It’s time to decorate the Christmas tree!!! I’m putting my Mary’s Angels ornaments on my beautiful flocked tree again but I wanted a slightly different look for my Rose Gold Christmas Tree this year. Instead of the sweet resin ornaments I used last year this year I’m using all of the fun ornaments I’ve collected from all of my cruises over the last few years!
A rose gold cruise Christmas tree!!!
In addition to the actual cruise ornaments I added a custom tree topper and a decal to my tree collar! I made both with my cricut and I think they really pull the tree together.
It’s so sweet… and more puppy friendly with this being Buttercup’s first Christmas.
Of course, when it comes to ornaments for a cruise tree we have a fun mix of items… actual ornaments that are intended for a Christmas tree, key-chains that can hang on a tree fairly easily, even small figurines and objects that we can fix to the tree. Sometimes finding a specific ornament in port is a little challenging… and then there’s the unspoken Christmas tax which can make ornament souvenirs pricier than a key-chain or magnet.
Last year I engraved metal tags for quite a few of these nontraditional “ornaments” that didn’t have tags… this year we’re putting them on the tree.
Let’s take a look!
Supplies:
- 7.5 Rose Gold Christmas Tree
- Galvanized Tree Collar
- Fluffy White Pom Pom Garland
- Blush Poinsettia’s (these specific ones are from Pier One and sold out, there are similar ones here)
- Blush Pink Birds (these specific birds are from this year’s Cracker Barrel collection but are not available online… here are a set of pretty pink birds that are a similar color!)
- White Fluffy Birds
- Pink Mercury Glass Ornaments
- Pink and Copper Sequin Balls (These are from Hobby Lobby but there is not an online link)
- Set of 50 Shatterproof Champagne Dusty Rose & Rose Gold Balls
- Large Shatterproof Blush, Pink and Champagne Balls
- Tiny Shatterproof Blush Christmas Ornament Set Pink, Champagne and White Balls
- Souvenir Cruise Ornaments!
Blush Cruise Christmas Tree!
Ta-da!
Isn’t she beautiful? The overall tree doesn’t necessarily look cruise related from farther away… all the blushes and rose golds don’t exactly scream ocean. BUT I love the look, it goes great with the rest of my decor and I love switching out the decorative pieces of a tree (the cruise ornaments) without switching out the entire tree.
The base ornaments on this tree are the same ones we’ve used for the past 3 or 4 looks on this tree… we’re just switching out the top pieces!
Which is why tying the whole thing together with the anchor tree topper and “I’d rather be cruising” tree collar make sure a difference. I mean the ornaments scream cruise once you get close enough to see them but the anchor is super visible from across the room… and the tree collar literally says the word cruising.
I kind of love it!
Dog Friendly Christmas Trees
Another little note before we keep looking at the tree and all it’s goodies… dog friendly Christmas trees. A big reason I switched out my pretty resin ornaments this year is that they’re not exactly puppy friendly. Bitty (my yorkie in the picture above) is 12 and a very good girl.
She knows not to mess with tree skirts or ornaments of any kind. Resin ornaments are safe from her… especially when I double wrap them around the upper branches.
On the other hand my puppy Buttercup is turning 1 this December. She’s fairly convinced that the actual tree and all it’s ornaments are edible. While I carefully put resin ornaments out of reach of puppies it’s not worth the risk that she’d somehow get one. Cruise ornaments are much safer.
Tree collars instead of tree skirts are much safer. Plastic shatterproof balls instead of glass are much safer.
Heck… I skipped the entire bottom row of branches on my bigger tree since I keep turning around to find the branches in her mouth. She’s cute but she’s curious and while I’m watching her you can’t watch anything 24/7 so this year Christmas has to be puppy proof.
Look how cute she is inspecting the tree collar… totally worth it.
Cruise Souvenir Ornaments:
Ready for ornaments? I love picking up an ornament from each and every port or city we visit on our trips. If I buy nothing else I’ll grab an ornament.
And most of the time they’re easy to find!
Of course, it can be hard to find one you like but I tend to gravitate towards the same ornament designs. Sparkly (check!), pink, copper or sometimes blue (sticking to a color scheme, check!), small and easy to bring home (check!).
While I wasn’t necessarily collecting these for a tree of their own (I figure they’ll go on my main tree eventually) if you stick with a color scheme for selecting ornaments from multiple ports they’ll all go together when you get them home!
Since I pretty much do this automatically it makes it easy… 90% of my ornaments are pink, copper or white. A few are blue… so they pretty much all go together whether they’re a sweet little pink flamingo ornament from a cruise to Aruba with my brother or a glitzy seashell ornament from a cruise to Bonaire with my mom.
Non-Traditional Ornaments
Once we get outside the box that is normal ornaments there’s an entire world of possibilities. Sometimes an ornament is hard to find… or super expensive… or sometimes you just like something else and think “this could be an ornament.”
You just have to think outside the box a little! Key-chains are a great example because they’re usually easy to find and very *ahem* affordable. If you can’t find a Christmas ornament you like chances are there are plenty of key-chain options. Like this glitzy little mermaid key-chain I picked up in Copenhagen, Denmark. I wanted an ornament of the actual little mermaid ornament but I was having a hard time finding one that wasn’t specifically a painted ball.
Which I didn’t want.
This key-chain works perfectly! It says Copenhagen on it and shows the actual little mermaid statue. Win-win!
Then there’s figurines… little statues that can work as an ornament with a little help. Like this little hand blown octopus I found at an art gallery in Italy. He was so cute and while I could place him on a shelf in my house and call it a day I love him on my tree! I used two ornament hooks to secure his little legs to a branch and he just perches there… happy as a clam.
I wasn’t able to find an ornament I liked in Messinia but this little guy was so cute… I knew he’d look adorable on my tree.
If you watch the video there’s a little figurine at the bottom of the tree as well: the Rooster of Barcelos from Portugal. This little Rooster was all over Lisbon but I couldn’t find an ornament of him. So I grabbed a figurine and volia… instant ornament.
Ornaments that Fit the Theme
Then there’s ornaments that I didn’t pick up on the cruise at all. Like this little Santa in a pool floaty. I picked him up when I worked at Dillards just because I thought he was cute.. and he looks perfectly at home on this tree.
He looks like Santa that took a cruise!!
I also have a few cruise ship ornaments that I picked up in the actual cruise gift shop on the ship… these are a bit outside the color scheme with the red but they’re close enough… and they definitely scream cruise.
I only have a few of these but I’ll be picking up more and more cruise themed ornaments on my travels now that I know the tree is so cute!
Over the years I have a feeling this little tree will evolve… heck at the moment I’m missing an entire box of cruise ornaments from a few of my Caribbean cruises. Just finding that box in my Christmas closet will add 10-20 ornaments to the tree!
BUT my main goal was to put up a sweet cruise themed tree without running out to the store to purchase an entire trees worth of ornaments. And in that I think we succeeded!
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