Christmas Tree – Face in Hole Photo Prop / Standin

Take fun photos at Christmas parties this year with a cut-out tree.

Safety note: this tree was built for adults to use, not kids. The instructions call for staples to be used to secure the felt onto the cardboard, which can fall out or leave the occasional pointy edge. If you're making this tree for kids or to be extra safe, use hot glue instead of staples.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

To make your tree, you'll need:

A big piece of cardboard / cardboard box (Casper mattress boxes are perfect for a ~4 foot tree)
Felt: green, red
1 gold and 1 silver tinsel package

Tools:

Box cutter
Scissors
Hot glue gun and glue
Pen
Stapler
Tape measure or yardstick ruler
Cup

Step 2: Draw and Cut Out Your Christmas Tree

Lay out the cardboard or dissembled cardboard box.

Decide how tall and wide you want your tree. I laid down on the cardboard, putting my head 8-10 inches below the top of the piece of cardboard, then marked where my knees hit the cardboard (marking the bottom of my tree). I also marked where my shoulders/arm/hips hit the cardboard, knowing that the tree would have to be wide enough to cover those areas.

Then draw the shape of a tree out on the cardboard. Draw an oval slightly bigger than your face.

You can find a tree shape that you like by searching online and then match the dimensions to your actual length. You can also eyeball the shape. I knew I wanted 4 branch sections, so I divided the total length of my tree by 4 to figure out how tall each section would be. I drew a triangle for the top of the tree, then measured the bottom of the triangle. I then made each section 20 inches wider than the section above it.

Make sure the tree shape covers your body before you start cutting.

Cut the shape out using a box cutter or scissors. Be safe!

Step 3: Make the Star

Drawing a star is incredibly difficult. You can follow this instructable. To draw the circle (which guides you on how to draw the star, trace a lampshade, pot, or other circular object.

Cut out the star.

Wrap the gold tinsel strand around the star. Secure the strand with staples.

Step 4: Cover Your Tree in Felt

Lay the cardboard cutout over your piece of green felt. Cut around the shape, roughly 2 inches larger than the cut out.

Fold the edges of the felt over and then staple them to the cardboard. You may need to use many staples. You may want to invest in stronger than normal staples (but make sure that the staples do not go through the other side of the felt).

For the hole, leave 2 inches between the cardboard and the edge of the felt, but then cut the edge into 2-3 inch pieces before folding them over and stapling them.

Step 5: Cut Out Red Felt Ornaments

Use a cup to trace circles on the red felt. Cut them out with scissors and then set them aside.

Step 6: Dress Your Christmas Tree!

You can get as creative as you like in this step.

First,a add silver tinsel (or whatever strand you prefer). I used staples to secure the strand. Cut the tinsel into strands, staple the strands to the cardboard-side back of the tree, then fold them over onto the front felt-side. Staple 2-3 times on the felt side to keep it in place, folding the end over onto the cardboard-side and staple in place.

Hot glue the red felt ornaments. You can also staple or glue any kind of ornaments you like!

Step 7: Reinforce Cardboard If Necessary

The top of my tree was flopping over (there was a seam from the cardboard box) so I reinforced the cardboard by glueing more cardboard pieces and chopsticks on top of it.