We started a family tradition of themed Christmas trees based on whatever our kids are obsessed with each year. Figure it would be a fun way for them to look at photos and reflect back into their childhood days when they’re older and be like ,”Oh man! Remember when we were obsessed with ____?!?!” It’s also a great excuse to keep things exciting each year AND you get to use toys that are already laying around in the house!
Last year the dinosaurs took over our Christmas decorations! Why else would I have a 4 ft tall inflatable T-Rex hanging out in our living room??
However, both kids have been obsessing over CARS this entire year!! With Disney’s Cars 3 movie being released earlier this year, several trips to the Peterson Automotive Museum, and Baba taking them to a few demolition derby events, I’d have to say this was an easy decision. They even had matching Cars costumes for Halloween!
So I had the kids collect all their toy cars, big and small, so we could incorporate them around the Christmas tree. Inevitably, I made a few purchases from Amazon to jazz things up a bit and get that Christmas-y feeling. The first purchase were these adorable tiny bottle brush trees that I would tie onto a handful of the cars giving it that classic winter holiday look.
The second purchase were these awesome kid-friendly clear plastic fillable ornament balls! You basically split them in half and place whatever keepsake/toy/memorable item you’d like inside and then close it up to hang on the Christmas tree. I absolutely love these because now I can just swap out the car with whatever themed items we’ll have for next year! For these plastic ornament balls, I placed the smaller toy cars and then filled in some fake white snow to give it that snowball effect. It turned out amazing and was easy peasy to do!
And now comes the best part that pulls this whole xmas tree look together..Hot Wheels signature bright orange race track!! I must say you all had wonderful guesses when I shared a sneak peak earlier this week (Dr. Seuss’ Whoville, giant 80’s slinky, and even a solar system!) Now I did take a trip to Home Depot to find items that would resemble a road, but it was tricky to find something that was long enough and wasn’t too heavy. Cardboard allowed for a light option that didn’t need that much support, especially since we cut it into a spiral pattern that wrapped around the tree. Afterwards we spray painted both sides orange so it would look like a race track!
Once the paint dries, place the spiral cardboard cut out over the tree so it covers from top to bottom. All that’s left is to decorate it with cars! I simply took packing tape and rolled it over so that it was sticky all around. Then simply place it on the track so it sticks to the bottom, leaving the top sticky surface for the toy car :). Tada! You can now fill your race track with cars!!
Now you can place any ornaments you like all over the tree! We had some fun and did some highway signs, traffic lights, etc. For the top of our tree, we chose to put two NASCAR checkered flags and a trophy cup on top to stick with out cars theme. For the flags, you can cut up black squares and have the kids glue them on a white paper (or vice versa) for a fun activity. I then taped it on chopsticks and stuck them up on top of the tree!
This project was totally fun for everyone and encouraged creativity without breaking the bank! For me, the best part is knowing my floors won’t be booby-trapped with annoying toy cars scattered everywhere for the next few weeks! Now THAT is a Christmas miracle both Mommy and Baba can appreciate! Thank you everyone for taking an interest in our Christmas tree decorations for 2017. Who knows what toys the kids will be into for 2018!!
Love,
THM
Comments (19)
This is awesome
what a cool tree!! love it!
theo would love to come over and steal everything off your tree!
That is truly amazing and must’ve been a TON of work! What a fun family tradition!
That might be the coolest tree I’ve ever seen!
Okay seriously Rosie you are AMAZING!!! The coolest tree I have ever seen! 🙌😍🎄
This is amazing! I am blown away by your creativity and vision!
What a fun idea!!! I love a theme tree and a different tree each year
What the…. ROSIE!!! Your kids are probably like “I am so lucky to have you Mom!” right now!!!
Wooooooooow that’s freaking amaaaaazing!!!! I love love love love this times 1 million! So damm creative!!!! Amazing!!!
Wow !! This is amazing !!!!! I showed my son and he just freaked out ! Haha
THIS IS AWESOME! You guys are so fun and creative! Great work!
Such s great idea. My son would love this.
That is INCREDIBLE!!!
Oh my gosh my son would die this is incredible
Omg best Christmas tree I’ve ever seen! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
You’ve got to be kidding me! It’s amazeballs!
Wow! What a cool tree for the kids. The clear plastic fillable ornament balls are awesome for any idea or interest. I’m definitely going to get some for next year.
Oh my goodness, cutest tree ever! I love the idea of the themed trees and the clear ornaments- so cool. Awesome execution. Merry Christmas!!!