Living in a small apartment, the last thing many of us want to do is bring a tree into the mix. If you're pressed for space, time, energy, whatever it may be this season, here are five reasons we've come up with to consider a wreath on the door instead of a tree in the living room:
- The smell good, which is one reason for having a tree. Get yourself a natural green wreath instead and you won't miss the seasonal smell at all!
- They can be free. Just ask around at local tree lots. Often, they're more than willing to give away their trimmings, which can be fashioned into a wreath for nothing!
- They can be decorated. Have a small collection of ornaments you want to put to use? Hang them on the wreath! Lights are a bit more of a challenge, but it can be done.
- Less waste. Are we the only ones reminded of corpses when the holidays have passed and trees are laying on every curb? Skip all the waste and go with a smaller, friendlier wreath.
- They're easier to get home. Have you ever tried to lug a tree home on an icy, busy sidewalk? What about up four flights of stairs?
Have you ever substituted a wreath for a tree? What were your reasons?
Image: Lindsey Roberts
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I agree, and have done this for the last several years along with some swags. Make sure you have some inside, too, though, not just the outside of the door, or you miss out on the smell, which is the most important part, and the one thing I didn't want to do without.
yes, as disrespectful as it sounds, i always thought of discarded christmas trees as dead bodies.
I love the photo (purple! yellow! pink!) but kind of wish it showed an evergreen wreath, since the post seemed to be referring to one.
I used a wreath in my first apartment instead of a tree. I just bought a cheap grapevine wreath at a craft store and wired pine to both sides so it would be double sided and I could hang it in the window. Wish I'd known about the tree lot cuttings trick, I ended up spending a good chunk of change to buy my pine.
I just made a wreath for my friend since she has a tiny apartment! :) She wasn't going to decorate at all, since her place was small and it didn't seem worth the effort to get a tree for just one person.
Now she has a fragrant piece of holiday cheer, and all it took was some tree scraps from Lowe's, some cheap wire to wrap it all together, and a bow from the dollar store.
The Home Depot I tried first did NOT give out their scraps, but Lowe's did. So if at first you don't succeed, try again!
Can't I just have both?? :)
We've been doing a wreath instead of a tree for a few years now. There's just nothing that compares to the real smell of evergreen for me.
We get ours every year from Delancy Street. It isn't the most budget friendly option but I'm not at all creative and always find myself time challenged in December! Plus that, I really like the folks at Delancy.
I'd like to know where to source a mailbox like that. I'm in a historic district and don't like the modern locking mailboxes.
I use artificial trees, but get a beautiful, lush, live wreath with different greenery mixed in every year. I try to keep it up until the end of January or until my HOA tells me to take it down.
I live in a small place, but I got 2' tall fake tree for free from work. It looks kinda "Charlie Brown" with the 20+ ornaments we loaded on it, but we like it.
You also can use scrapped evergreen branches as the base of a table centerpiece to bring that traditional fragrance and color indoors.
We do a wreath instead of a tree in our small apartment for several of the reasons already listed - they smell just as good, don't take up space, we can put a few ornaments on, and we aren't killing a whole tree. Last weekend my friend gave me about 6 trimmed branches from their tree and it ended up making 4 wreaths!!