This is Sam and I’s 5th Christmas together!

With everything that has been going on this year we knew we wanted to decorate as soon as we could! We got a fake tree in from King Of Christmas for our spare bedroom and absolutely love it. But there is nothing better than a real tree. 

I grew up getting one every year and I love the entire process from picking out the tree to carrying it up the stairs and then decorating it! 

We’ve been trying to find a real tree for weeks but a lot of places weren’t going to have them available until after thanksgiving. Thankfully we saw that Greenbrier Farms got in some trees early so we went there on Saturday! The weather was absolutely amazing out and they had SO many options to choose from! 

We decided to go with a 8.5 ft Christmas tree and it only took us 30 minutes to decided on one haha. Anyone else feel insane amount of pressure when having to choose a tree?! 

We made sure to grab the tallest and fluffiest one we could find that was 8.5 ft! Last year we decided to flock our tree after realizing our love for the light and whimsical look and the fullness of a real tree! 

We could find any flock at the store or online so I searched for HOURS and finally came across a blog that shared 3 simple ingredients to make your own flock! 

We tried it that day and absolutely fell in LOVE with how it turned out so we decided to do it again this year :) This would be such a fun project to do with your kiddos or significant other! 

Here’s how to do it: 

-1 cup of Elmer's All purpose glue. The recommendation was not to use the kiddie version. We bought ours at Home Depot!

- 3 cups of Generic foam shaving cream. We bought 6 cans from Target and they were $1.00 each!

- 2 tbsp of Corn Starch (we found that the more that you use the thicker the "flock" looks, which we totally advise, we ended up using atleast 5 tbsp lol)

We mixed everything in a bowl with a whisk for 5-10 minutes and waited until stiff peaks started to form. If your flocking an entire tree you will most likely need to make 3-4 batches of this!

How to Apply it:

Make sure you wear gloves and put a tarp down to catch anything that comes off of the tree Obviously with glue being in the mixture it gets very sticky. It was suggested to start at the bottom of the tree and work your way up which we definitely recommend doing! Essentially all we did was fill our hand up with the fluff and massage it onto the branch. We started super light but towards the end we went heavier on it. The heavier you bunch up on the branches the more it gives it a snowier look! There honestly isn't a "wrong" way to do it so go crazy with it! Sam and I said towards the end that this would be such a fun thing to do with kids because it really isn't a messy process. 

Once it is all done you will need to let it dry for 24 hours before decorating it! 

Here's some questions we've had from you guys:

Does it smell? It does have a slight smell to it at first but honestly it goes away within a few hours! And it just smelled like Fresh Ocean shaving cream anyways. I would pump some essential oils or a candle if you have them! Someone actually suggested dropping some essential oils into the mixture which I thought was a great idea!

How long did the process take? Overall it only took us about an hour and a half doing 2/3 of the tree and stopping in the middle to make another batch and have a quick snack break. Since the tree is in the corner of the room, and some of it doesn't get shown so we decided to only flock 2/3 of it!

How quick does it dry? We waited 24 hours before decorating and it was dry by then! The best part about it is when it dries its more foamy/spongey than crumbly. 

Does it come off when you are decorating? Some of it does flake off as you decorate but it honestly is not that bad at all! It feels like the same amount of pine needles that would come off when decorating so it isn't a huge amount of difference.

Does it affect the longevity of the tree? This is our second year doing this and I would just make sure to water your tree regularly so it doesn't get dry and make the braces droop down.

What type of tree did you get? Douglas Fir! We got it at Lowe's and it was only $65.00 for a 7-8ft tree. They had soooo many to choose from which we had a blast digging through them all!

We hope this gives you a fun idea to try out on your tree for next year, or this year if you haven't gotten yours just yet! If you give this a shot be sure to tag us on instagram @staybycorisamuel or email us a picture of it. We would love to see what you did with it!