That's an impossible question. I see beautiful very sparsely decorated trees on one end of the spectrum and it's easy to find trees dripping with ornaments. Maybe if you posted a picture of a tree you envy someone could guestimate what it takes to achieve a similar look.

Ok thank you. I'll try and find a photo of some I like.

Ok thank you. I'll try and find a photo of some I like.

I just listened to a podcast about this. So many tips that I listened to it twice! The woman being interviewed decorates high-end houses for Christmas. Her recommendation goes like this: for your 7-foot tree, you'll want at least 7 of each type of ornament you buy, and you should buy at least 6-8 different types. So that would be a total of 56 ornaments. That still seems low to me. The trees she decorates are pretty big, so she recommends larger ornaments, like 3"-5". Here's her IG for some inspiration.

That is so pretty. I'm finding lots of sites say different things.

That is so pretty. I'm finding lots of sites say different things.

I keep seeing designers talking about grouping ornaments. Wire three or more together then put them on the tree.

Thank you! That's interesting. I haven't heard about grouping then before.

Thank you! That's interesting. I haven't heard about grouping then before.

Ornaments clusters.

56 ornaments sounds sparse to me too, but depending on the look you’re going for it might be a good starting point. Our tree has waaay more than that on it, but I like my tree to be “extra”, lol. Happy Holidays 😊!

Pretty tree! One thing I struggle with is how to marry the "pretty" tree with the family ornaments. We just do one tree, it's the center of our living room, and it never goes with our interior. One tip the podcast had was to first decorate the tree with your chosen color, and then let the kids come in and hang the family ornaments. So you have a a pretty foundation and the random family ornaments are an accent. We haven't gotten our tree yet so I will try that this weekend and see how much pushback I get. :)

ours just happens to match the room.. it hasn’t always which was fine. We put up all the family ornaments first and then fill in with the solid ones. DH helped me this year since DD ( my usual helper) is at college. She always liked it all pastel colored, but it got a bit more color this year, which is fine by me 😊

I'm due today with our first baby boy and I'm sure in the coming years, our tree will start getting more and more family style ornaments!

Wow Angela! So exciting! I hope today and the coming weeks/months are smooth and joyous.

Regarding family ornaments, it's my husband's childhood ones too. I joke that half our tree's ornaments have his name on them. His mom passed all those along, but I try to selectively hand them out to be hung each year. She also gave him a mason jar of his baby teeth, but that's a topic for a different thread...

The jar with the baby teeth though... 😂 Aside from that it's really cool that there are his childhood ornaments on the tree too.

@Angela, congratulations! Yes, you will inevitably grow quite a wonderful collection of family ornaments in the coming years ❤️. What a special Christmas gift you’re getting this year!!!

@stiley, OMG… a jar of baby teeth 😂