Make branch candle sticks. [see ideas at Pinterest]
19. Make tealight logs. [see ideas at Pinterest]
20. Make a wood slice clock. Unless your tree is massive, it could just be a little clock. [see it on Pinterest]
21. Make seasonal ornaments including wood slice snowmen, winter, and Christmas ornaments. [see ideas on Pinterest]

22. Create a banner (a letter on each slice, spelling a message). [see ideas on Pinterest]
23. Make buttons from thin branches. [see ideas on Pinterest]
24. Make a wood slice necklace.[see ideas on Pinterest]
25. Make wooden building toys for kids. [see ideas on Pinterest]
26. Create wall art. [see ideas on Pinterest]
27. If you have goats your probably already know this one: leftover Christmas trees are a holiday treat!

Resources

Prepare the Tree for Reuse

If you plant to use the wood for craft or decor projects, it is easiest to work with the trees when they have dried out and the needles are falling off (or gone).

I like to examine the structure of the tree first and look for any unique branch shapes that I might want to incorporate into a project.

With the tree secured to saw horses, I use my chain saw to remove all of the branches, leaving me with a tree stump and many branches to work with.

Pruners work nicely for removing all the fine twigs.

The next step will depend on what you’re making. Think before you slice.

How to Dry Wood in Oven

This Could Get Sappy…And Buggy

Keep in mind that your tree was recently alive with sap inside. When you cut up a Christmas tree for crafting, it can get sticky. The sap releases and it can gum up your saw (or clothes).

There’s not really a simple solution for this other than time. The older the dead tree, the more it dries out.

I like to first use the tree as a bird feeding station in winter, and cut it into craft pieces when it has time to dry out in the summer.

There you go! Now go nab some old trees and get crafty!

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛