Putting a Fresh Christmas Tree in a Basket

My apologies that this post is coming after Christmas.  Tuck it away for safe keeping till next year if this idea intrigues you!  Right before we went to pick out our tree this year, I decided I wanted to give the "tree stand in a basket" idea a whirl.  I'd been inspired by the likes of these images for the past few years...

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Source: marthastewart.com via Tessa on Pinterest

Source: houseandhome.com via Tessa on Pinterest

I was able to find a basket that fit out tree stand very snugly and tested it out before we found the tree.

We placed the tree in the stand outside and then lifted it up and placed it in the basket before bringing it in.  I also trimmed a bunch of lower limbs.  We then tilted the tree and basket to bring it indoors.  After straightening everything up it fell down once, then twice and then a third time.  Boo.  The basket was just too snug!  Sooooo, off to Homegoods I went in search of a larger basket.  The diameter of our tree stand in about 14 inches and I choose a basket that iss about 16-17inches in diameter.  The second time was a charm.  

{oops, never quite got around to hunting down an extension cord for the lights.}

I got a little carried away stringing the lights.  Forgetting that our old house outlets can only stand so much - four strands burned out this year.  After the ornaments went up, of course.

The next obstacle came a few days later.  I started to notice water spilling out of the basket.  It was soaking through the little mat I have underneath and going right through to the wood floor.  A few people had suggested I line the bottom of the basket with a plastic liner, but in my haste I skipped that step.  Next year I will find a liner or large tub to fit inside the basket because angling the water can perfectly to get it only in the tree stand was a little harder than I expected.  At least in the beginning, it seems we now have the hang of it.  What we did was move the basket off of the mat, then place a double thickness sheet of plastic {cut shower curtain} underneath the mat so the water wouldn't reach the floor.  This seemed to do the trick.  {And I made that sound a whole lot easier than it was, trees are heavy!}

We also didn't keep many gifts out just in case of leaks.  Which worked just fine, because Charlie was far too curious about the presents this year.  They likely would not have remained wrapped till Christmas.  Santa made sure there were no spills on Christmas Eve!

We will definitely do this again. I loved the way it looked and now that we have a little know how under our belt, next year should go much more smoothly!  I do think a flat bottomed tree stand is a must though if you are going to attempt this with a live tree!