Festival of Trees - 2012

Angel Tree at Festival of Trees

This year at the Festival of Trees, I tried to find trees that inspired with great creativity.  This angel tree is more of a traditional entry, but a lot of work went into the handcrafted ornaments and the red and white color scheme was beautiful.

Detail of angel tree

The crocheted angels and snowflakes were tastefully balanced with the red and white flowers and wrapped gift ornaments that also adorned the tree.  Several entrants this year were atypical.  Here is one of three Halloween themed trees that I saw.

Halloween Christmas tree

Black, purple and orange may not be common Christmas colors, but the scheme made this tree stand out among its neighbors at the festival.

Detail of the Halloween tree

While the Halloween tree featured smiling Jack o' lanterns and spiders, another tree also sporting orange decor featured Matchbox car racetracks.

Matchbox car tree

When I was a kid, we used the flexible Matchbox track pieces as swords.  It was nice to see them looped and curved into a better use here.

Matchbox cars and tracks top this tree.

As I continued up and down aisle after aisle of beautiful Christmas trees, I found one upside down! This quickly became my favorite of the festival this year.  I don't believe I have seen an upside down Christmas tree before, but it wasn't just the unusual position that caught my attention.

"Chemis Tree" at the Festival of Trees

This tree was science themed and featured molecules and test tubes as ornaments.  This just proves almost anything can be used as a Christmas tree ornament if done right!

Science ornaments on the "Chemis Tree"

I also appreciated the cleverness of the tree's name.  Further down the aisle we found a tree that was motorized, and had airplanes flying around the top. It was fun to watch these planes circling the tree.  They had banners flying out behind them wishing us a Merry Christmas.  

"Forever Soaring" featured motorized airplanes

Detail of plane flying around the tree top.

I am not sure what this next tree was made of, but it was definitely one-of-a-kind at the festival this year.  A white tube spiraled down forming this simple tree.  It was different enough to catch my attention.

Some kind of tube wound round and round to form this tree.

I also liked this tree that came with a nativity scene.  Framed pictures of the nativity figures hung on the tree.  They appeared to be made of felt, and were cut in a simple style that reminded me of stained glass.

Nativity tree

Detail of picture on the nativity tree.

I cannot imagine the quantity of Mountain Dew someone drank for this next tree.  Then again, drinking that quantity of Mountain Dew might have kept them awake for the hours necessary to build this creation.  This tree was made entirely out of recycled pop cans.

Tree made from recycled pop cans.

Even the tree skirt and train at the base were made of aluminum cans.  This was very creative and very labor intensive.  I imagine a few people cut their hands on sharp edges making this one!  The ornaments were made from different soda cans as well.   

Pop can ornaments on a recycled pop can tree.

Of course, the tree my son had heard about and wanted to see was the Lego tree.  We continued scanning aisle after aisle, and at the very end, finally found the long awaited Lego tree.  He was more enamored with the box sets of Lego around the tree than the tree itself.  However, the ornaments and Lego garland were well-constructed and worth seeing, too.

The much-anticipated Lego tree.

Detail of the Lego tree

A volunteer told us that somehow the creators of this tree made holes in the Lego pieces to string the garland. I cannot imagine how they did this, or the hours it took, but it was very effective as a decoration.  I greatly enjoyed my annual trip to the Festival of Trees.  This worthy event raises money for the local children's hospital, and is run every year by countless volunteers.  Congratulations to all who participated in 2012. It was another great year at the festival! 

For more Festival of Trees, check out the quilts and gingerbread houses.