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You’ve probably seen the viral spiral Christmas trees made from wood. I wanted to make a smaller version to sit on my entryway table. So we tried to think of the cheapest way to get thin pieces of wood to create this wood Christmas tree. Our solution: paint sticks! Yes, using a few packs of cheap paint sticks from Lowe’s, you can create the viral spiral Christmas tree for yourself!
Alright, let’s dive in and start DIYing!
How to Build a Spiral Christmas Tree
Recommended Tools:
- Jigsaw
- Drill with ½” paddle bit
- Safety Equipment
Shopping List:
- (7-8) packs of 10 paint stir sticks (you technically need 7, but some will inevitably break)
- (1) ½” round dowel (we used oak)
- Scrap piece of wood that’s at least 2.5” x 2.5” x ¾” thick (we used red oak)
- Painter’s tape
- Ribbon and hot glue or superglue for the top
Dimensions
The final spiral tree is ~ 11 1/2” tall and 7 ¼” wide at its biggest point.
STEP 1: DRILL HOLES IN PAINT STICKS
Mark the center of your paint sticks both from top to bottom and right to left. You can keep them in their packaging at this point so that you don’t have to mark every individual paint stick.
Clamp them to your workbench with a scrap piece of wood underneath. The scrap piece of wood will prevent your workbench from getting a hole in it.
Clamp it nice and tight so that the paint sticks are tightly packed. This will help keep them lined up so that your holes are in the same spot on every stick, and it will help support the paint stir sticks as you drill through. If they are well-supported, you’ll get less tearout and less paint sticks breaking.
Fair warning: some of your paint sticks are probably going to break.
Note: We were using a dowel we already had on hand, but you could potentially try a ⅜” dowel instead. I think it would be sturdy enough to support the tree, but I can’t guarantee it since I haven’t tried it. The reason I say this is because the paint stir sticks are pretty fragile. The smaller the hole you can put in it, the less likely your pieces are to break!
STEP 2: PAINT OR STAIN
Okay, hindsight is 20/20. Based on the photos, you can see that I did not paint my tree until the end. You want to knock out your painting or staining prior to cutting and assembly and all of that jazz, otherwise you’re adding way more work for yourself.
Why? You’ll have to keep everything organized and then put everything back on the trunk at the end. It was time consuming and several of the paint stir sticks broke when I was trying to put them on. They are inexpensive…and fragile.
Yes, you’ll have to paint or stain the edges again after you cut, but that’s not too difficult. You could even paint them a different color (like gold) if you wanted an extra special touch.
STEP 3: CUT THE DOWEL
Cut your dowel to whatever height you want the final tree to be. We cut ours to be ~ 11 ½”.
STEP 4: FEED THE PAINT STICKS ONTO THE DOWEL
Put all of the paint sticks onto the dowel. Be careful at this step. As I’ve mentioned, the paint sticks are fragile, so you might break a few if you push too hard to get them on the dowel.
We started with a total of 68 paint stir sticks on the tree. Since a few of our paint sticks broke when we took them on and off to paint, we have a few jumps when our tree is in a triangle layout. You can put on as many paint sticks as you have available after excluding the broken ones.
STEP 5: MARK WHERE TO CUT
Press all of your paint sticks to the top of the dowel and make sure there aren’t any gaps between any of the stir sticks.
Tape them together using painter’s tape so that they stay put while you cut. You can also mark directly onto the painter’s tape so that you don’t get marks on your tree.
On the top, we marked about ⅜” on either side of the hole for the dowel. For the bottom, we measured 7 ¼” total, so mark 3 ⅝” from the center on each side.
Connect these lines using something with a straight edge.
STEP 6: MAKE YOUR CUT
Using your jigsaw, follow your lines and cut out your Christmas tree.
STEP 7: MAKE YOUR BASE
Cut your scrap piece of wood into a piece that’s approximately 2 ½” x 2 ½”. Now, mark the center (1 ¼” from each side) and drill a hole about ⅜” deep using the ½” paddle bit.
STEP 8: INSTALL THE TREE INTO THE BASE
You can either simply place the dowel into the base or you can add some glue first. We skipped the glue, but the base can and will fall off if you do that!
STEP 9: ADD SOMETHING ON TOP
This step is optional, but I think it adds a lot. Since the tree has a dowel running through it, there’s only so small you can cut it on top – it doesn’t reach a perfect point.
We cut a small piece of velvet ribbon to add to the top and distract from this. We just tied it in a bow and placed it on top. If you want it to be more permanent, you can also add a little bit of hot glue or super glue to the bow as well.
You can also get creative and add something like a star, a bead, or maybe you can even cut a wood triangle!
There you have it! Now you know how to build your own spiral Christmas tree using paint stir sticks! Now you get to customize it. Tight spiral? Big spiral? Straight? A completely different layout? You get to be creative and adjust the “branches” to be in whatever style you like!
If you want to take your scraps, you can make a second smaller tree. We did that and then topped it with a wood bead we had on hand. It reminds me of a pinecone when you look at it from the top!
If you want to recreate it yourself, we used 18 paint sticks and a 1/4” dowel that was 4 1/4” tall. We cut the base to be 1.5” x 1.25”.
