What size Christmas tree fits, and how much to put on it

Type your ceiling height and how much floor space you have. You get the tree size to buy, how wide it gets, and how many ornaments and feet of garland and ribbon it takes to look full. Your numbers stay on this device.

Ceiling height (feet)

Floor space for the tree (feet across)

Day it goes up

Tree

Shape

Topper

How decorated

Tree to buy

Width at the bottom

Ornaments

What to buy

Keeping a real tree fresh

Plan the rest of Christmas

Tree sorted, now the gifts. The Christmas Gift Planner spreadsheet (Excel and Google Sheets) keeps who you buy for, budget per person, what you bought and what is left in one place.

See the Gift Planner

How it is worked out

Tallest tree = ceiling minus the topper, minus about 3 inches for a real tree's stand, minus 6 inches of air at the top, rounded down to the half foot. Width is about 40% of the height for pencil trees, 55% for slim and 68% for full trees; you want at least 1 foot of walking room beyond that. Ornaments: 10, 18 or 28 per foot of tree. Garland: about 6 loose wraps around the cone, which is roughly pi times the bottom width times 3, plus 10% for draping. Ribbon: the same spiral, or 6 cascades from top to bottom. Water: a fresh tree can drink about 1 quart a day per inch of trunk width, so the stand should hold at least that. A cut tree with water stays fresh about 4 to 5 weeks.