Trees for the Festival

As it is almost the end of January, I felt that I should get myself in gear and finish my 2017 Christmas posts. Here is the process I went though this year for the two large trees and one small tree that I decorated for the Festival of Trees

First I measured the spaces needed down in my basement game /family area.

This tree required a 7x9 foot area and the other required a 9 by 14 foot area. Next I put the trees bag where I wanted to put the tree up in each space.

Then I got my ornaments gathered.

Next was assembling the trees and checking to make sure the lights worked, as they are always new trees, so far I have not had a problem with lights.

Then I put some of the ornaments on, the tree topper on, and the tree skirt around it to check how I am planning it to look. Next I stack the boxes I am going to wrap to had depth and high to the display

Then I put out he other items I have that go with the tree theme. This one was a Hogwarts Christmas, of course.

I have to make sure all the ornaments on the tree are wired on tight, so as it is move they stay on.

The trees is moved twice. Once from my house to the exposition hall and then after the week of festival it is delivered to (or picked up by) the person who has bought it. I should clarify here, only the large trees and their display are delivered, everything else is picked up by  the people who bought it.

Here is the Hogwarts tree as I arrange it on decorating day, which is usually the Monday after Thanksgiving. Then the next evening is a silent action where people pay to come through and bid on the things they want. The expo center is then open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday evening this festival drawing hundreds of thousands of people. Anything that was not sold at the silent auction night is price and anyone is able to buy it for the marked price.  Then at 10pm on Saturday or anytime from 8-1pm on Sunday people come and pick up the things they brought that were on display, except for the large tree displays that are delivered to those that bought them on Sunday during the day.

This is the area I set up for my Santa's office tree and display

All of the ornaments that are used to decorate the tree must be secure, so if any part of them could come apart, they need to be hot glued together. And then they need to be wired onto the tree so they do not come off during the move. This is a time consuming job, but I think taking the tree back down would be worst as each tree must be secured so it can be tipped and moved, but not come apart. They requirer that the decorators secure each section together. When the trees were a hollow inside we used to have to use pvc inside the tree trunk and the drill and screw each section together as well as clamp rebar up the outside of the truck. The trees I have had the last couple of years have had the electrical wires running through the trunk, so I was not able to use pvc or screws in the truck. So instead I duck taped the truck pieces together after I assembled the tree and then used a piece of rebar almost the same hight of the tree with clamps every foot or so to make sure that the tree would stay together during the moves.

Then I started to arrange the things for this display, which included several pieces of furniture.

Once the ornaments are wired on and the tree itself is ready, I light it up to make sure it looks good from all sides as it will be seen from most of the ares around it.

And I also check it with the lights off as it needs to look good with the lights on and off

then I start to finish the area of the display. Side note, as I ordered the sleigh, rocker, table, electric fireplace, and coat rack on line, some assemble (a lot) was required.

Sant'as office should have things he was delivering also

We provide everything for the displays including the floor coving. This is the display as I finished it on decorating day. Note, as I had two large tree displays, a small tree display, the major wreath display and a centerpiece, I talked to a local mover and he gave me a nice discount of their fees to move all the things from my house to the expo center. A big thanks to Mountain Movers of Park City!

This is the small tree I did. The space for it was only 40"x40" so it was much easier to do

Here it is at the festival. It's name was Christmas Magic.

 Here was the centerpiece title Grandma's House

And of course, The wreath display that I blogged about earlier. It's title was Seasons of Joy.

I am happy to say that all the things I did for the festival sold bidders night and for 2 to 4 times the cost to create them. This is so fun for me to do each year and is for a great charity, Primary Children's Hospital. I am already planning and working on ideas for next years!