BENGALURU: Buying the right Christmas tree is half the battle won. And choosing one is not easy, with options in Bengaluru being dime a dozen. “We have trees which are replicas of those available in different countries. We even have the French Pine, German and Swiss model,”says Sumir Roy from Raave’s Evergreen on Commercial Street, which is exclusively dedicated to Christmas decorations. They have trees ranging from 4 ft- 15 ft, prices of which start from `3,500 and go upto `45,000.
Once you have zeroed-in on the tree, make a list of ornaments you want. Shiny balls, tree hangers, socks, stockings and stocking hooks, wide ribbon to tie garlands or make bows, Santa Clause dolls, snowmen doll, paper stars, tree tops are some of the must haves.
Christmas could be a year-ending affair but that does not stop people to feel the spirit of the festival from months in advance. Raj Joseph from Santa store in Richmond Circle, says shoppers come hunting for decorations from October. “Our top selling ornaments are snowmen and fairies,” says Joseph, adding that the price of trees goes up to `1 lakh.
If you are a first-timer in setting up the Christmas tree, then be prepared to stay up late nights to decorate it, which will also give you lot of family time. Pradeep Kumar from Kushal Indoor Garden says, “Getting the tree ready is expensive with the average cost of decorating it ranging between `5,000-8,000.”
Books, cartons, and tripods
If you are one of those lazy shoppers who doesn’t want to miss out on the festive feel, then there is more than one way to get creative in terms of putting up your very own Christmas tree. The most popular one is making a book tree, for which you will have to pile up all your favourite reads and sort them by size and shape. Stack the books to create a pyramidal structure, and put some fairy lights around it. Voila! You got your Christmas tree. While using books is just one idea, you can also try this with cartons and tripods and surprise your friends with eccentric ideas.