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I know that Halloween just barely happened and Thanksgiving is still over 2 weeks away, but I’m already getting into the merriest time of the year. You know! Christmas! To be fair, though, this was my Christmas tree for 2022. I’m just now getting around to posting it!
Honestly this peacock-themed tree was something I had planned on doing for YEARS. I purchased my peacock for the top back in 2019. It’s not like I didn’t try… In 2019 I decorated a ton of Christmas trees including the Sunflower Christmas Tree, Unicorn Tree (one of my favorite ways to decorate white Christmas trees!), and Galaxy Tree that I made for others.
But last year I decided I really wanted to DIY up my own Christmas tree.
After seeing lots of peacock Christmas ornaments when I was out and about in 2022 I really wanted to make my festive look something refined and beautiful. Initially I had purchased a lot of teal and purple decorations, but at the end of the day I decided to go less colorful and more elegant. By layering textures and sticking to a strict color scheme you’ll have a tree that is so pretty and the height of elegance! Want to make your own peacock Christmas tree?
Supplies to Bling out a Gorgeous Peacock-Themed Christmas Tree
The Christmas Tree
I actually specifically bought a gorgeous champagne gold Christmas tree JUST for my peacock tree! But that doesn’t mean I won’t use it in the future for other trees. In fact, I have quite a few plans for it! You can, however, use any tree you would like or already have. A white tree or a flocked tree would both make gorgeous Peacock Christmas trees, also!
One thing to note is that on this tree the flowers that make up our peacock tail really stick out. Because of this a slim or pencil tree will most likely be your best bet unless you have a very large space for your Christmas tree. Because the Christmas light wires would be difficult to match, I’d would also recommend purchasing a pre-lit tree.
Our Favorite Metallic Christmas Trees
The Peacock Tree Topper
I actually found the prettiest peacocks at a Christmas store this year and gleefully ran over to it. But then I saw the price tag and balked at just under $300.
Even though it’s been 4 years since I purchased my peacock yard statue I’m pretty stoked that it’s still available to purchase! And as of this moment it’s still $49… the same price I paid in 2019!
My peacock is perfect for a tree 6 feet tall or larger. If you’ve got a smaller tree I’d go with this smaller version of the same peacock garden statue.
Faux Florals in Navy Blue and Black
Most of my floral accents came from Hobby Lobby. I waited for their florals to go on sale and bought 12 delphinium stems and 8 wisteria stems in navy blue. I also purchased 15 black azaleas from Michaels. On my tree there are also TONS of these blue berry sprays from At Home and they are a great/cheap tail filler.
All of the florals will be inserted from beneath the branches to mimic the look of peacock feathers that point down. When looking at florals in stores hold them upside down to make sure they lay right and look good when used improperly :)
Metallic Christmas Tree Garland and Ornaments
Since the main focus of this design is the peacock tail, the negative space needs to stay low key so the tail can pop. But not decorating this negative space has a negative impact making the tree look unfinished. The solution is to use ornaments very similar in color so that they blend in with the tree itself but give it some depth when the tree is really looked at. When you go up to the tree you’ll notice all of the lovely little touches but when you stand back you’ll just see that awesome tail!
Keeping it Cohesive (on a Budget)
The color of my Christmas tree is champagne and I did buy a few champagne ornaments this season to match it. I was also able to mix in some silver and gold ornaments I’ve used past Christmases and I also scored these super cheap gold glittered pine cone ornaments to keep costs down. I have NEVER had the same Christmas tree decor more than once BUT I save all of the ornaments and store them by color. There is the tub full of red ornaments, metallic, rustic, whimsical, you get the drift, right?
While I highly recommend raiding the Christmas stash, you want to add ornaments that match your tree well enough to not totally call attention to themselves. But you want them to be cool enough that the whole tree still feels decorated. Add some gold or silver peacock holiday decorations for a little bit of cheek :) And if you want to get quite a bit filled for less money you can take up a lot of space with a poinsettia clip!
Christmas Tree Rotating Base and Skirt
I think one of the neatest things about this Christmas tree is how the peacock tail wraps around. As it spins, it kind of reminds me of those old timey barber poles, you know? Unless the tree is in motion, you won’t see how pretty that tail is around the back. So I’d suggest using a rotating Christmas tree base. I recommend this basic rotating Christmas tree base you can get for around $40-60 depending on the time of year.
With this base you can either wrap it up like a gift and hide it, or you can use a tree skirt to cover it up. This time around I went with a gold sequin tree skirt (a cheap but honestly the prettiest of the gold Christmas tree skirts I found) because it catches the lights as they rotate and sends pretty reflections all around the room like a disco ball.
Deluxe Rotating Christmas Tree Base
This year I purchased a deluxe rotating Christmas tree base that runs around $150-$200 also depending on the time of year. Basically my robot vacuum cleaner kept trying to eat my tree skirt and totally irked the daylights out of me! This base is pretty without any need to hide it away in a gift or cover it with a tree skirt. Now I get that the price for this particular base is pretty steep, but I have every intention of using it next year and every year after! Jaws the robovac is going to go hungry this Christmas season :)
How to Make Peacock Theme Christmas Tree Topper
Remove the legs from your peacock, if necessary. Place the body at the top of the tree, where the head is just above the top. Really shove it in there. Attach to the tree using long zip ties weaving them in any openings in the body or wing and around the tree. At first, attach loosely just to keep it in place.
Step back and have a look. If it is tilting or wonky fix that then slowly tighten the zip ties, alternating to make sure you don’t accidentally pull the peacock out of the alignment you are happy with.
Trim the excess plastic from the zip ties taking care NOT TO CUT THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!
Adding the Blue Deco Mesh Background for the Peacock Tail
Back when I made my galaxy tree I learned something about deco mesh and a rotating Christmas tree base together… When the tree spins and the light bounces through all of those little holes in the mesh, the tree twinkles! Because we want the peacock tail to really stand out, we’re going to add blue deco mesh, only where the tail will be, so that it will twinkle as the tree spins!
Starting where the tail connects to the tree, start pushing in the blue deco mesh. Work straight down for about 2 feet (or so, depending on the size of your tree). When you reach the top third of the tree, start your swirl. Work the blue deco mesh in a spiral around the tree, ending at the bottom. Leave plenty of plain tree (negative space) so that the tail will really stand out.
Once you’re happy with the shape of the swirl, fill in any areas that need it with a little extra mesh. Fluff the mesh out and around and the tree branches where they’ve gotten wonky.
Need some help with this step? Check out this post to learn how to use deco mesh to fill out a Christmas tree.
Decorating the Negative Space
In order for the tail to really pop we want to leave the parts of the tree that don’t have the tail a bit muted. But not decorating this part of the tree is very boring to look at and looks unfinished.
Fill out this space with matching garland and ornaments that match the color of your tree. The garland I purchased from Michael’s is no longer available, but this gold poinsettia garland would be very pretty, too!
Because my tree is “champagne gold” and I couldn’t find a lot of ornaments that particular shade of gold, I also mixed in matte gold, silver, and other metallic ornaments from my stash and it worked really well.
Filling out the Peacock Tail
Starting up by the butt of your peacock, start adding your fake flowers pointing downward like feathers of the tail would go.
Work the flowers and other blue or black sprays, like these berries, around the tree ONLY through the blue deco mesh.
Fill it out really well, making sure that the flowers and sprays fan out and protrude out several inches.
Now I decided not to put any ornaments in the blue/tail section of the tree because I wanted it to have that lovely downward shape like a peacock tail at rest. I had considered using blue peacock ornaments, and now I kind of wish I had, but I’d steer clear of ball or otherwise themed Christmas decorations.
How to Light a Peacock Christmas Tree Topper
Since my peacock is a garden statue it doesn’t light up. And while it still looks pretty awesome in the daylight, at night the dark colors make it sort of just disappear. Luckily adding lights to our topper isn’t difficult.
Since I was adding the lighting after the fact with my tree already decorated I decided to use battery powered LED fairy lights with a 6 hour on and 18 hour off timer.
Add batteries to your lights and make sure they properly work. Loosely hide the battery pack in the tree near the top, making sure you can easily find it later.
Unwind the lights AS YOU GO and wrap them around your peacock. Once happy with their placement turn your lights back off. In the evening, whenever you plan for your tree to be lit up, manually turn on the battery pack. Properly hide the battery pack inside of the tree. Every evening at the same time the lights will turn on for 6 hours and then turn themselves off.