Candy Christmas Trees

In today’s post: Learn how to make these adorable candy Christmas trees – this easy DIY gift idea is perfect for grandkids, teachers, friends, or anyone!

Fun DIY Christmas Gift idea

If you are looking for a fun Christmas gift idea, today’s candy trees are perfect for just about anyone! They’d be a fun white elephant gift, or a cute prize to give to out if you like to play games at your Christmas party. Keep reading for all my tips on how to make them.

Supplies

Here’s what you need to make a candy Christmas tree:

• Styrofoam Cone: I used a 6 inch foam cone from Dollar Tree for the smaller tree ($1.25), and a 9 inch foam cone from Hobby Lobby ($4) for the larger tree.
• Fun size candy bars: I used three different types of candy for the smaller tree and four types for the larger tree. I tried a variety of candy and found that flatter, more narrow candy bars are the easiest to work with. I used fun size Kit Kats, Hershey’s, and Twix, (as well as mini Snickers on the larger tree).
• Straight Pins: I found that straight pins are the easiest way to attach the candy to the foam cones and allowed for easy repositioning when needed. I bought pins will balls on the top to make it easy for the recipient to pull them out and discard. The pins go through the candy wrapper and never touch the candy itself. If you choose to use pins, do not give these candy trees to children who are too young to responsibly remove and dispose of the pins. If you don’t want to use pins, use small glue dots instead.
• Decoration for the top of your tree: I used some curly ribbon and mini star tree toppers found at Hobby Lobby.

How to Make a Candy Christmas Tree

This is an easy DIY Christmas gift idea that you can make in under half an hour.

Create the Bottom Row

Start by picking up your foam cone and holding one candy bar near the bottom of the cone. The end of the candy wrapper should not extend below the cone. Make sure the writing on the candy bar starts at the top and goes down. Stick a straight pin through the top right corner of the candy bar wrapper, as shown below.

Grab a second candy bar and place it right next to the first one. Turn the second candy bar slightly to the right so it can overlap the first candy bar just a little bit. Use a straight pin in the top right corner to attach the second candy bar. Continue placing candy bars right next to each other, turning them slightly to the right and overlapping just a bit. Ensure that the bottom of the wrappers do not extend past the bottom of the cone.

Continue adding candy bars until you get all the way around the cone. The last candy bar will get tucked under the first one just a bit. If you need to, you can pull out the pins and adjust the spacing of a few candy bars.

Add Rows

Once the first row is complete you can start on the second row. Hold a candy bar so it overlaps the bottom row a bit and pin it in the top right corner. Repeat the process to go all the way around the cone again.

Add one more row (if using a 6 inch cone) or two more rows (if using a 9 inch cone). It’s ok if the top row doesn’t completely cover the top of the foam cone.

Decorate

Now you can decorate the top of your candy tree however you’d like! I cut lengths of curling ribbon and tied them together at one end, then curled each ribbon to create a little bunch. I secured that to the top of the cone with a pin. Curly ribbon works well to hid any of the styrofoam cone that didn’t get covered with candy. Then I used hot glue to attach a mini star tree topper. If you don’t have a topper, you could cut a star from thick paper and glue it to a toothpick, then stick that in the top of the cone. Or top the tree with a big bow instead of a star.