Flock a Christmas Tree the Child / Pet Safe Way
6 Materials
$10
2 Hours
Easy
I have never flocked my own Christmas tree before, but I can remember how my Granny Jo would let us spray some of that canned snow onto her tree every year. Though spraying that stuff was fun and would certainly be nostalgic, it is not the most non-toxic of options. With that in mind, I thought I would give a natural flocking option a try that would be safe for children and pets that may get into the tree (not that I have either, but hey). To get this DIY Christmas snowy flocked tree underway all you need is some coconut and liquid corn starch!
Get ready for the quickest, easiest and tastiest way to add some fresh "snow" to your Christmas tree!
SUPPLIES: -1 Lb. Desiccated Coconut (I know... it sounds horrible, it is basically finer than shredded coconut, but not as fine as coconut flour) -Liquid Corn Starch (2 cups) (Laundry starch is made from corn starch! What?!?!... It is basically corn starch, water, and soap) -A Bowl -A Fork -A Measuring Cup -And a tree hehe... *I have a 7' Tree and these measurements covered it fine, but if you want a more coated look or have a larger tree you may need to make more.
STEP 1: Mix Coconut and Corn Starch Pour the coconut into a bowl and pour a cup of liquid corn starch into a measuring cup. Mix in a good 2Tbsp or so of the sta-flo (liquid corn starch) into the coconut. Loosen up any clumps and keep stirring.
STEP 2: Mix in the Rest of the Corn Starch Slowly mix in the remainder of the cup of sta-flo.
STEP 3: Add More Corn Starch Slowly pour another cup of sta-flo into the bowl of coconut.
Once your coconut is all stirred it will look something like this. All of the coconut should be wet with sta-flo.
STEP 4: Sprinkle It Over Your Tree Take your sta-flo coconut mixture and sprinkle it all over your tree, starting from the top and allowing flakes to fall down and land on the branches below. Now comes the hard part.... waiting! You have to let the coconut dry for 8 hrs or so. It is smart to do this project before heading to bed, and then the tree will be ripe and ready by the time you wake up in the morning.
And here is the after shot! I like it more than I even expected!
Not only is this non-toxic, but it can be cleaned off, which is great if you want to put this on a fake tree for one year and then have a clean tree the next. You can vac this off the tree, since it isn't attached with glue.
Look at that thing! I hardly wanted to add any decor, but alas I couldn't resist. The snow does make a mess when applying it, as it falls to the floor and not only on the branches, but can easily be swept up once you are finished.
It does look good with ornaments too, but I could have it either way. It looks more natural to me than the canned stuff for sure!
Side note: I LOVE coconut and making this was seriously a treat! The whole house smelled like coconut. I know you probably want the smell of pine, but quite honestly the combination was amazing!
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One more thing: If you're looking for cool lighting idea decorations, then this DIY fairy lights page has some awesome lighting ideas that you can use for literally anything in your home - either a Christmas tree or just to spruce up your home decor.
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Comments
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2 of 234 comments
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Looks messy and awesome.
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I clicked on the fairy lite link and there are tons of craft ideas, but nothing about fairy lites
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This is a great idea, but might it draw ants?
why is there a horse above the tree. Unusual but the tree is pretty.
How about spraying a tee branch with hairspray and then sprinkle the stuff on? Or you could sponge on Mod Podge...