Taking down the holiday decorations is always a little bittersweet. I love the excess of the season's decor and when it is all gone, my home always tends to feel emptier than it was before they went up. But with the freshness of a clean sweep comes new possibilities and lots of opportunities to recycle the decorations into something useful.
Last year I put my Christmas tree to post holiday use as a mock up in my garden. I was considering a few places for some new plantings and a tree. With all the snow it was quite easy for me to stick the christmas tree in the ground and try it out visually for a few days. After living with each placement and gathering a consensus of opinions about a few different spots, we finally knew we had a good design decision come spring.
There are lots of other great ideas around the web for ways to put your your holiday greens to good use beyond the season. Here is a quick round up:
• This Old House magazine lists 10 clever uses that include everything from mulch, to trivet making, and even creating an underwater shelter for fish.
• Concord Magazine has a great tutorial for making Pine Needle Tea. (I can't say that I have tried it, but I am certainly curious!)
• I am also intrigued by this description of a how to make a cat tree from the leftover real tree (as described for less than $4!).
• But I think that given the space for storage I like the idea of stripping the needles, spray painting it white and using it in the garden for next year's decoration.
Do you have any ideas for how to creatively put your tree to use after you take it out of the living room?
If you haven't time or inclination to make something new from the old tree, do make sure you recycle it. This list of nationwide resources can help you find a local service or place to drop off your tree so that it can be recycled.
Image: Laurynas Mereckas on Flickr under creative commons.
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
I would recommond using old Christmas tree for tea, many trees are treated with fungicide that is not food safe. Only make tea if your tree comes from an organic souce.
Many wildlife rehabilitation places will take old trees (stripped of tinsel etc) to be placed in habitats for the animals...
I've never heard of any types of Christmas trees being edible (or, ingestible in this case.)
I always threw mine in the pond, for the fish. Last year, I bought a live balled tree (same price as a fresh cut.) So, if it survives, I'll be further ahead with a tree for my yard, and, if not, I'm not out anything more than buying a cut tree! :)
It is indeed that recycling should be done normally in our homes whether it is post-holiday season or not. You mentioned some of the magazines that can give us tutorials on how to turn Christmas stuff such as Christmas tree into a useful one.
I always love pulling off the needles and making a small pillow to stuff them into. You can use these pillows in drawers or just somewhere where you want to smell of balsam fir all year! I then usually burn the wood in my fireplace.
When I lived in New Orleans, we let the needles falloff the tree, spray painted it white, and then created a Mardi Gras tree decked out with purple, green, and gold ornaments, masks, etc. Another "green" option is to rent a Christmas tree. The service delivers and picks up the tree. After returning the tree, if it continues to thrive under the service's care, the same tree can be delivered to your home for the next Christmas holiday.
We took our tree down and put it up in the backyard decorated with food to attract birds. We found the bird food ideas on the internet - dried orange and apple slices, suet and peanut butter mixed with seed etc.
It's full of birds now and lovely to see.
Our city mulches them and puts them on the parks. Just throw the tree with your garbage bins!
If you have a spot to do it, dried up christmas trees make for a mighty fun bonfire! We usually grab some friends and some drinks and do that. :)
@ MidCentModFan
Aw, I love the idea of renting a live tree. I never buy a real tree because as a gardener I find it too sad that a tree is chopped down (no matter how sustainably) just to be decoration for a month!
(and, it's messy.)
I always keep the needles from my tree, I just love that smell throughout the Winter, years when I don't get a tree I buy these and tuck them throughout the house:
http://www.juniperridge.com/sumbc_sachets.htm
Come Spring they get replaced by sprigs of lavender but those same sachets, stored another year, have usually lasted up to 3 years because the 'Christmas tree' smell lasts a long long time.
We like to make pine needle tea when camping. It's good, but it's better when we remember the sugar.
Brewing pine needle tea can definitely be done when camping, say in the BWCA. I've done it many times. And like Davonia said, it's better with a spot of sugar.
We just put ours out for recycling - the city picks it up and makes mulch. I have, however, saved a few boughs and made a few lovely scented bundles. Balsam firs, and especially Douglas firs, will keep their needles for a LONG time, so any wreaths or other decor will last all winter.
It is very dangerous to keep needles in the house. They can catch fire instantly and burn your house.
I agree with laurabellk about the bonfire, except that we also tie firecrackers to the branches before putting it on the fire. It makes for an extra fun and NOISY campfire.
I can't believe no one mentioned balsam pillows! Only works if you get a balsam fir, though.
I second the no-no on pine needle tea from your xmas tree. Many farms spray their trees. Better off collecting from a nearby live pine.
We always drag our tree into the woods for use as animal habitat. The woods behind our house are thin on shrubbery. And we never use tinsel. Nasty stuff! Almost as bad as loose glitter or styrofoam "snow."