12 Professional Christmas Tree Themes For Your Home

Level up your Christmas decorating this holiday season with a professionally-themed Christmas tree. You don’t have to hire a designer to achieve this look - anyone can decorate like the pros when they select a proven theme and stick to it. Christmas tree themes can be centered on a specific color, time period, or even a favorite holiday song. 

To help you get started, here are 12 examples of professional Christmas tree themes that look great in any home:

Rustic Christmas Tree

Rustic Christmas trees feel exceptionally festive in cabins or in older homes. But anyone looking to create a woodsy atmosphere should explore this Christmas tree theme.

Start with a short needle tree, such as an alpine spruce or noble fir. Add touches from nature, such as dried orange slices or red holly garland. Ornaments in the shapes of animals, mittens, skis, trees, and anything else that evokes a forest or the mountains keep the rustic theme going. The traditional Christmas tree colors of red, green, and white work well here, and warm white lights make this theme extra cozy and comforting. 

Maximalist Christmas Tree

Turn the maximalism trend into “Christmaximalism” when you fill your tree to the brim with ornaments, lights, garlands, and more. 

Create visual interest with a completely covered tree, using ornaments and lights in various colors to adorn each and every branch. Tie the look together by opting for all shiny ornaments or an all-matte finish. The Christmaximalism theme is also good for those with an eclectic mix of ornaments collected from childhood, foreign travels, thrift shops, and after-Christmas sales. Arrange the diversity of colors, shapes, sizes, and styles all together, creating a joyful tree that lights up the entire room.

“The 12 Days of Christmas” Christmas Tree

Here’s an example of a Christmas tree theme modeled after a favorite Christmas carol. A festive “The 12 Days of Christmas” tree features ornaments that represent each of the items named as gifts that appear in the classic song. You know the one: “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…” Start with a partridge in a pear tree and go all the way to 12 drummers drumming. 

Bonus: If you’re hosting holiday parties this season, this particular Christmas tree theme is an excellent conversation starter. Guests will have fun trying to point out all of the gifts named in the song. 

Victorian Christmas Tree

Many of us go through our favorite Christmas traditions, not knowing that it was Queen Victoria (1819-1901) who popularized a great number of them. One of those traditions is the indoor Christmas tree. 

In the Victorian era, Queen Victoria and those who chose to emulate her, decorated their Christmas trees with dried fruits, flowers, holy berries, small presents, and ribbon. They also used real candles to light up the decorations, by tying them to the branches with ribbon.

While we’ve since switched from fire-prone candles to electric lights, many of those Victorian ornaments could still be used today to create your Victorian Christmas tree. 

Mid-Century Modern Christmas Tree

If the Victorian Age is too retro for you, travel back just a few decades to the mid-century modern era for this groovy Christmas tree theme. 

Mid-century modern refers to a time period from 1945-1969. The design of this era is known for its simplicity, wood furniture, and functionality. The Christmas trees of this era, however, were marked by bright colors and high shine.

To create a mid-century modern Christmas tree, start with an aluminum or pink artificial tree. Add new or vintage colorful, shiny glass ornaments in bulb, starburst, and icicle shapes. Fluffy garland and a color wheel create the finishing touches. 

Metallic Christmas Tree

This is one of the easier Christmas tree themes to execute at home. Start with a real or artificial green tree, add glass Christmas bulbs in muted, metallic colors (think burnt orange, silver, slate grey, pale green), and finish with a few strings of warm white lights. 

Jewel Toned Christmas Tree

If the traditional red and green of Christmas isn’t your style, decorate your tree with a jewel toned theme instead. Think rich emerald, deep amethyst, and mustard gold - these can also be Christmas tree colors! 
Amp up the shine with metallic-finished Christmas bulbs in a range of jewel tones, or go bold with opaque ornaments in coordinating jewel colors. Play up the theme by invoking the idea of jewels with bulbs, garlands, chains, and icicles that fill your tree with baubles of all shapes and sizes. 

Nostalgic Christmas Tree

This Christmas tree theme will vary from person to person. Whatever you remember about Christmas from your childhood, use it to decorate your nostalgic tree. 

Often, this includes traditional Christmas tree colors, ornaments that have been passed down through generations, small photos of Christmases passed tied to the branches with ribbons, and simple string garland or silver tinsel. 

Gingerbread Christmas Tree

This theme is perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth. Gingerbread Christmas trees certainly feature real or artificial gingerbread people, flowers, and other cookie-inspired decorations. But they can also include other sugary treats, such as lollipops, candy canes, and peppermint swirls. 

 Add in some gingham ribbon garland and red and white glass ornaments and you’re all set for your sweetest Christmas yet. 

Neutral Christmas Tree

Similar to the rustic Christmas tree, the neutral Christmas tree pulls from the natural world. Think pine cone ornaments, wooden stars, and classic white bulbs. Decorations should follow a muted Christmas tree color scheme - light brown, matte gold, and white are the usual choices. 

 Instead of a tree skirt, opt for a tree basket or bucket to round out the neutral look. If you prefer the look of a skirt, try a knit blanket in a neutral beige color instead of the traditional green and red felt or cotton wrap. 

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

This theme doesn’t involve exactly copying Charlie Brown’s iconic tree of one skinny branch with one lone glass bulb weighing it down. Rather, it’s a way to approach decorating a smaller, simplified tree. It’s the opposite of Christmaxillism, and it works especially well in small spaces or for those who prefer a minimalist approach to decorating. 

 Start with a sparse fir tree and add Christmas decorations in no more than two different color schemes. Keep the ornaments unified - various sizes of just bulbs, for example. Add some simple garland, white lights, and use a blanket to make the tree skirt, just like Linus did. It’s a little tree with a lot of love. 

Coastal Christmas Tree

Whether you’re Christmas-ing on the coast, or just wish you were, a coastal Christmas tree theme a coastal tree brings a beachy vibe to the season. Decorate your tree with starfish, seashells, and other water-themed ornaments. Mix and match blue and white Christmas lights to add a seaside sparkle. 

Elevate Your Holiday Decorating with a Christmas Tree Theme

Aren’t sure where to start with decorating this holiday season? Get a professional look by first choosing a Christmas tree theme and then using it to build out decorations throughout your home.