A lot of bachelors forego decorating for occasions like Christmas, mostly because there is no mate or children in the home to help decorate or to buy presents for. Many think there’s no point to putting up with a bunch of hassle, just for one person. Also, many men simply don’t like shopping, decorating and the whole holiday routine. If it was very simple to do, though, a single guy might put a tree up, just to have a little holiday spirit in the home. If you know a bachelor and don’t want him to be home with no Christmas tree, make one of these quick and easy trees to give him and he’ll think of you each time he puts it up.
Roll out green felt and cut a Christmas tree shape. Use a small piece of brown felt to represent the trunk, or cut a “pot” from a different shade of felt or fabric. Glue the pot or the trunk to the felt tree. Use a piece of yellow felt or material for the star. Use various colors or prints of cloth or felt to cut out colored balls, then stitch, glue or Velcro them to the tree. You can add dimension to the decorations by drawing on the balls with fabric paint, glitter paint or add glue and sequins. You can add other lightweight items like strings of tiny beads by gluing them on the tree as well. Make this tree as large or small as you want and when completed, roll up the felt tree, tie it closed with a Christmas ribbon, and give it to your bachelor friend. When Christmas rolls around, he can unroll the tree and tape it to a wall.
An umbrella makes a cute little Christmas tree. Place the umbrella handle in a 2 lb coffee jar, a bucket or a can, and then fill the bucket with sand or even kitty litter. Open the umbrella, but not all the way. Use a piece of tape to hold the umbrella at a downward angle, somewhat cone-shaped. Purchase a yard of green fabric or felt, cut square, and locate the middle of the fabric. Place the cloth over the top of the umbrella, aligning the middle of the fabric with the middle of the top of the umbrella. Place a non-electrical tree topper over the top of the umbrella stem. Glue ornaments onto the cloth, strings of beads or tinsel.
You can do various things with the tree, like place it on a tabletop and cover the bucket with white fabric. Or encircle the entire “tree” with garland, glue or stitch it on, and next year, the tree is already decorated. Hang the ornaments on the garland, pinch the hanger shut and the ornaments are permanent. You can also make a pillow-type star by cutting 2 star shapes out, sewing and stuffing, then attaching it permanently to the top of the tree.
The tree can be made semi-permanent, so that the umbrella can be used after the holidays, by attaching everything to the cloth and nothing to the umbrella itself. But, if the bachelor plans on remaining that way for years to come, he might consider making the tree permanent and placing a little cement in the bucket to avoid dealing with the sand every year.
A similar tree can be made using a broom with the handle cut down instead of an umbrella. The fabric will have to drape down over the bucket to keep its cone shape.
