Crate Christmas Tree - - Alternative or Non-Traditional Christmas Tree

2 Materials
$25
2 Hours
Easy

Before reading further, please take a minute to connect by subscribing to the Mother Daughter Projects once-a-week newsletter.


As always, further details on this project can be found on our website along with links to the exact materials we used.


One dreary, rainy Monday morning this month, I found myself without transportation & feeling kind of blah. What to do? I decided to pull out my Christmas stuff & start decorating, but one thing stood in my way….no tree!


Last year I retired my tree with the intention of purchasing one at the after-Christmas sales. The buy never happened so I was treeless. ​ I ventured into the garage to see if there was anything suitable with which to build. As luck would have it, I found six wine crates that I had purchased at a yard sale earlier this fall.

Materials/Tools

- 6 wine crates or similar size crates

- Lots of large binder clips

- A board the length of three crates

- An additional wine box for the base

- A few screws

- Drill/bits

- Wall anchor & wire

- Foil wrapping paper/ Glue dots

- Decorations





For your convenience, there are links to the products we use in our projects from Amazon as well as The Home Depot, Wall Control. (Mother Daughter Projects is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.)

I started by centering the board on top of the wine box & then centering the first crate on top of the board. I then put screws in four places to secure this in place. After that, I simply placed a crate on either side of the centered one keeping them in place with binder clips. Two more crates were added to the next level, then finished with a crate laid on its side. The tree was secured to the wall with wire running from the back of the top crate to to the wall. The back of the crates were lined with wrapping paper foil & glued in place with glue dots. Everything is easily removable.

After that I added “vignettes” of decorations to each box as well as lights. The large cement looking thing in the bottom box is in fact a large cement object! I was concerned about the whole thing being too unstable so I brought it in from the outside to use as a weight. It is actually afire bowl.

I like this “tree” so much that I’m not sure I am going to be buying a replace this year either!

Suggested materials:
  • Binder clips   (Amazon)
  • Lights   (Amazon)
Mother Daughter Projects
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  1 question
Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 56 comments
  • Tam Tam on Nov 18, 2021

    Neve, EVER would have thought of that...it is SOOOO HOMEY AND SWEET AND CHARMING AND UNIQUE!!!

  • Diana Deiley Diana Deiley on Sep 22, 2023

    Christmas isn't the same for me since I lost my mother two years ago. It was her favorite holiday which made it my favorite holiday. Growing up she made sure that all of her six children had a wonderful holiday. SHE made the holiday for us. I believe mom would have loved this look. So I'm going to honor my mother this Christmas with a wonderful 'crate' tree! It will make me cry for sure, but also worth every tear. I hope Ma can see it from Heaven this year!

Next