This Common Household Item Doubles As The Perfect Christmas Tree Collar

With Christmas fast approaching and bank accounts straining to keep up, it may not be first on your priority list to purchase new holiday décor, especially for small accents in secondary spaces. However, given the opportunity to elevate your Christmas decorations for free with something you already have around the house, odds are your interest in continuing to decorate may be piqued. Anna Loren (@annaloren.athome) shared on TikTok how she repurposed a lampshade as a gorgeous small DIY Christmas tree collar. The beauty of this hack is that you can easily reuse a lampshade already sitting in storage, borrow one from a lamp for the month, or even thrift one for pennies, giving it a new lease on life as holiday décor. If you wanted to commit to the change completely, you could also paint or drape a shade with fabric to give it a completely new, custom look.

It's important to note that this hack will only work for small trees (think 2 to 3 feet tall or under) unless you have a gargantuan lampshade on your hands, as the base diameter required to support larger trees is likely to be too big for the average lampshade. So, this isn't a hack for your main full-sized Christmas tree, but rather a larger tabletop or smaller secondary freestanding tree. And before you go running to your attic or secondhand store to grab any old lampshade, let's talk specifics about what types of shades will actually work, as shown in this clever, beautiful TikTok Christmas tree collar DIY.

For this hack, you'll want to use a lampshade that has a fitting compatible with the structure of your tree base so that the metal attachment piece doesn't get in the way. For trees that allow you to remove the base, you may be able to thread the trunk through the hole meant for attaching it to the lamp. Otherwise, you may be able to place the lampshade off-center toward the back to have the tree sit in front of the shade's metal washer component. If your shade is tapered, the shade can only be positioned in one direction as it must angle in toward the top, whereas a non-tapered barrel shade could be flipped upside down to keep the metal lampshade fitting out of the way. Once you're sure the shade and tree base will play nicely together, it's as simple as either placing the entire base into the shade or inserting the tree's trunk through the shade and reattaching it to the base below the fitting.

Aesthetically, there are endless options for shade materials that will look lovely as a festive alternative to a tree skirt. Shades woven with a natural material like rattan or water hyacinth will have an organic, basket-like look, while traditional linen materials will feel tailored and clean. Textured shades, such as those with  fluted, gathered, scalloped, or rippled fabric patterns, are also a great fit, adding a layer of visual interest and coziness that's likely to look even better than a store-bought collar. No matter the shade material that best suits your holiday aesthetic, repurposing a lampshade as a DIY tree collar is a merry, bright, and modern twist on Christmas tree décor.