THE (F)AIRY TREE A.K.A. Space Saver Chocolate Xmas Tree From a Lamp

My flat has very little room for storage, so when Christmas decoration time arrived this year, I decided not to buy a Christmas tree and to transform my lamp into a tree instead.

I am happy with the result, I hope you like the idea too.

The best part of it is that when it's time to wrap it up it takes very little space: I'm pretty confident everything will fit in the 9x12x19 cm (3.5x4.7x7.5 in) box that was provided with the fairy lights.

thesewi

Update:

Happy new year!

After un-doing the "tree" I've realized that I was a little optimistic about the space the stuff would need. Actually the tulle doesn't fit in the fairy lights box, but it's also true that it occupies very little space. I've added a picture so you can see what's the final volume of the equipment.

So let's get started!

Step 1: Materials

(*) LED net lights : LEDs stay cold so it's safe to use balloons

Green balloons : I've used 20 small dark green balloons and 10 medium light green balloons because this is what I've found. The effect of the LEDs reflecting on the balloons is a nice side effect I didn't think about.

1 Rubber band and 1 plastic strip;

(*) Christmas decorations hangers;

Christmas decorations : You're free to use whatever you want to decorate, but if you use chocolates and sweets, you can eat them at the end of the holidays :P

(*) Green tulle : I had this light green tulle at home already, a darker shade would have probably been better;

Paper sellotape;

Only the items marked with (*) need storage space.

Step 2: The Structure

Place the rubber band at the top of the lamp pole, this will later ensure that the lights won't fall down (pic 1).

Use the plastic strip to wrap one side of the net, as you were sewing with the plastic strip being the thread and the net lights being the fabric. Make sure the LEDs are facing up, as the little lights will be more visible.

Wrap the tulle and then the lights around the top of the lamp.

You can now secure everything in place pulling the strip above the rubber band, this way the lights will not slip down.

You might need some help for this step, as tighten the strip while ensuring the tulle and the net are evenly distributed is quite difficult.

I'm going to sew some elastic on both the tulle and the LED net next year, it'll be SOOO much easier.

Hide the plastic strip using some nice ribbons as you see in the third picture.

Step 3: The Filling

Inflate the balloons and place them inside the tulle fabric, arrange them in a cone shape.

Step 4: Optional Embellishment

I've used some paper sellotape to secure the net lights on the floor, to achieve a larger radius on the bottom. You can cover it with the tulle. This is not a great solution because the dirt on the floor will inevitably stick on the damn tape... There were some suckers sold with the lights, those would have been a better solution if it wasn't for the fact that they were all deformed and so they didn't work (someone could say that they sucked :P)

Step 5: Decorations

It's time for the decorations! I've mainly used chocolate to decorate the "tree", so I can use my belly as a storage room to save the one in the flat.

Everyone will ask you to get some of your decorations and this is the fun part!

I'd love to get ideas for variations or improvements from you, I can try them and update this instructable. So please use the comment section to let me know :)