My first thrift store tree topper was a plastic angel with one wing and the facial expression of somebody who’d seen things.
I paid $2 for her at a church sale, jammed her on top of a 6-foot tree in my living room, and went to bed happy.
She lasted until about 2 a.m., when she nosedived into the branches and Biscuit barked at her until I got up.
So yes, I’ve done this wrong.
More than once.
A star is fine.
I’ve got nothing against a star.
But the topper is the one thing on the tree everybody looks at, and it’s weirdly easy to make it yours for under $10.
These are the ones I’ve actually put on a tree, plus the measuring and the wiring I wish somebody had made me do first.
If you’re still sorting out the branches underneath, our colorful Christmas tree ideas will get you there.
Measure the Top Before You Buy Anything
This takes two minutes and saves you a trip back to the store, and I’ve made that trip more than once, with a coffee in one hand and a topper that was never going to fit in the other.
Stand the tree up, hold a tape measure on the top branch, and read straight up to the ceiling.
You want at least 6 inches of air between the top of the topper and the ceiling.
Less than that and the tree looks like it’s trying to escape through the drywall, and you can’t get a hand in to straighten anything.
My living room has 8-foot ceilings and a 7-foot tree, so I’ve got 12 inches to play with.
Take off the 6 inches of air and I can go about 6 inches tall.
I learned that with a 14-inch paper star from Facebook Marketplace.
Gorgeous star.
It never once fit.
Smaller trees need less than you’d think.
A 4 to 5.5 foot tree under a 9-foot ceiling looks right with something around 5 inches tall and 6 inches wide.
Bigger trees can carry more, but only if the ceiling agrees.
A Big Ribbon Bow Is the Easiest Swap I Know
If you only try one thing here, try this.
A bow looks intentional on any tree, and it’s almost impossible to get wrong because it doesn’t have to stand up straight.
It just has to sit there and be pretty.
Buy wired ribbon, 2.5 inches wide or more, since the wire holds the loops where you put them.
Plain ribbon goes limp by the first weekend and looks like a sad napkin.
Once you’ve got the good stuff, make four loops on each side, pinch the middle, and wrap a 12-inch piece of floral wire around the pinch.
Use the leftover wire to tie the whole thing to the top branch.
Then let the tails run long.
Mine hang down about 3 feet, and I tuck them back into the branches every so often so they don’t just dangle there.
Last year one $6 roll did the entire job.
Thrift store, still in the plastic.
Streamers Do What One Bow Can’t
A ribbon burst is the bow’s louder cousin.
No loops at all.
You tie a bunch of long ribbons to the top of the tree and let them fall down the sides.
For a 7-foot tree I cut 8 to 12 lengths, each around 6 feet long, and I stick to two or three ribbons in one color family.
Blush and gold work on nearly anything.
Go past three ribbons and you’ve got a maypole, and I say that as someone who has made a maypole.
Bundle the ends, wire the bundle to the top branch, then tuck each ribbon into the tree every foot or so.
They’ll look stiff for about ten minutes.
Give them a shake and walk away.
I like a burst best on a skinny tree, because the long lines pull your eye up and down instead of out.
Our small Christmas tree ideas have more tricks like this one for tight rooms.
Thrifted Angels, Dolls and Other Odd Little Friends
Thrift stores fill up with these right after Thanksgiving, mostly because somebody’s cleaning out their mother’s attic.
Check the ceramics aisle as well as the holiday bin, since half of them never get sorted into the right place.
An old angel doesn’t need to match anything.
That’s the charm.
Mine has a chip on one foot, so I turn that side toward the wall and nobody’s the wiser.
If you can hold it in one hand without thinking about it, a good top branch and a little wire will do the job.
Anything that makes your wrist notice is a problem for the leaning section further down.
Dolls work too, if you’re into that.
A little vintage doll in a wool coat looks sweet and slightly unhinged up there, which is exactly how I like it.
Old stuffed animals, a folk-art Santa, a bird with a chipped beak, anything with some history will do.
Just don’t use anything you’d cry over.
Trees get bumped.
Dogs happen.
Flowers and Stems Instead of One Big Thing
This one’s my favorite, and it costs almost nothing if you’ve got a bin of old floral picks.
Skip the single ornament and build a small arrangement right at the top with fake roses, poinsettia stems and gold berry sprays.
Stand the first three stems straight up to get some height.
Angle the rest outward and down, like a bouquet that’s been flipped over.
Most of those stems have wire inside, so you can wrap them right around the top branch and bend them wherever you want, which is the whole reason I keep a bin of ugly old picks in the garage instead of tossing them every January.
Cream roses and red poinsettias together look expensive, even when the roses came out of a dollar bin.
Mine cost $9 total, and honestly that number includes a coffee.
Our Christmas flower arrangements go through how I mix stems, if you want the table to match the tree.
The Santa Hat, If Your House Isn’t Too Serious
Drop a Santa hat over the top of a small tree and you’re done.
That’s the entire project.
Stuff the tip with a bit of tissue so it stays perky, or run a piece of wire through it so it flops over to one side.
This isn’t classy, not even a little.
Neither is my living room.
A paper crown from the party store or a witch hat you’ve spray-painted gold works the same way, and all of them are great on a tabletop tree where a formal topper would look silly.
Buy two, by the way.
Biscuit took the first one off the tree and has refused to give it back.
If You’re Keeping a Star, Make It a Weird One
Stars aren’t the enemy.
The shiny plastic one from the drugstore is.
A gold wire star like this one weighs next to nothing and lets the wall show through it, so the top of the tree doesn’t feel heavy.
There’s also less of it to wobble, which makes it easier to get straight.
Look for wood, rattan, wire or punched tin.
Those old many-pointed paper stars are lovely too, as long as you find one that isn’t crushed and you’ve done the math from the first section.
How to Stop a Heavy Topper From Leaning
Every topper I’ve ever had lean started with the same problem: the top branch.
On most trees it’s skinny and soft, and it’s already tilting a little before you put anything on it.
So fix the branch first.
If it’s crooked, trim it or bend it straight.
Then wrap floral wire around it and run the wire down to the next set of branches, so the top and the branches below it are holding each other up.
Light toppers can slip right on after that.
Anything with real weight gets zip ties or a stabilization kit.
I use two zip ties, one near the top and one about 4 inches down, and I snip the ends so they don’t poke out through the green.
Once it’s on, give the very top a small shake.
If it moves more than a hair, add a tie or pick something lighter.
A real tree makes this harder as the season goes on, because the branches loosen up as they dry out and lose their grip on whatever you’ve got up there.
Check yours every weekend.
If your topper lights up, run the cord down the back of the trunk and hold it there with green floral tape.
One white cord down the front wrecks the whole tree.
I feel about that cord roughly the way I feel about overhead lighting.
What I’d Try First on a $10 Budget
Honestly, the bow.
A roll of wired ribbon and a bit of floral wire will come in under $10 at most craft stores, it goes on in about 15 minutes, and it won’t fall on your dog at 2 in the morning.
After that, start checking the thrift store ceramics aisle, and buy the strange one.
You’ll know it when you see it.
Send me a picture of whatever you end up with, especially if it’s ridiculous.