Edible Outdoor Christmas Tree

We often do edible ornaments for our tree. Gingerbread biscuits and popcorn garlands are a standard craft. 

But this year, we thought we would decorate a tree outside and help feed our wildlife neighbours at the same time. A few festive treats, a crafty afternoon, and (hopefully) some lovely wildlife watching. 

I have to admit, the tree we ended up using was supposed to be an indoor tree, but it faded way too quickly on the underfloor heating. 

This hadnt happened before, so whether it was the lack of water in its pot, or the dfiferent base we used, I'm not sure. 

Anyway, we bought a reusable tree for that corner, and repurposed the real tree on the patio. It was a hit with the birds before we had hung anything on it. 

The decorations we used were pretty simple: 

• Popcorn garlands - made the usual way with plain home popped corn on cotton string 

• Orange and Apple slices - the apple slices cut into stars 

• RSPB Coconut halves - from the supermarket, but you can make your own hanging feeders. I've written about that HERE. 

• Fat balls - mixed success in threading these to hang up like baubles! A thin skewer and kitchen string just about worked, but they needed a bit of encouragement 

• Monkey Nuts - I threaded half a dozen or so onto cotton and hung like ornaments, rather than a long garland.