Decorating a Black or White Christmas Tree

If you have a black or white artificial Christmas tree but aren't sure of how to decorate it or where to get trimmings, here are a few suggestions to get you started. Whether the style you're going for is goth, macabre, elegant black and white, or if you just want a non-green tree this year, you have plenty of options when designing an attractive, interesting Christmas tree. If you can't find a black or white tree at your local Wal-Mart, Target, or home improvement store, you can find them online. Treetopia sells a variety of colors, including a black Twilight Tree to embrace the current mania surrounding the movie of a similar name.

Decorating a Black Tree
Purple and Black Theme: Deep purple and black make a lovely color combination, often conjuring ideas of gothic or Victorian romances. Or at least that's what pops into my head. Try silver beaded garland instead of traditional tinsel garland paired with purple mini-lights. Decorate with coordinating purple, shimmery, and silver ornaments. Silver silk flowers , sequin sprays, and Victorian style ornaments would also look good on this tree.

Macabre/Skull-Themed Tree: I would suggest red lights and ball ornaments with gold, or silver beaded garland with this style. Artist Misty Benson makes a variety of "Day of the Dead" skeleton ornaments available on Amazon that would fit in with this theme wonderfully. Christmas Traditions stocks raven ornaments or you could fashion an ornament out of a raven from a craft or hobby store. Spiderweb and dragon ornaments as well as other Halloween-style decorations would also look good on this tree.

Romantic Reds and Wine: I wouldn't mix a blood red with a burgundy red, I would choose one or the other. Either will look great against a black tree branch. Use red or red and clear lights and either beaded, crystal, lace, or chain garland in red, clear, or gold. Here are some ornament suggestions: tasseled ornaments, chandelier ornaments, and matte gold sparkly ornaments. As with the purple and black tree, you could attach red silk flowers to branches as decoration.

Decorating a White Tree
Black, Silver, and White: Start out with clear lights. There are a variety of black, white, and gray ornaments available online that would suit this style. Santa ornaments like these are cute without being "too cute." Use ball ornaments in glittery black swirls, beaded silver and black, glitter-covered black, and/or plain black. Garland could be beaded, plain black tinsel, or sparkling silver sequined. You could also use black ribbon or lace for garland.

Sweet Tooth Tree: Make your white tree colorful with strands of multi-colored blinking lights. Add a few sets of peppermint candy novelty lights throughout the branches. Mix sugared candy fruit garland or gingerbread and candy cane garland with traditional garland in bright red, yellow, blue, or green. Decorate with ornaments of chocolate candy, ice cream cones, and cupcakes. You could even hang real candy canes from the tree branches along with a variety of colored ball ornaments.

Mardi Gras Tree: This is another colorful option for a white tree. Use strings of green, gold, or purple lights, double color specialty lights, or Mardi Gras chili pepper lights. Mardi Gras Outlet sells a variety of festival colored garland that could be strung along with beads. Mardi gras ornaments could consist of ball ornaments in green, gold, and purple, mask ornaments, saxophones, and music notes.

As you can see, you don't have to stick to the old green tree to create a beautiful and unique Christmas tree. Whether your tree is white, black, big, or small you can flex some creative muscle and have fun while decorating!