Skip to Content

Giant Ombre Paper Cone Christmas Trees – a DIY Tutorial and How-To

Giant Ombre Paper Cone Christmas Trees – a DIY Tutorial and How-To

christmas-paper-cone-tree-20

My favorite part of the Grinchmas Party I held for Random House and Yum! Food and Fun for Kids magazine were the giant paper Christmas trees I created. They’re fun, they’re huge and surprisingly, don’t take much to make other than time. I don’t mind sitting on the couch on occasion mindlessly doing a crafty project while I soak up a movie. These trees were really the perfect excuse, as they’re about a movie’s worth of time to make.

christmas paper cone tree-4

Materials:

2 50-packs of multi-hued green letter sized card stock from Michael’s
1 cardboard wrapping paper tube
Glue gun
Large sparkly bow
Step 1. Make your cones. This is the absolute hardest part. You are going to spend about half an hour just curling cones and gluing them down.
christmas paper cone tree-5
Use the full 8.5 x11 sheet of paper to make each cone. Try to make them all about the same size and avoid coiling them up too tightly. It is easiest to pre-roll the cones before you tape or glue them, as the paper is a bit stiff. Once you have the cone formed, either tape it down or run a bead of hot glue down the inside edge and glue down.
 christmas paper cone tree-6
Really really important thing to remember here is to make sure your edge ends up on the same side as the open part of your cone. I buggered up my first tree by haphazardly rolling the cones up and taping with abandon.
christmas paper cone tree-11
Here was the first one of these trees I made. No attention to seams there…so fair warning, you don’t want the seams to be on the side that’s going to show. They look much better with them all hidden underneath!
For the ombré effect on your tree, start with dark green for the base cones and work a shade lighter as you go up the levels of  the tree. Hard to say how many cones you’re going to need here, as that will all depend on how tightly you’re packing them in and how tall your wrapping paper roll is. But two packs of paper will be more than enough.
christmas paper cone tree-7
Step 2. Assemble your trees. Place the tip of your cone against the tube and adjust the the cone up or down to determine how wide you would like the branches of your tree to spread. Draw a line around your tube so you have a plum line to put the rest of your cones up to.
christmas paper cone tree-8
Glue the tips of each cone with the open side facing down to the cardboard tube. As you glue them on, you’ll want to make sure that the edges are close together as possible so you get a full-skirted look to your tree without a lot of gaps in it. As needed, you may want to glue the cones together, or overlap them as you’re putting them on.
christmas paper cone tree-9
Once you finish the first ring of cones, you’ll move up your tree a bit and do the exact same thing all over again, but try to use a few less cones and try to angle the cones downward a bit more with each successive ring so your tree will be tree shaped by the time you finish.

christmas paper cone tree-12

For the top of your cone tree, don’t glue the cones to the wrapping paper roll. Therein lies madness. Trust. Tried it that way, and was glad the kids were asleep for all the cussing I did trying putting it together. Instead, take a few of your cones and glue the edges together near the top until you have a complete circle of cones just like this.

christmas paper cone tree-13

This triangle of cones will pop on the top of your wrapping paper roll perfectly. I didn’t glue this piece to the roll itself. Transporting the tree is a tad easier when you are able to take the top off and grab onto something without crushing any of the paper.

christmas paper cone tree-14

To finish off the tree, add a big bow (or star, or whatever strikes your creative fancy.) This oversized glittery bow was picked up at Hobby Lobby.

The Grinch who Stole Christmas Whoville Party

Dazzle your neighbors, your kids’ classroom and show off some crafty skills. Whip up a few giant paper cone trees for your next party decorating project!

 

Paula Biggs

Owner at Frog Prince Paperie
Paula Biggs is a party planner, DIY crafter, and owner of Frog Prince Paperie, where you can find hundreds of party, craft and lifestyle ideas.

Construction Paper Crafts - MakingFunCrafts.com

Monday 9th of November 2020

[…] large construction paper Christmas tree in ombre shades is a perfect holiday party décor. All you need are a few packs of construction […]

Craft: 24+ DIYs on How to Make a Paper Christmas Tree – CrochetingHearts.org

Tuesday 17th of September 2019

[…] 2. DIY Large Christmas Tree With Paper […]

Amanda

Tuesday 27th of November 2018

How many pieces of paper did you use in total for one tree?

Paula Biggs

Friday 30th of November 2018

It was quite a few! I bought the multi-packs of colored paper at Michaels--I'd start with two of those.

Dawn

Wednesday 17th of October 2018

How did you make the base for them to stand up?

Paula Biggs

Monday 22nd of October 2018

The cones stick together and will form a sturdy enough base on their own, nothing else was made for a base. :)

24+ DIYs on How to Make a Paper Christmas Tree | Guide Patterns

Wednesday 26th of September 2018

[…] 2. DIY Large Christmas Tree With Paper […]