Gumdrop Christmas Trees

Written and photographed by Atkinson Drive

The Winter holiday season is my absolute favorite. I love getting to spend time with friends and family crafting, baking, and celebrating. Each year I do my best to create a festive environment for all to enjoy, and these gumdrop Christmas trees have long been a part of that tradition. I hope your loved ones will be as enamored with these as mine have!

Here’s what you’ll need to create your very own gumdrop Christmas trees:
Foam Trees
Gumdrops
Toothpicks
Shellac (optional)

Before we get started, I want to put a tip out there … buy more gumdrops than you think you’re going to need! Early in the season it can be hard to find large bags of gumdrops. For my little tree, I used 2 full bags of small gumdrops. The large tree took approximately 5 bags of giant gumdrops!

The easiest way to get your gumdrops to stick on the tree is to break the toothpicks in half. Starting at the bottom, put the broken end of the toothpick into the foam and stick your choice of gumdrop on.

Repeat that same process all the way around the tree until you’ve covered the tree as much as possible. If you want a similar look to my trees, try to keep the colors as random as you can.

Stick a toothpick in the top of the tree, and add your gumdrop “star” to finish it off!

Having made these numerous times before, I have a few tips to share with you to make your gumdrop tree making time a little easier.
– I already said it, but buy more gumdrops than you think you’ll need!
– If you can’t find giant drops anywhere, Walgreens usually has them in stock.
– As you reach the top of your trees, break the toothpicks into 3 pieces to make sure they fit right.
– Cover the trees in shellac if you live in a place with lots of bugs…they love gumdrops, too.

Gumdrop Christmas trees are a fun project to do with your kids, to make for gifts, and to add some whimsy to your holiday decor. And the fun thing is that you can make these fit with any theme you have going. Create an all-white tree for a beautiful snow-covered look, go with red and green to match your traditional decor, or have at it with your favorite color!

I’d love to have you stop by AtkinsonDrive.com to check out some of my other favorite Christmas posts: