Give Your Christmas Tree Another Role After the Holiday

Christmas is a great time of the year. But once it’s over, you have to do something with your tree. You can always put it out on the curb for trash pickup if your municipality provides that service. But if that option doesn’t appeal to you, you can make better use of the tree by giving it another role.

Here are five options that involve giving your Christmas tree a new role:

• Use it as firewood — If you want to cut it up and use it as firewood, you can. But the wood is still wet, so use it only in an outdoor fire pit. And use it only when the wood is dry. Using it indoors otherwise is a fire hazard.

• Recycle it as winter mulch — Leave the tree in your yard for the winter. It can provide much-needed shelter for small animals and birds. You can chop it up in the spring and use it for mulch.

• Make it a bird feeder — Place it in its stand outdoors. Then, fill some bird feeders and hang them from the tree’s boughs. You can also drape the tree with a swag of pinecones coated with peanut butter.

• Protect plants with it — The winter is hard on tender plants. Cut a few branches or boughs from the tree and cover your tender plants for the winter. The branches will protect them from the season’s harshness.

• Add Christmas freshness to your home — Strip the tree’s pine needles and make a sachet of them. Then, hide them around the bathroom and kitchen for some cheerful fragrance.

These options highlight the idea that your tree’s needles, boughs, and trunk can do more than hold ornaments. Each option has advantages. Choose one that works best for you. No matter which options you choose, however, they all let you dispose of your tree safely and responsibly. Never throw trees Christmas trees in garbage or landfills.