White Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas

Looking for some decorating ideas for your winter wonderland white Christmas tree? These tips that will help make sure it looks beautiful when you're done.

Because I'm a color-loving person, I usually decorate my Christmas trees with lots of color, like my Kate Spade inspired black, white and pink Christmas tree or my peacock Christmas tree. So this all white Christmas tree is something new for me.

Tips for decorating an all white Christmas tree

First, I have to start by saying that decorating anything all in white is a challenge for me…I'm definitely a color person.

But since I'm doing a silver and white winter wonderland dinner party for a friend of mine this weekend, I decided I wanted to do an all white Christmas tree in the living room to go with the decor.

Not to mention that I own a white Christmas tree…so it SHOULD be an easy thing to do…

But if I'm totally honest, I have always had trouble getting this Christmas tree to look the way I wanted it to.

I bought it a few years back because I was afraid my two 10+ pound cats would climb (and knock over) a real tree (I always had a real tree before that!) I didn't really like the artificial trees that were trying to look like real trees (unsuccessfully in my opinion), so I bought one that was obviously not real.

And have had challenges with it ever since.

So this year I was determined to figure out how to decorate it so that I actually like it.

Keep reading to find the tips I came up with for decorating a winter wonderland white Christmas tree.

The First Attempt

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In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I had to decorate the tree twice. This was my first attempt, and it ended up pretty much the same way as it has all of the other times I have tried to decorate it.

It's not horrible but it just didn't look that interesting to me…it was just missing something. The white lights reflecting off the white branches just seems too bright.

And the decorations seem to stand out too much against the white which makes me notice all the spaces between them. Now if you're someone who likes a sparsely decorated Christmas tree, you might like this…but that is not my style.

So after looking at the tree for a few days (and not liking it) I took all of the decorations off and started over…and that's when I had the brain wave that fixed it!

The Secret of "Snow"

If you had read any of my other Christmas decorating posts (like this one for easy Christmas decorating ideas, or this one for decorating a fireplace mantel), then you have probably noticed that I like to use white feather boas* as part of my Christmas decorations. They are an easy way to add some softness to white lights and Christmas decor. And they look like snow!

White feather boas*

So I finally had an idea (and I'm not sure why it took me so long to think of this)…why not add some of that snowy feeling to my Christmas tree by weaving feather boas between the branches?

The feather boas add softness to the all white Christmas tree — The feather boas add softness to the tree

And guess what? It worked!

The boas aren't that obvious on the finished tree, but they help to diffuse the light and fill in the spaces between the branches. And give that soft look of fluffy white snow.

Once I solved that problem, decorating the rest of the tree was easy! Just follow the same principals as I would if were decorating a white room.

Vary The Textures

Metal ornaments reflect light to soften an all white Christmas tree — Use ornaments that reflect light to soften all the white

Adding different textures keeps the tree from looking boring.

Obviously, the boas add a soft, fluffy element.

I also used different ribbons, some that were matte and some that were translucent.

Glass icicle ornaments*

Different types of Christmas ornaments, like these glass icicles*, add smoothness and shine. These also help give the winter feel to the tree.

Cat sitting on white faux fur tree skirt under all white Christmas tree — The white faux fur tree skirt is cat-approved

The faux fur tree skirt is another addition that adds texture and adds the look of snow…it's actually just 2 yards of faux fur fabric* that I arranged around the bottom of the tree.

As an added bonus…Chanel loves the faux fur! Finally a place that you can't see all the white cat hair! She'll be making an appearance in a lot of the pictures. I couldn't get her to move once she found this spot.

Use Different Shades of White

The cream ribbon adds a little contrast with the white tree

Add decorations in different shades of white to introduce some subtle contrast.

Musical notes ribbon*

That's what makes the cream colored musical notes wired ribbon* on the tree stand out.

Include Metals

gold and silver ornaments add extra depth to an all white Christmas tree — Add gold and silver for some extra depth

Okay, so some people might say that adding silver or gold means it's not really an all white Christmas tree…but the metals add some depth to the scheme which is hard to achieve with white by itself.
I used both gold and silver decorations on my tree.

Silver pine cone ornaments*

Silver pine cones* add that outdoor winter feeling to the tree.

If you happen to have access to some pine cones, they are easy to make by spraying with silver spray paint*.

Snowflake Christmas ornaments*

And of course, you can't have a winter wonderland Christmas tree without some snowflakes!

Reflect Light

To soften all that white light, add some crystal shaped ornaments.

They will reflect the light in different directions diffusing it a little in the process.

I used these chandelier ornaments*.

They hold flameless tealight candles* which add even more sparkle. If you get the ones with the timer, you won't have to worry about turning them on and off every night.

Cascading tree pick on an all white Christmas tree — Cascading tree pick

Some cascading tree picks look like iced branches, which adds to the winter wonderland feeling. My new favorite Christmas tree decorations!

Add Interesting Shapes

Ornaments with interesting shapes help make the tree more interesting

Finally, adding decorations of different shapes will add some more interest to the tree…like these bird cage ornaments*.

I always tie bows on the end of some of the branches with wired ribbon. They help to fill in any gaps as well as adding a different shape and texture to the tree.