How to Decorate an Outdoor Christmas Tree

Setting up a Christmas tree out on the deck or patio or porch exposes all the trimming to the elements so its important to choose the right ones.

This year, for the first time, we decided to set up a Christmas tree outdoors on our back deck. It all came about sort of by accident.
We needed to go cut down a tree far in advance of the holiday, even before the tree farm was officially open for the season in fact, to film the holiday episode of Welcome to my Farm.

Since it seemed too early to put up an actual tree in the house, we set the tree in a tree stand that fit perfectly inside a large galvanized tub and left it out on the deck.
Then of course it looked so sad and lonely, I decided to decorate it.

How to Decorate an Outdoor Christmas Tree

Since we get a LOT of snow and freezing rain and wind here in Maine in the winter, all the decorations needed to be fairly weather- resistant AND fairly inexpensive in case they didn't survive the elements!
After a bit of searching, I found some that checked off both boxes and were also festive and pretty!
Here's what I used, along with links to buy the decorations:
Galvanized tub Tree stand Battery-operated lights Outdoor extension cord (if you decide to use regular plug-in lights) Wooden bead garlands (I used two) Red buffalo check bows Red bow for top Wooden sign (I got mine years ago but you can find a similar one here) Length of clothesline

Then I tied red and white gingham fabric scraps to a length of clothesline to decorate the base and arranged some leftover white pumpkins from Halloween to complete the decorations.
I also used a bit of clothesline to tie the trunk of the tree about halfway up to the deck railing... just in case... so the tree won't blow over in a strong wind (although once the tub fills with frozen water and snow, that tree isn't going anywhere!)
The one last thing I wanted to do was to add some orange slices to the tree for the birds.. and maybe after it stops snowing I'll make some peanut-butter covered pine cones dipped in sunflower seeds.....they will appreciate that since food is so scarce in the winter for the birds and wild animals.

Anyway, I'm super happy with how the tree came out and the lights have held out through two snow storms already (I tucked the control box under the deck railing as much out of the elements as possible) and look so pretty twinkling in the evening.
They're set on a timer so I don't have to worry about turning them on and off, and can be set to stay on, flicker, fade, chase or a random lighting pattern.
So far our tree has made it through two snow storms and all the decorations are still looking great and the lights are going strong!
I think an outdoor Christmas tree is one tradition that we'll keep going year after year!