How to Decorate a Sugar Plum Candy Christmas Tree That Looks as Good as it Tastes

As they entered the room their eyes lit up.

They were grinning from ear to ear like three adorable little Cheshire cats.

My five-year-old grandson, Andrew, with his bright blue eyes shining and a big smile on his face said, “Grandmom, is that my tree?!”

I loved it. I knew I had hit a homerun!

My Candy Christmas Tree absolutely thrilled my Grandchildren. Their reaction was exactly what I had hoped for.

Watching their gleeful, smiling faces with wide, twinkling eyes anticipating removing the goodies from the tree is a memory I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.

If you want to thrill and delight your children or the children at your Christmas Party try creating your own Candy Christmas Tree… or as I prefer to call it, a Sugar Plum tree.

Unless they just don’t like candy (yeah right ) your kids will adore you for years to come for giving them such a unique and exciting memory.

Now just to be clear – this tree did not take the place of our usual, big tree. It was an additional tree especially for the children – and it has now become a family tradition.

By selecting the right candy "ornaments" your tree can be both beautiful to look at and delightful to taste.

To decorate the tree, I bought bags of candies wrapped in our favorite holiday colors, in cute holiday shapes and of course large jelly candies.

My daughter-in-law helped me by baking some cookies for me while I got busy putting together the candy ornaments and decorations.

Candy Christmas Tree Decorating Tips

A Sugar Plum Tree is fun to do but it takes some time and thought, so here are some tips.

• Do Baking First - Bake your cookies ahead of time and freeze them. Don’t wait until the last minute. When it’s time to decorate the tree, your cookies will be waiting for you. Wrap them in plastic wrap and tie them off with a beautiful ribbon. They can be hung with the ribbon or you can use ornament hooks.
• Be Selective with the Candy - Start selecting your candies as soon as they are placed on the store shelves, but don’t settle for buying everything at one store. Selections vary by store and there is much to choose from.
• Make Candy Pouches - Use plastic wrap or tulle or any fabric of your choosing to make pouches to hold the candy. I used a 9” square of both plastic wrap and tulle to hold candies such as Kisses, foil wrapped chocolate balls, and red, white, and green jelly candies. Fill the cut squares (or circles if you prefer) with several candies of the same color. Gather the corners and tie it off with ribbon.
• The plastic wrap reflects the light and during the Christmas season can be found in colors. Using clear wrap however, enables you to see the color of the foil wrapped candies or jelly candies inside. Select a ribbon color that matches the candies or try a different color.
• Using tulle to wrap the candies looks a little dressier and can be purchased in different colors. Using white tulle allows the color of the foil wrappings on the candies to show. Use ribbons to match the candies or use different colors. The ribbons and materials you use become the decorations for your tree. You have many options available to you so have fun and be creative.
• Many of the major candy manufacturers produce their products in different shapes and wrap them in foil. These candies don’t have to be wrapped and can hang as ornaments on their own. They can be hung on the tree with ornament hooks or ribbon can be taped or glued to the back.
• No Sugar Plum Tree would be complete without candy canes. The traditional red and white stripes are beautiful, but don’t stop there. Use an assortment of colors and flavors. The more the merrier.
• Bon Bons dressed in Christmas foil become little ornaments on their own. They can be hung with ornament hooks by slipping one end of the hook through the foil at one end being careful not to rip it.
• Don’t Forget the Tree Skirt - As a finishing touch scatter a variety of little colorful foil-wrapped chocolates all around the tree skirt. This will give your Christmas Candy Tree sparkle and shine from the bottom up.
• Provide each child with a bag or basket or a special container and don’t forget to put their names on them.

These are only a few suggestions to help you get started. Delight the children in your life with a Christmas tree they will never forget. Make it beautiful and colorful and take pictures of the fun when they start removing the sweets from the tree.

I think you will enjoy decorating a Sugar Plum Tree as much as the children will enjoy undecorating it. It will become a family tradition you and your children will share for the rest of your lives.

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