Good to know I've been doing it right all along - never called it fluffing tho 😃

The only 'trick' IMO, is lots of patience.

I didn't realize it's easier to do the bottom first, add middle, then top. At least I downsized the tree!

Just remembered another tip they did not do - instead of stringing lights around the tree, string them up and down in a zigzag pattern - much faster and less hassle.

And now that you mention it, the over-the-top enthusiasm made me roll my eyes a bit 😄

Carol, take a look at this short video and tell me if the zigzag stringing is included. I think it might be the first example. Although all three examples leaves a lot to be desired. :)

DH and I always disagreed on how to hang lights. He likes them toward the tip of the branch and I like them set back a little so that they light up the needles. We solved that issue - I do all the lights. And then last year bought my first pre-strung tree. What a snap!

None of those techniques show what I meant, which is literally going up and down, top to bottom as you make your way around the tree. obviously, you can't go all the way to the top with every pass, but it's definitely up & down, no side to side. You can still push the strands deeper into the tree too. I can't recall exactly where or when I learned that - could've been a magazine article or a video - but I do recall it was a pro who related it.

It obviously wouldn't work very well on a sparsely branched tree like a balsam, tho.

I always went around the tree to light it, but then I have some strands with individual twinkle bulbs that I need to spread throughout so those I went up and down. But now I'm done. I've wired on all the lights, garland and unbreakable ornaments and put the tree away decorated. Pull it out decorated and just fluff and add the breakable ornaments.

Maire, I love prelit trees, and I always make sure they have plenty of lights. We downsized from an 8 foot tree to 4.5' tree, and the lights are the brightest and prettiest I've ever seen. The lights come close to the tips of branches and go back inside the tree.

Annie, great idea! I cut back on how many ornaments I usually put on. I need to hire a tree decorator! And someone to put museum putty under each nativity person. That's a chore.

@Annie Deighnaugh, DH and I used to make fun of my parents who brought their tree up from the basement on Christmas morn, fully decorated from the year before. Sure sounds good now, though. I even saw a house built with a designated tree closet just for this purpose. Hmmmm….we do have 2 closets in the entryway.

I will be using the advice here on tree fluffing-thought I had it down, but maybe not?

I bought a new tree this year from King of Christmas. Suppose to be here today.

I was looking at Balsam Hill also, but the gamechanger for me was I read a review somewhere that stated some customers returned the BH tree, because it had TOO many lights. That is one reason I went with KofC tree-I didn't want TOO many lights-that takes away from the tree, to me anyway.

Also, the Balsam Hill tree in "slim" (which I have to have a slim tree in my house) looked too perfect and the the KofC 7.5' tree looked a little more realistic to me in the pics. Athough, the consensus seems to be BH trees are suppose to be more realistic-which does look to be the case-except in the "slim" trees. So...we shall see.

Hubby will be building the rustic tree collar after we get it up-to measure how much height we need for it to look good.