Paper Christmas Tree
Follow our simple tutorial to make a beautiful paper Christmas tree! These festive decorations are made by folding and cutting a single piece of printer paper into a 3D tree. So easy!
These paper trees are such a fun winter craft for the whole family to make together. Place the trees on a coffee table, fireplace mantle, or even a holiday dinner table. Either way, you’ll be sure to enjoy the homemade Christmas decor that you made for pennies!
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How to Make a Paper Christmas Tree
Materials:
- Printer paper(or origami paper, or wrapping paper)
Equipment:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
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Simply grab a piece of regular printer paper and a pair of scissors!
Step 2: Create a square piece of paper
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Take the top left corner of the paper and bring it down to meet the bottom edge. Make sure the two edges are lined up then run your fingers along the diagonal edge to make a fold.
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Cut off the rectangular strip along the edge of the paper that was folded over.
Step 3: Make the tree folds
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When you unfold the triangle you should be left with a perfect square.Bring the bottom left corner of the paper up to meet the right corner. Make a fold then open the paper again. You should have an X shape in your folds.Flip the paper upside down.Bring the top edge down to the bottom edge and make a fold. Open it up then bring the left edge to meet the right edge and make a fold.
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Open the paper and place it in front of you like a diamond.
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Bring the left and right corners to meet in the middle.
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Then bring the top and bottom points to the middle so your paper is flat.
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Place the paper in front of you like a diamond. Turn the paper so the folded edges are at the top.
Step 4: Make the inner folds
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Bring the top layer of the right corner to the middle and make a fold. Repeat for the top layer of the left corner.
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Unfold the left side and open the paper by sticking your finger inside. Push the middle fold towards the center turning it inside out then press the edges to crease them. Then fold the right flap over to meet the left.
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Repeat the previous step on the right side.
Step 5: Repeat step 4 on other side
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Flip the paper over.
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Repeat Step 4 on this side, first folding both corners in to the middle of the paper.
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Continue repeating the last step — Unfold both sides, place your finger inside and push the middle fold towards the center to turn the folds inside out. Run your fingers along the folds to make sure they’re crisp.
Step 6: Make cuts in the paper
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Cut off the bottom section of the paper, leaving you with a triangle tree shape.
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Cut four parallel lines along the outside of the triangle. Make sure not to cut all the way to the center and space the lines fairly evenly.
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Make the same cuts on the opposite side of the triangle.
Step 7: Fold the cut edges in
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At each of the cuts, take the top layer and fold it down to make a triangle shape.All of the folds should go in the same direction, so only fold one edge of the tree at a time.
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Flip the top layer over like a page in a book. Then continue folding the next layer down at all of the cuts to make more triangle shapes.
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Continue these folds until you have to flip over the tree. Then continue on the other side until all of the layers have been folded.
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Stand your tree up and adjust the layers so they’re spread out evenly and your tree stands on its own.
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Your 3D paper Christmas tree is complete!
TIP:
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If you start with a square piece of paper, you don’t have to cut off any extra paper at the beginning.
What paper makes the best 3D paper Christmas tree?
Regular printer paper (20 lb weight) is best for making these paper trees. You need to use a paper that is easy to fold and cut through.
You can make your trees green by using green printer paper. Other types of paper that work well to make 3D trees include origami paper, wrapping paper, and scrapbook paper.
What size paper can be used to make a Christmas tree from paper?
We used standard letter size (8.5 x 11 inch) printer paper to make our Christmas trees, but you can pretty much use whatever size paper you’d like (as long as you can fold it into a big enough square). You can even cut down the triangle made from regular paper to make a smaller tree.
You can also use square paper, like a 12 x 12 inch piece of thin scrapbook paper. Or use 11 x 17 inch paper to make a larger tree!
How can I decorate my paper Christmas tree craft?
Before you fold the tree you can colour on the paper with pencil crayons, crayons, or markers. You can also glue on rhinestones, buttons, or beads once the tree is folded.
Or why not add some festive stickers to the tree?! There are so many fun ways to personalize these trees!
Enjoy making these paper Christmas trees as an easy last minute decoration. Make them in snowy white, classic green, or in a rainbow array of colours!
Here’s even more Christmas tree craft ideas:
Felt and Candy Cane Christmas Tree
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books- A- Million | Indiebound | Indigo | Amazon Canada
