I set up a 2.1m tall Christmas tree at my HDB void deck to celebrate the festive season with my neighbours

For the past two years, an uncle from the 16th floor of my HDB block has been religiously decorating our void deck for various festive seasons.

Affectionately known to residents as “Uncle Eddie”, the festive seasons he has put up decorations for include:

• Chinese New Year
• Hari Raya
• National Day
• Deepavali
• Christmas

In fact, some of you may recall seeing his decorations being featured in our past articles:

This year, I decided to do my part as a ~kind~ and ~contributing~ neighbour and helped to decorate a part of the void deck with a Christmas tree from Masons.

As the menial part of decorating the void deck is usually a one-man-affair by Uncle Eddie (with the occasional help from neighbours), I kept mum about my scheme as I wanted to give him a surprise.

After all, it’s the least I could do for him after all that he’s done for our block.

Here’s how my Christmas tree decorating experience went one fine evening, along with some help from my mother.

Setting up the tree

In the earlier part of November, a 2.1 metre tall Arenaria Christmas Tree was delivered to my home along with a huge box of decorative ornaments (sold separately), courtesy of Masons.

For the uninitiated, Masons is a Christmas store that sells over 1,000 ornaments, decorations and Christmas trees, the largest variety in Singapore.

One unique feature of all their hyper-realistic Christmas trees is that they are designed and engineered with FirTECT technology so that they can last for a really long time.

Upon unboxing, the first thing I noticed about the Arenaria Christmas tree was how vibrant its shade of green was.

This was much better compared to some other Christmas trees I had come across in lighter shades, which often made them look cheap and artificial.

I also noticed how dense, yet unprickly the foliage was.

Each branch was firm, with tips that weren’t too flimsy so that they wouldn't be able to hold up heavier ornaments, but not too stiff so that opening the tips to hang the decorations would be difficult.

This was a far cry from the one and only Christmas tree my family owned in my primary school days that had rather sparse and flimsy foliage.

After inspecting, I enlisted the help of my mother to carry it down to the void deck, along with the box of ornaments.

Surprisingly, setting up the tree was easier than I thought.

The first step involved inserting the lower stem of the tree into the iron base stand and securing it firmly with three metal screws that had been provided:

The following few steps were pretty intuitive, only requiring me to insert each successive layer of branches onto the stand one on top of the other, according to size.

Altogether, there were around five different layers of branches.

Here’s how the Christmas tree looked before its branches were opened:

How it looked after its branches were opened:

In the end, my mum and I managed to set up the Christmas tree in around 15 to 20 minutes - not bad, considering its height and weight.

Decorating the tree

Next up was the exciting bit - hanging ornaments and inserting various decorative pieces onto the tree.

But not just any ordinary ornaments and decorative pieces - think intricately designed glitter baubles, gold painted pine cones, artificial flowers, gold leaf garlands and of course, a star tree topper:

So excited were my mum and I to set up the Christmas tree that we actually forgot to take photos of the decorating process.

Nonetheless, we were lucky enough to have met a kind neighbour from our floor who offered to help out, making this whole thing feel like a community affair.

As you can see from this photo, Masons’ Christmas ornaments come in a variety of shapes, colours, materials, and sizes, so you can take your Christmas tree decorating to the next level and show off your own festive style:

What’s more, their exclusive designs are priced pretty affordably so you need not worry about breaking the bank.

Do note that the ornaments, decorations and Christmas trees are sold separately.

The Arenaria Christmas tree also comes in four different sizes and price points:

According to Masons, the cost of raw materials and labour required to make the Arenaria Christmas Tree is extremely high, explaining its price point.

(But for such a gorgeous tree that can be kept for years to come, it’s definitely worth the one-time splurge.)

All in all, my mum and I had a splendid time decorating the Christmas tree and snapping videos of the end product:

Clearly, we weren’t alone in our excitement, as I received this text from Uncle Eddie the next morning:

Over the next few days, Uncle Eddie busied himself with decorating the rest of our void deck with Christmas decorations he had accumulated from neighbours over the years, as well as the extra decorations I had on hand.

Here’s how our void deck looked like before his decorating:

How it looked like after:

Pretty neat, huh?

If you, too, would like to spruce up your home or HDB void deck with a hyper realistic Christmas tree of your own, why not check out Masons, your one stop destination for Christmas trees, ornaments, and decorations.

First time tree owners can check out their range of Starter Kits, which comes with:

• A tree
• One star tree topper
• One set of baubles
• Two lights

Alternatively, those who prefer something more elaborate can check out Mason’s Premium Bundles, featuring ornaments with special designs that have been put together by award-winning tree designers.

Click here to find out more.

Delivery

Delivery is free for all orders above S$200, and charged at S$7.90 for orders below S$200.

You may choose your preferred delivery date and time slot at checkout.

Delivery Days: Everyday, excluding Sundays and Public Holidays

Delivery Time Slot: 10am to 5 pm, 7pm to 10 pm

This sponsored article by Masons allowed this writer to spruce up her HDB void deck with a gorgeous Christmas tree.

Top images via Melanie Lim