Contemporary Christmas Trees

Win the award for the most creative with these three small Christmas trees. Use colorful wooden gift boxes for a jack-in-the-box element of surprise. Decorate the trees with a mixture of oversize decorative balls and smaller silver ornaments to keep the room sparkling.

A frosted artificial tree becomes stunning when hung with frosted drop ornaments and wrapped in a simple, wide ribbon.

A snow-white tree is the perfect backdrop for bright, colorful ornaments. Choose a playful theme, such as "Eye-Popping Presents" shown here, and choose simple shapes to let the colors shine.

Give your tree a rainbow effect by organizing bulbs in monochromatic sections along the tree. Here, shades of yellow, pink, and blue create the desired effect. Connect the colors by adding a tree topper and skirt that uses all the colors on the tree. Learn how to make the colorful ribbon tree skirt on the next slide.

Dress up the base of your tree with a colorful ribbon skirt. Cut varying lengths of thick, wire-edge ribbon in different colors, then attach them to the tree trunk with florist's wire.

A lipstick-red tree is delicately balanced with a clear bead garland and drop ornaments. You could inexpensively duplicate this look by spray-painting a large branch red and hanging jewelry-inspired ornaments from it.

Hang handmade ball ornaments covered in metallic or iridescent sequins or glitter designs, all in icy pastel colors, to make your tree shimmer.

A small white tree decorated with glass-candy ornaments is a sweet way to celebrate the holidays. Peppermint candies in a clear class vase enhance the theme.

For more tree decorating ideas, check out these creative themed Christmas trees.