How to Decorate a Christmas Tree for a Library

Over the years as a library director, we looked for varied themes to make the library Christmas tree stand out. Here are some ways to decorate a tree in a library.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. 

   A natural theme for a library holiday tree is to decorate it with book characters. It's possible to find Wizard of Oz tree ornaments and other storybook characters. Finding them is rather time consuming and can be expensive. Enlist the Friends of the Library group or some volunteers to work on this. Start some months in advance.

2. 

   Tiny books make a Christmas tree that's appropriate in a library. Get volunteers to print out book covers from the internet. Glue these onto folded paper to look like a book. Use gold thread to tie the little books to a tree.
   It can even serve as a fund raiser. Post a sign by the tree saying the books on the tree are on the library's Christmas list. Tell how library patrons can select a book from the tree and pay for it to be added to the library's collection. Tie a little bow and gift tag telling who bought the book for the library and return it to the tree.

3. 
   Use CD disks

   Save up old CDs and DVDs that are scratched or out-dated. Libraries amass quite a few of these if their databases come on CDs. Loop a thread through the center opening to tie these to a tree. Often the CDs will have color on one side and plain silver on the other. These look good on a very large tree.

4. 

   To save staff time decorating the library's Christmas tree, invite a different community group each year to choose a theme and decorate the tree. This generates good public relations as they will get their friends and families to drop by to see the tree.

5. 

   Choose a theme that relates to the local area. One year our library's tree was filled with sea shells sprinkled with glitter and tied on with gold thread. It was lovely. We were near a coastal area.
   A state theme works for this too. Think of a Texas tree filled with cut out figures of armadillos, cowboy boots, sombreros, howling coyotes and other Texas symbols like bluebonnets.

6. Whatever the choice of theme for the tree, put out some PR to promote it. Mention it in the library column. Take a photo of the tree and send it to the newspaper. Tell about how the theme was chosen and give credit to any volunteers who worked on it. Hopefully many people will drop by to see it (and the library) during December.

Resources

• Beauty and the Beast Storybook Ornaments

[sullysee]

on 11/24/2009 A very charming article and helpful photos. Decorating a Christmas tree for a library will benefit many, by putting them in the spirit. 5*

[whiteshoulder]

on 11/17/2009 Great article and tips on how to decorate a tree in a library at Christmas.

[nancycarol]

on 11/17/2009 I got inspired with some great ideas for decorations for home, just by reading this article. Thanks and a 5* for How to Decorate a Christmas Tree for a Library.