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Step 1
Shop from November to Christmas for the best selection of holiday cacti. Look for segmented leaves that are smooth and slightly glossy. Shriveled or wrinkled leaves are too fragile and likely to break off if touched. Buds should be forming at the tips of the branches for seasonal blooms.
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Step 2
Give a holiday cactus as a hostess or friendship gift. Choose Thanksgiving cactus for big showy flowers. This cactus has branches growing upward with pointy tips along the leaves. Thanksgiving hybrids blossom in many colors from white, pink, violet, magenta and white with color tints. Most plants sold as Christmas cacti are actually Thanksgiving varieties because they bloom most profusely the month before Christmas.
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Step 3
Look for a traditional Christmas cactus. The true Christmas cactus has scalloped stems and flowers in shades of red. The flowers are usually smaller and the branches curve downward from the main stem. This cactus blooms later in winter and can live 30 or more years. A mature heritage cactus reaches a diameter of 4 feet with masses of blooms each year.
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Step 4
Choose an Easter cactus for colorful spring blooms. The Easter cactus commonly called the jungle or forest cactus has bottle-shaped segments. Other cacti sold as Easter plants are often hybrids of Thanksgiving or Christmas varieties. They can be trained to bloom in spring instead of winter.
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Step 5
Decorate with a variety of holiday cacti. Use small holiday cacti as guest party favors, table decorations and impulse gifts. For a more formal centerpiece, visit garden or florist centers for a mature cactus. These are often pinched back to grow like a small tree. They may also spread out in a low forest of greenery topped by flamboyant blooms.
