Decorating Ideas for Creating a Beach Themed Christmas Tree This Year

Do you love the beach? Do you love Christmas? If so, how about combining the two when you do your Christmas holiday decorating this year? One of the fun parts of Christmas is the freedom to choose how you decorate. There's no need to stick to the traditional red and green because you can decorate with what you love the most and if you love the beach, then you already have the start for your beach Christmas tree decorating theme. I have put together different beach decorating ideas about lights, garland, ornaments, tree toppers, and tree skirts to help you create your own beach inspired Christmas tree.

Lights
You can use regular sets of mini Christmas lights in clear or a mix of several regular mini light sets and perhaps a few specialty sets with lighthouses or other beach themed items on your beach inspired Christmas tree. The amount of Christmas lights you use depends entirely on your personal preference though an average would be approximately fifty to one hundred mini lights per foot of tree or three to six strings of 100 light sets each for a six foot Christmas tree.

Bronners.com has several specialty light sets, each with ten lights on each set, which would be great on your beach themed Christmas tree. Their selection includes a lighthouse set for $26.99; a Tiki set for $16.99; set of red and green flip flops for $15.99 and a starfish sea jewel set for $15.99.

OrientalTrading.com sells an eight foot long, ten flip flop light set for $6.99 that would work for a beach themed Christmas tree.

If you choose specialty light sets, the set or sets you choose will help give you the color scheme you will use throughout your entire beach themed Christmas tree and into your rooms and the rest of your holiday décor.

Garland
Garland is important in helping to set the mood for your beach themed Christmas tree. If you have chosen a beach theme for your Christmas tree, the garland is even more important because it will help to set the tone for the entire tree (along with any specialty lights you may have chosen). You will need to pick your Christmas colors from the specialty lights or garland you've picked. There are several different specialty garlands available online to choose from that offer different ways and beach themed looks you can get with the use of a particular garland.

OrientalTrading.com sells a nine foot bamboo garland for $5.99 that loosely mimics the ice plant that grows on many beach dunes. It can also evoke memories of a Hawaiian vacation. They also sell a jumbo flower lei garland that is brightly colored and 9 feet long for $3.99. This garland definitely says Hawaiian beach vacation.

Bronners.com sells a lighthouse garland for $9.99. It has twelve American lighthouses that are made of resin, hanging on gold cord and is 65 inches long.

TerrysVillage.com has a shell garland $7.99. It is made from various different shells and starfish tied to raffia. It is 54 inches long and the shells hang down ten inches.

SeaSideInspired.com sells a seashell garland for $16.00 made from mini umbonium shells along with several larger shell accents. It is nine feet long and you can choose from either white or taupe.

The Indian sea shell garland at Save-on-Crafts.com for $5.99 is made from various natural shells on a rope with a metal ring on each end for easy hanging. It is 21 inches long.

Christmas Ornaments
You will definitely need beach and nautical inspired Christmas ornaments for your tree. Over at Bronners.com, they sell approximately 160 nautical Christmas ornaments ranging in price from $4.99 to $23.99. Some of the choices for Christmas ornaments from Bronners.com include; a six inch wooden boat ($5.99); a crab shack ($8.99); a 3 1/2 inch spun glass lighthouse ($7.99); an anchor with compass and ship wheel ($4.99); a three inch glass red lobster ($3.99); a four inch long resin dolphin ($6.99); a 5 1/2 inch glass surfboard painted with a tropical beach theme ($19.99); a 2 3/4 inch resin sand castle ($5.99); a 4 1/2 inch glass pirate clipper ship ($10.99); a five inch pink starfish with jewels ($12.99); a 2 3/4 inch manatee ($8.99); and a 4 inch tall blue seahorse ($2.99) to name just a few.

CapeAnniesLighthouses.com has a selection of around 100 nautical and beach theme Christmas ornaments that range in price from $4.95 to $19.95. Cape Annie's Lighthouse ornament selection includes a line of sea babes which are funky mermaid ornaments for $16.96; a sea turtle carrying Christmas presents on its back and wearing a Santa hat as it swims for $12.95; a sign bearing Santa's red outfit that says Santa has gone to the Cape Cod beach for $11.95; a pelican pirate for $10.95; a seal on an anchor for $10.95; a lobster wearing a life ring for $11.50; a lobster pirate in a treasure chest for $8.40 and various different lighthouse ornaments.

SeasideInspired.com has a large selection of ocean inspired Christmas ornaments (hence their name) ranging in price from $4.00 to $60.00. Their selection includes many different shell and sea life ornaments, and Santa shell ornaments such as the sand dollar with a Santa face in the middle for $8.00.

Tree topper
A beach inspired tree topper will really set apart your Christmas tree from all the other "plain" Christmas trees. Over at ebay.com, you can buy a giant eight inch hand painted snowman starfish that you can attach as a tree topper for $9.99 from one ebay seller.

Moose-r-us.com has a Seashell Tree Topper for $18.00. It is made with different real shells and white sand-colored sea grass. It is nine inches wide and 14 inches tall from the top to the bottom of the metal spiral holder that goes on a branch of the Christmas tree.

You can add a large real starfish at the top of your Christmas tree as your tree topper such as the ten inch sugar starfish available at seashellco.com for $4.99. Seashellco.com also has other large starfish available such as the jungle starfish ($3.99) or the finger starfish in natural white ($9.99/set of 6) or dyed different colors ($3.99). You can attach them to the top of your Christmas tree using clear fishing line.

Tree skirt
To complete your beach themed Christmas tree decorating, you will need a beach or nautical themed Christmas tree skirt.

NauticalLuxuries.com sells a beaded coral dupioni silk tree skirt that is white with crystal beads and hand embroidered with a red coral and starfish design for $575.00. It is 60 inches in size.

NewportNauticalDecor.com has a cream and aqua colored, 54 inch quilted tree skirt with coral, seashell and seahorse sewn accents for $95.00.

HomebytheSeashore.com has three different beach and nautical tree skirts that sell for $59.00 each. Two of them have a seashell design and one has an old map look. Blue is the dominant color in each tree skirt.

These are just a few ideas that will help you with creating and decorating your own beach themed Christmas tree. You can certainly keep your budget much lower by searching for lighthouse and other nautical items in your local thrift stores, Dollar Stores, antique malls, and craft stores.

You can adapt nearly any beach or nautical items for use on your Christmas tree. Hang them on your Christmas tree with color-coordinated ribbons (that coordinate with your color scheme) or clear fishing line. Use clear mini Christmas lights and raffia as garland in place of specialty lights and garland. OrientalTrading.com has a large selection of luau decorations that can be used to create a Christmas Hawaiian beach themed Christmas tree. Best of all, their prices are very reasonable and they often have free shipping offers.

In whatever manner you decide to decorate your Christmas tree, add accents around the rest of your house in the same colors and beach and nautical inspiration pieces to keep a cohesive look throughout.