If decorating for the holidays was an Olympic sport, I would take gold. I love thrifting for vintage items (AKA digging through my grandma’s collection of ceramic Santas) and finding unique ways to repurpose everyday items as decor. So when I saw “DIY Christmas book trees” was trending on TikTok, I immediately dusted off my bookshelves and got to work.
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The first DIY project is a tabletop book tree, perfect for decorating small spaces and bookshelves. You can include as many novels as you’d like, though eight to 10 should suffice. The secret, however, is to use books that are around 280 to 320 pages. Thicker books (350 pages and over) aren’t as flexible/bendable and will add too much weight to the tree, potentially making it topple over.
In demonstration videos on TikTok, book influencers @thrillerswithchel and @baysbookshelf built DIY tabletop book trees on their shelves. The process is quite simple: You just repeat the same step over and over until you’re happy with the tree’s height (or you run out of books).
And don’t forget the tree topper! Finish things off with a festive bow on top.
But if you own a massive collection of books and like to go all out with your Christmas decorations, this next DIY project is right up your alley. A standing book tree is exactly what it sounds like: tons of books strategically stacked to resemble a life-size Christmas tree.
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You’ll need at least 50 books for this DIY book tree, depending on how tall and wide you want it to be. Book influencer and TikToker @emilybookedup used over 100 books to assemble her tree, which stands over five feet tall.
In a timelapse video, she forms a round base out of 12 hardcover books. From there, she builds up, alternating spatial patterns to give the tree some dimension. She stacks about 42 layers or levels of books before piling single books on top of each other to give the tree added height.
Pro tip: Include your heaviest books, including hardcovers, at the bottom to create a sturdy foundation.
Once your book tree is built, you can decorate it with fairy lights and lightweight garland or ribbon. Place a big bow on top, where you typically hang a star or tree topper.
If you like the idea but don’t have the space for a life-size book tree, you can build a miniature one following the same instructions. TikToker @alistofreads put together a standing book tree with a base of six books versus 12. It came out to be about three feet tall, the height of an oversized loveseat.