Peppermint Candy Christmas Trees

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When I think North Pole, the first thing that comes to mind for some reason is peppermint candy canes.  I think it’s because I believe that they are one of the elves main food groups.  And that the North Pole itself is a giant peppermint stick standing tall.  Oh, and because there must be peppermint striped decorations all over Santa’s Workshop.  I mean, why wouldn’t there be?

So when I started dreaming up decorations for our North Pole breakfast to welcome our new elf, Fritz, my first thought turned to peppermint.

How many different ways can I decorate with this iconic Christmas candy?

Then, I remembered these peppermint candy Christmas trees.  Two of them used to adorn our piano during the holidays growing up.  I would stare at them non-stop during my piano practice.  They were quite hypnotic.

So I decided to recreate some of my childhood Christmas décor and craft two of my own trees for this year’s Christmas décor.  They are the perfect way to add more height to our dining room sideboard.  And they make me feel like I am eating breakfast in the North Pole each morning.

To give them even more grandeur, I crushed extra peppermint candies and sprinkled them around the base of the cake stand.  This bed of peppermint also adds a beautiful minty aroma to the room.  And gives the peppermint candy trees even more stature.

Although some peppermint candy trees are made with the wrappers on the peppermint candies, I took the wrappers off.  We weren’t actually interested in eating the peppermints off of the trees.  I just wanted to display them.

But if you wanted these for a Christmas gathering to serve to guests, you could leave the candies wrapped.  Then, guests can help themselves to one (or even a few) to enjoy at the party or on the way home.

I also love the vibrant red and green colors of the peppermint candies.  They are so festive.  When you leave the peppermint candies packaged, the beautiful colors get lost in all of the cellophane.

But taking the packaging off of hundreds of peppermints can be a lot of work.  I needed some help.  Turns out this is a great activity to keep little fingers busy.  They love taking the packaging off of peppermint candies.  Who knew?

So if you have family members around when making these, enlist them to help.  It helps get your supplies organized and makes crafting a lot faster and fun.

You Will Need:

Styrofoam Cones (I used an 18 inch cone for the tall tree and 9 inch cone for the smaller one – affiliates)

Red and Green Peppermint Candies – (check out your local dollar store for the best deal – for two trees I used 5 bags of red and 2 bags of green)

Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks (affiliate)

1. Unwrap the peppermint candies.  You can leave the wrappers on, but the color of the peppermints is more vibrant without the wrappers.  The peppermint candy tree might not last quite as long, but it will be quite beautiful for the season.

2.  Starting at the bottom of the Styrofoam cone, glue the first row of peppermints around the base.

Use mostly red peppermints, but every few add in a green peppermint.

Many of the peppermint candy trees that I found had all red peppermint candies on them.  I liked the way the green peppermints looked like ornaments on the trees.  So, I interspersed them randomly throughout when making the craft.

The key when adding in the green peppermint candies is to make sure that they are scattered.  At one point, I started making a diagonal stripe by mistake and the result looked too planned.  Remember, keep it random.

3.  Continue gluing the peppermint candies up the cone.  Move around the cone as you glue.

If there is a space smaller than an entire peppermint candy, use a piece of the candy instead.  First, try different peppermints.  They are not uniform in size and some were much bigger than others.  Then, check for pieces that might have broken off during shipment.  There were a couple of broken peppermints in our bags.  Finally, if you can’t find a piece that works, use a meat tenderizer (affiliate) and gently break off a piece of the candy to fit.  This is the best way to get a piece a specific size.

After you have covered the peppermint candy tree in peppermint candies, remove any hot glue hairs from the candies.  You can add a gold glitter star topper, coordinating bow or even melted peppermint star to the top.  Or just leave the top plain like we did.

To display your peppermint candy trees, place on a table surface.  Use a coaster underneath to prevent any stickiness from getting on your furniture.

You can also put the peppermint trees on a cake stand to add extra height.  Sprinkle the crushed peppermint snow around the base of the peppermint candy trees.  The minty aroma let’s you know the holiday season is here.

I love the amount of height these peppermint trees give our Christmas decorations.  They have really dressed up our sideboard and are such a whimsical addition.

Although they make a wonderful Christmas decoration to match any Christmas theme, they are the perfect backdrop for a gingerbread decorating party (think candy everywhere) or celebration of the Nutcracker.  You can even use them to decorate the table at a breakfast with Santa.

Need some more Christmas decorating ideas?  Check out these sweet Christmas ornaments made with pasta that add a homemade touch to any tree.  Or hang this Free Printable Let It Snow Bunting, which can be displayed well beyond the holiday season.

And if you want to save this idea for later, be sure to pin it here.

Happy Celebrating,
Natalie