10 Ways To Decorate Your Christmas Tree With Food

Decorating your Christmas tree is one of the most fun parts of the holiday season. After you work hard to pick out the perfect healthy tree that's the right height for your home, you are ready to adorn it with your favorite decorations. Hanging handed-down ornaments always makes the tree look incredible, but why not try adding a food element to it this year?

Wrapped candy canes are a classic Christmas tree decoration. Find the candy canes that match best with the color scheme of your tree to create an edible Christmas decoration that adds fun colors. They're also perfect for hanging, thanks to their built-in hooks.

Making some fruit and nut clusters and dunking them in melted chocolate sounds like the perfect sweet treat. Hide these little nut clusters, which resemble pinecones, in the branches of your tree. Save these hidden gems for Christmas morning, so the treats stay fresh and delicious.

Using gingerbread cookies or sugar cookies for tree decorations is not an uncommon practice. Cut out your cookies and poke a hole in the dough large enough for a ribbon to fit through after they bake. Use a red or green ribbon to create cookie stars or gingerbread men.

Cinnamon sticks make great hanging ornaments for covering large, bare areas in your tree because they hang vertically. Just tie ribbons tightly around the cinnamon sticks, then let the kids place these around the tree. It helps that the smell of cinnamon pairs well with the aroma of pine, so your house will smell wonderful for Christmas.

Stringing cranberries together on the Christmas tree has long been an American tradition. Cranberries are typically alternated with popcorn to create Christmas garland. You can also just simply string the cranberries together on their own to create long strands of bursting red color from your tree.

There are always those little spots that need to be filled with tiny ornaments that look cute and can stand up on their own. Peppermint candies are the perfect little red and white circles to fit in your tree if you're going for a traditional Christmas-colored look. Because of their bow-tie wrapping, you can wedge the edges into the branches, so these candies stand up and look adorable.

Make your own pomander ornaments for beautiful citrus décor for your tree that makes the living room smell of sweet fruit and cloves. Simply wrap your ribbon around your desired fruit (apple, quince, lemon, or orange), poke small holes with knitting needles, and insert cloves into the holes for your ornament.

Popcorn is easily strung and adds a yellow glow to your Christmas tree. With or without cranberries, adding popcorn to your tree can be a fun activity for the whole family. It also really helps brighten a tree if you're lacking in ornaments or lights.

You might not think to string pretzels together, but these hole-filled, salty treats were made to decorate the Christmas tree. Dip your miniature pretzels in white chocolate, red-dyed white chocolate, and regular chocolate and alternate your chocolate pretzels on a string. You'll wind up with a colorful array of delicious treats that everyone can enjoy come Christmas Day.

Many people decorate their trees using a silver and gold theme. Despite the elegance of this kind of tree, though, we still feel that we can incorporate food by adding in silver and gold-wrapped Hershey's Kisses. Sneak these into spots all around your tree for added shimmer. Have your kids try and find all of the chocolates on Christmas morning.