cactus christmas tree

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My kids have now gotten used to me and all my DIYing.  My daughter asked me "how are we going to decorate the Christmas tree this year?"  It seems for the last 6 or 7 years we have had a different "theme" to our Christmas tree and ornaments each year so why would this year be any different?  Good question.

So we started thinking and she quickly suggested a cactus/desert/Arizona theme since that is how she decided to decorate her bedroom.  We started browsing for ornament ideas when we decided, why not make a new "tree" this year!

And holy man, am I glad we went with this - it turned out amazing!!  We are absolutely in love with this Christmas "tree" and all the kids have said it's their new "favorite".  And after the holiday and winter are over, this guy is going to go outside on the patio with just the lights for some fun DIY porch decor!

What you will need:

(1) 10' PVC pipe (any size you want)
(2) PVC 90* elbow fittings
(2) PVC tee fittings
PVC pipe cutter
bag of quikrete
pot
4" flexible drain hose
(2) 50' garland
MISC:  duck tape, newspaper, utility knife, lights and ornaments

Start by cutting your PVC pipe into all the sizes you need to resemble your cactus.  You can use mine or make your own.  Then use your fittings to attach all your pieces together.  You can use a PVC glue to glue them all if you would like.  I wanted my cactus to be able to be somewhat disassembled if I needed it to be, so I just used a hammer and pounded my pipe into my fittings really well.


 
Next you're going to need to set your cactus into your pot and fill it with concrete.  Mix your quikrete according to the manufacturers directions into a seperate bucket.  In my picture you will see the drain pipe and some garland around my pipe.  Don't ask.  I tried many different ways to make this and should have set it into the concrete right away instead of driving myself crazy always trying to find ways to keep it upright.  My concrete took about 12-24 hours to set good enough that I could continue working on it.  This will depend on what size pot you use, your pipe size, your amount of concrete, etc.    I also used some pieces of wood to help the pipe stand upright while it dried.



Once your concrete has dried it's time to cut your flexible drain pipe.  Stretch out the pipe and measure the top of the concrete up to the top of your cactus, adding on an inch or 2 just in case and then cut the piece of pipe.  Stand that piece of pipe up against your pvc pipe and mark where to cut out the 2 cactus arm holes so that your tee fittings will be exposed.  I used a utility knife to easily cut through the pipe.  Once you have your holes cut, remove the pvc cactus arms and slip the drain pipe all the way over the cactus and make sure that your holes line up.  If not, you can easily cut the drain pipe holes a bit bigger to match up.



Next, reattach your pvc pipe arms and cut more drain pipe to fit the horizontal and the vertical arms.  Again, a bit bigger is better than too short ;)  Once you have the drain pipe all cut, use some newspaper crumpled into a ball to make the cactus ends more round.  Stuff a ball of newspaper in the ends and use duct tape to hold it into place.





Then it's time to attach your garland.  I started by cutting and taping a few smaller pieces of the garland to go over and around the newspaper sections since garland won't wrap there as easily and I didn't want newspaper exposed.  Then I just started wrapping the garland around the cactus.  I ended up wrapping the entire base first and then did the arms.  I used a total of 100' of garland and it came out perfect!



After that it's time to decorate!  FYI - I had my cactus set in a smaller pot of concrete because I knew it was going to be heavy.  But when I was decorating it, the pot looked very proportionately small, so I set the put inside a bigger pot for display.  Then I put some fake moss on the top of the pot to hide the small pot inside.

Doesn't it look incredible full of lights and ornaments?  I am in LOVE with it!!  You can use any colors to match with your holiday decor


 

do it yourself