How to Make a Floral Deer / Reindeer Head Christmas Tree Topper & Centerpiece

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Did you see my Santa’s Cabin in the Woods Christmas Dream Tree? It’s all about Santa’s favorite things, especially reindeer and plaid! I decided to create a large Christmas tree topper with the reindeer head as the focal point.

Sometimes it’s nice to have a small tree topper and sometimes it’s nice to have a large one. I decided to go large with this tree. In this post, I will share how to make a large Christmas tree topper and how to secure it on the tree.

One of my best Christmas tree decorting hacks:

Also, another tip I’ve learned over the years – is a bag of rice is an excellent way to anchor the tree at the bottom. I purchase a 10 pound bag of rice and place it in a pillowcase. I put the bag on top of the tree stand brackets in the very back. The rice bag ends up laying flat and hides very well under the tree skirt. You would never know it’s there.

Of course, I use the rice after Christmas and there is no waste! You can see more of my Christmas tree decorating tips and hacks here.

For the first part of the tutorial I share how to make the…

Plaid Reindeer Antlers

Supplies

Paper mache reindeer head from Michaels
Plaid ribbon from Michaels
tacky glue, foam paintbrush, and scissors

Step 1: I love the plaid ribbon I found at Michaels! For this project, I wanted it to be as smooth as possible, so I cut the wire off the edges of the ribbon. I then cut the ribbon in half to make thinner strips.

Step 2: Wrap the antlers with the ribbon! I painted the antlers with tacky glue before I wrapped the ribbon to ensure that it would stay smooth and stay in place.

Painting the antlers with tacky glue made it so much easier to wrap the ribbon smoothly and securely! That is how easy it was to create the plaid antlers on the reindeer

This would be awesome all by itself to hang on a wall or place in a bookcase.

How To Make A Large Christmas Tree Topper

Supplies

dry green foam blocks
scrap ribbon
approximately 8-10 floral picks (all different sizes)
hot glue gun
ribbon to match tree decor

Step 1:

To make an ornate tree topper that will stay attached to the tree, you will need to make sure it is properly secured. Using your hot glue gun, connect the dry foam blocks together (side by side).

Three blocks were used for this project. Make sure you are using the dry floral foam blocks (not the ones you get wet). If you are creating a small tree topper, no need for the floral foam.

Since this is a large and heavy topper, you need the foam to help secure the floral picks and deer head. Putting this many picks in the top of tree can be a little tricky because there the top of the tree is narrow and there is not much volume of tree to place all of these picks.

For a small or average size tree topper no need for foam.

Step 2:

Hot glue the scrap ribbon to the front of the blocks. Make sure you attach the ribbon to the front so that it will add extra strength when you tie it onto the tree.

Any scrap ribbon will do – it just needs to be long enough to wrap around the entire section of the blocks and then around the tree top. My ribbon was about 2 -2.5 feet long. You most likely won’t see the ribbon once you put this on the tree

Step 3:

Place all of the floral picks into the tops and side of the foam. Wire cutters are a good tool to have to cut the length off of floral picks.

The floral picks used on this tree topper were left long in the back and shortened for the sides and front. This image shows the side and back before it was completed. Some of the smaller picks/branches were cut off of larger floral picks.

This is what the topper look like before the deer head and front ribbon was attached. Make sure you use enough picks to hide most of the foam. In the spots that aren’t filled you can glue moss onto it or add very small little floral picks or leaves to cover the foam.

If you can see the back of your tree, you will want to cover the back with small floral picks. If your tree won’t be seen from the back, no need to worry about it.

Step 4:

Add the ribbon bow. I just tied the ribbon into a bow and hot glued it into place. If you would like to know how I created this designer ribbon, check this post.

Step 5:

The last step was attached the deer head which was done with hot glue. What would we do without our glue guns?

Step 6:

I like to place my tree topper on the tree first and then decorate everything around it. This is definitely a two person job. Make sure that you tie it tightly around the tree so that it will stay securely.

I had so much fun with this theme, and looked for creative ways to tie it all together in the little details. One way I tied together the plaid and the reindeer was to give the reindeer’s antlers a makeover!

The festive plaid antlers on your reindeer is a great way to decorate just with the reindeer head or add it to the Christmas tree topper to make a fabulous topper for the Christmas tree!