Cardboard Christmas Tree - Flat Pack Style

If you live in a small flat, chances are, as lovely as a grand 6 foot tall Christmas Tree is, it can be a bit impractical! So what about making one the right size for you, and with cute houses for chocolates, toys, or soft animals?

Of course you could just buy smaller Xmas trees, (2-3 foot), but these sold out fast at our local seller - and as someone who enjoys DIY, I decided to make one from Cardboard, with my young son enjoying the process of painting and decorating (even if I did the tricky cutting and hot-glue work). The only downside was that in the past, (ie last Xmas), I glued everything in such a way that it was not 'flat-packable'.

Although I realised that this was a nice way to 'up-cycle' old boxes, and arguably avoid using a Xmas Tree for a month, before it becomes wood-chips. Without wishing to be a killjoy, a typical Xmas Tree takes between 6-12 years to grow. They also cost around £60! So honestly, after a point, one wonders why we do this for trees, and perhaps Pumpkin Carving is a bit peculiar when you think about the waste. It seems the debate on the ecological ethics of Plastic vs Real Xmas Trees continues (BBC)...

Either way, my emphasis is not to cry 'bah-humbug!!' to what is a festive moment, and compared to Beef Burgers, which are 1x-2x 'worse' in terms of CO2 impact than a Xmas tree. However, I'm certainly not trying to shame anyone here... we all have our 'choices'. Fundamentally, I think it's a nice project which for some people enjoy creative activities. The choice, as they say, is yours.

The other notable advantage of this version over the ones I made in previous years, is that it is flat-packable, and the small 'houses' are excellent for stashing sweets - a sort of 12 days of Christmas / Advent Calendar feel to it.

Also, if you do get a 'Real' Tree - perhaps you want to make a Den out of it afterwards! DIY Guide here.

And leave me a comment and I'll send you a DM in November to consider this! haha!

Supplies

I work as a Creative Technologist, and I happened to have just finished a project on optimising packaging using AI, (with RS x NVIDIA) so had a bunch of boxes left over, but generally I find on 'bin day', there are many large boxes left beside refuse bins, which would be idea. Failing that, any IKEA boxes would work also.

I used coffee-stirrers to 'pin' the houses to the tree, and spent matchsticks (or cut the tips off), for attaching the small birds to the tree.

A Scalpel / Craft Knife is worth using, and I'm a fan of these small battery powered Glue Pens by Bosch, as they dispense less glue, making it safer for kids to use. However, for the main build, I suggest a more 'heavy duty' glue gun, such as this. I also did a little video to compare the pros/cons of each - here. I used acrylic paint (link) but most things like rulers, and brushes, I'm sure you have.

Step 1: Xmas Tree Profile

I've not given dimensions, as of course, this is dependent on how big your cardboard is, and how big you want to make it. However, don't worry too much about precision - it it more a trick of 'mirroring' than careful measurement.

So, begin by drawing a triangle, as shown, with approximate ratio of the height being about 2.5x the 'side'. From this draw a 'saw tooth' along the outer edge, as shown. Try to cut out carefully, as you'll need to keep this 'waste' in one piece, and use it later.

Tip - I kept the second sheet of card underneath, and allowed my cuts to 'carry on through'.

Step 2: Mirroring Pattern

Take the 'offcut', and flip this to the other side, using the centreline as shown to get equal. Cut out that side also. Do this again for the second piece.

Step 3: The 'Slide Together' Cut

This is a deep 'cross-lap' joint, and allows the two tree profiles to go together like a '+', giving stability and structure. Simply measure the width of the card, and the heigh of the tree, and cut half as much from the top on one, and from the bottom on the second.

Step 4: Test Fit

It's generally better to err on the side of a 'tight' fit, than have these be too loose. They should slot together like this once done.

Step 5: In-Fill 'Branches'

Hopefully you have kept your 'offcuts' as suggested.

If you've given the 'zig-zags' a slight curve as I have, you may find you need to re-do these, to avoid it looking 'upside-down'. See Purple line.

These do not need to be perfect, as they are 'in-fill' to give the tree a bit more 'body'.

Note - if you had more cardboard, you could do a second set of '+' and make it simpler than doing all the gluing. The choice is yours, but I think this shows some nice craft-skills, and is less wasteful.

Step 6: Adding 'Joints'

You can of course use a 'Bone Knife' (nowadays made of plastic), to make nice folds in card, but assuming you don't have this, a blunt object like a smooth knife will do. However, I found it hand to 'cut out' some of the folds made in the box, as these have been professional done, and are 'perfect'.

You can now glue these as shown - sticking the smaller 'in-fill' sections to the main section.

Note 1 - there is no 'correct' way to do this, but I chose to stick all 4 of the 'in-fill' pieces (with hinges), onto one piece, on front and back (and leave one spare) - see final image.

Notes 2 - don't stick the hinges too close to the 'mid length cut', as they will need to 'fold out'. Take a close look at the 4th image - showing a 3-4mm offset to allow for this.

Step 7: Close Up

If the above is not clear, here's a close-up showing this offsetting detail.

Step 8: Assemble!

They should now slide together nicely!

Step 9: Making the Weighted Base

I wanted to make the base flat-packable, but realised it needed to be heavy enough to give stability to the tree. I chose to use 8 tins of tomatoes/veg. And made a box to go around them...of course, tins are readily available and can be used after xmas.

Step 10: Tailored to Tinsq

As shown, I let the dimensions of the tins set the side of the base, cutting out 4 sides, with some extra 'flaps' to fold underneath.

Step 11: Forming the Base

I glued these tabs on a 'centre square' as shown, which I had given 'tabs' to allow to fold down and around it.

Step 12: Belt

I added a 'belt' to snugly hold the sides around the tins.

Step 13: In-set Cuts

I wanted to avoid simply glueing the tree to the pot, as this would mess with the flat-pack quality of the design. However, this left the problem of wanting to make the tree stable and not fall over...

So I placed the tree assembly over the 'base' and too measurements of where each side ended up. I then cut these out (to a depth of about 6cm) to allow these to 'inset' as shown. This made it 'claw' around the base, and the friction of each of the 8 sections was enough to keep it tightly fitted to the base.

Granted, I could perhaps add some extra reinforcement, use elastic bands, velcro, or whatever, but it survived Xmas for us!

Step 14: Mini Houses

When we first made a cardboard Xmas Tree, my son wanted 'homes' for his stuffed toy animals, so we made some to go around them. These still remained in the new design, but also smaller ones could hold chocolates!

The general idea is really to use the left over bits of card to make a few nice little interactive elements, a bit like an advent calendar.

Step 15: Coffee Stirrer Supports

One nice 'feature' of corrugated cardboard is the 'channels' (corrugations) left, which have a nice utility to allow coffee stirrers to pass through (snugly) to later affix to the tree.

Step 16: Pin to the Tree

Take a coffee stirrer, and sharpen one side slightly, so that you can 'stab' it through the tree at approximately the right place to want the tree to be placed.

Safety Tip - if you are worried about 'sharp points', you can use one sharp one as a 'tool', and then make all the others 'safe' by rounding the edges or leaving square.

Step 17: Childsplay

I found my son is not quite able to cut double-corrugated (thick) cardboard, for the tree, but was able to help out with making 'houses', from cereal box card. This can be cut with scissors, and as suggested - use a small glue gun (or masking tape).

The only thing you need to do is add a chunk of corrugated card at the *back* of the house, so as they can be affixed similarly to the others. The shape is pretty basic, and you can either make a 'net' or pattern, which folds up, or you can make all sides separate and glue as you go. I think the former is more complex, but is a good thing to work towards, as it develops spatial awareness / planing, so adapt to the skill-level of your kid.

Step 18: Painting Houses

I suggest painting the houses first, as this allows you to get a feel of how much coverage is needed. Chances are you can coat and re-coat within 30mins, as the paint will try fast on the first coat, if not applied too thickly. I used basic pre-mixed poster paint / acrylic. (suggested).

Step 19: Painting the Tree

As this was winter, and it was -3C outside, we didn't want to paint this in the living room, near the sofa, wooden flooring, etc. So oddly the bathroom was best! I'd still suggest putting down some sacrificial paper/card to make clean-up easier.

Don't worry if the card bends a bit with the wet paint...we'll get to that later.

Step 20: Ironing Flat

I ironed this the following day, when the paint was tough dry, but likely still had a little moisture, which is actually helpful, as this creates steam, and allows the card to 'set' in a flat way when dry again.

Tip - Unless you have a iron for craft (something I'm considering at this rate!), you'll need to protect it from mess, and I suggest using Baking Paper.

Once you've ironed all sides, you can place under a pile of books for a couple hours, and this will ensure they dry in place.

Do the same for the 'base'.

Step 21: A Complete Set

All complete, ready to assemble (or store for next year).

Granted the mini houses could also be made to be 'flattened' but I perhaps need to work on that, either way, they are not a space-consuming as the full-size tree.

Step 22: Mount Homes

Skewer the tree as shown, in preparation, then redo the same with the 'home' 'kebabed' between the tree sections.

Step 23: Mix It Up

My son got pretty creative, imaging stories of various 'neighbours' and what each colour-scheme said about their owner...

Step 24: Star Finish

I made a quick start to go atop the tree.

My son added a nice home. Using the same mounting principles used already.

In hindsight - I could have made it fit in an inverse 'cross' as a socket, but it works fine as is also ;o)

Step 25: Birds

My wife is fond of drawing, so added these cheerful birds, I cut then out with a scalpel, and used matchsticks to affix to the vertical tree sections, which I hand't planned to have the corrugations in the 'right' orientation, but worked out nicely!

Step 26: A Sweet Finishing Touch

Who doesn't want chocolate in their homes ;o)

Step 27: All Done - Add Presents

Our living room is not this tidy, but here's the 'photoshoot' of it all completed.

Hope you enjoy making this, and of course do post if you made one also.

I've worked for LEGO, Dyson, V&A Innovate, D&T Association - making inventive projects for kids and big kids, so if you'd be interested in my doing any projects of this nature, please get in touch via LinkedIn or my website: www.judepullen.com

Many thanks! And hope you 'save' this for next Dec, and enjoy making your own!

Jude