Quick Christmas DIY Tree in a Bucket

This year, I decided to go all out for Christmas on our front porch area by making a couple of handmade items. This Christmas DIY tree in a bucket is so cute and looks effective lined up along my outdoor shelf. These buckets are so easy to make you could decorate an entire space in half an hour or so. No crafting skills necessary and not a great amount of creativity required. You could even use items you have in your stash to decorate them. Don’t limit yourself to copying my ideas. Use them as inspiration.

My Inspiration for the Christmas Tree DIYs

My Christmas theme this year is a classic red and white but with some modern twists in the textiles chosen. I’m using red-checked gingham, red ticking stripes and a cute red gumnut fabric I found to add that Australian country flavour. Patchwork fabrics are cute for this kind of DIY and provide many options.

Last Christmas I went big on natural elements for our Christmas decorations using wood we had cut, string and brown paper for gifts. I also made mini wreaths from rosemary to decorate the table. This year, too, I’m sticking with the ‘wasting less’ and sustainable theme. I’ve tried to use only decor and decorations I had on hand, rather than buying more. I want to repurpose these and update if needed with paint. My plan is to incorporate a handmade element that will give a collected, welcoming, vintage feel to our porch area.

Materials for a Christmas DIY Tree in a Bucket

You could use a number of variations to create your own version of these Christmas tree DIY. For mine, I’ve used

• Fresh cut spruce from our tree. Any greenery that has a non-weeping habit could look fine. Faux greenery is also okay. Use what you have. The bottlebrush trees that are on-trend at the moment would look awesome in the right sized pot.
• 3-5 mini containers. You’ll need one for each letter of the word you have chosen to display on the pots. I’ve used terracotta pots I had but galvanised tins or even recycled food tins would also look great. Your container should be dictated by the look you are trying to achieve. If you want a formal look, try matching planters in the colour of your choice. For a farmhouse look, galvanised buckets are perfect. Having an odd number also looks better. If the word you choose has an even number of letters you could decorate the last pot with a Christmas shape or exclamation mark.
• Ribbon to tie around your containers
• Hot glue to hold the ribbon in place. You could also fasten with double-sided tape for a less permanent option. I actually used a glue stick to secure the ribbon on. It worked really well!
• Smaller containers to fit inside the pots if they are not waterproof or floral foam
• A paint pen for the letters. As an alternative, you could use a Cricut to cut letters for you but I like the freehand look

What to Do

Measure and cut a long piece of ribbon to fit around the top of each pot with enough left over to tie in a bow if you like. Dob some hot glue in a couple of spots around the pot to hold it in place. Tie the ribbon in a bow. You may choose not to have a bow. In this case, overlap the ribbon and glue in place. This should be on the backside of your pot.

Pick a font you like and using a pencil measure and mark a couple of dots on the front of your pot so you get the letters in the size and position that matches across each pot. You might also like to mark dots for letter width too, if you’re not comfortable totally free handing. Now, write a letter on each pot. I’ve written ‘MERRY’ but you could choose any Christmas related word: joy, noel, merry, jolly etc. You could also create these letters with a stencil or Cricut if you have one.

Now your pot is ready to fill. Option one is to cut floral foam to size and place in your chosen pots. If you are using jars instead, place these inside the pot and fill with water.

Fill the foam or jar with water. Poke pieces of greenery into the foam (or vase) as if you are arranging flowers to create a Christmas tree effect. As mentioned I used spruce but whatever free greenery you have will create a handmade Christmas feel when tied with festive ribbon.

Don’t forget to water your greenery every few days. Live greenery drinks lots of water!

Display Your Christmas Tree DIY buckets

I placed my pots in a row on our outdoor shelf as part of our Christmas Porch decorations. But these containers would look pretty along a mantel, on a shelf in your kitchen, on a runner in your dining room or staggered down a flight of stairs. The possibilities are endless. I’d love to see how you make this DIY your own. For more Christmas decorating ideas I’ve also created a Pinterest board to inspire you