Deck your halls with affordable tabletop trees, butter ornaments, and candy string lights
I enjoy Douglas fir as much as the next person, but an 8-foot tall Christmas tree is simply not in the cards for my shoebox Brooklyn apartment. Aside from the logistics (cost, placement, subway transportation, needle cleanup), I realized that I can conjure just as much seasonal cheer from an artificial tabletop kitchen tree that will never wilt:
What kind of recipe blogger would I be without a food themed kitchen tree? #christmas #christmastree #foodblogger #foodblog #recipeblog #kitchenchristmastree #foodornaments
The kitchen is a high traffic zone, which is all the more reason to make it the focal point of your most serotonin-inducing holiday decor. I was reminded of this when Martha Stewart shared some of her tabletop Christmas trees on Instagram this week, and, as she so often does, gave us all a nonchalant blueprint for decking the halls with torso-sized tinsel trees, monochromatic baubles, and… orchids? (Only Martha.) The point is, it’s often easier and more financially feasible to toy around with decor ideas when you’re working with a smaller canvas. And here’s another pro tip: if you miss the smell of fresh holiday greenery, just ask your local Christmas tree lot or hardware store for the discarded tree trimmings, arrange them in a vase, and voilà — all of your senses are now enraptured by the holiday spirit (without spending hundreds of dollars on a tree that will crisp up in a week).
There are endless aesthetic options for your tiny faux kitchen tree, from the pink and Dolly Parton-pilled to this, uhm, postmodern glass tree from the MoMA Design Store. Below, you’ll find some of my favorite picks for artificial tabletop Christmas trees for every budget, topped off with a sprinkling of food-themed, Eater staff-loved ornaments and lights to go the extra mile.
Pour some coquito, and let’s deck your countertops.
The Best Kitchen Tabletop Christmas Trees
Most fake — sorry, faux — Christmas trees range in 2 to 4 feet in height, and will cost anywhere from $25 to $200. The price will usually rise depending on how elaborate you wish to go; an artificial tree that comes with its own faux pine cones, for example, will run you more than a classic tinsel tree. In my experience, it’s worth it to buy a pre-lit tabletop tree so that you don’t have to scour your storage closet for tangled lights, but there’s also something lovely about a tree that comes without any predetermined frills.
The Best Food-Themed Holiday Ornaments and Lights
Yet another reason to love tiny trees: themes have never been more possible, because you’re quite simply working with a smaller surface area; you can decorate your faux alpine tree with a strand of Diet Coke lights, Eater staff-loved Pyrex ornaments, or a butter-themed bauble; prove your love to the butcher in your life with a strand of pig-shaped lights, make a candy-themed tree with gummy bears and peppermints, and give the coffee drinker your life a Chemex-shaped ornament. If you can eat or sip it, it has probably been transformed into Christmas tree decor.
