How we made a Yo Gabba Gabba Brobee Christmas tree
If you've been here for a little while, you know that we've had a string of weird Christmas trees in the last few years. And all of them have been the brainchild of Lisey. 😉
In 2019, we got a big fluffy tree, added huge google eyes, and Lisey named him Clay.
Then in 2020, her boss at work showed her a Cookie Monster Christmas tree someone else had made, and she texted me, "Mom, can we do this??"
So I bought a blue Christmas tree and we made Cookie Monster.
You can read all about that tree adventure here.
For Christmas 2021, Lisey was living with my aunt and uncle, so we did actually have a normal tree. See?
This year, of course, Lisey is back living with me, and in November, she floated the idea of doing a tree that looks like Brobee, a character from YoGabbaGabba.
I was willing, but when I googled to get inspiration from other people who had done this, I came up dry.
(Zoe said, "That's how you know this is a weird thing to do." Ha.)
I don't think there are probably a lot of people who are wanting to make a Brobee Christmas tree, but just in case there are, I thought I'd share how I did it.
Here's what Brobee looks like when you do a Google image search.
First, I bought a white pine Christmas tree, because it's fluffy just Brobee.
Then to make the stripes, I bought this green garland. It's 59 feet long, so we only needed the one strand. Sweet.
I thought red party hats would be perfect for the red things on Brobee's head, but man, I could not find them anywhere. I tried dollar stores, craft stores, Target, and party stores.
But eventually, I found red megaphones at Party City!
I poked holes in the side with a huge safety pin (which I found in a sewing box I rescued from the abandoned house) and I used wire to string the three megaphones together.
I was really glad I had thought to grab some of my random crafting supplies from my other house because this wire came in very handy.
To make his unibrow, eyes, and mouth, I bought a multipack of posterboard paper from Staples.
I used an oval dish (from Goodwill, funny enough) to trace the shape of his eyes, and then I used a drinking glass (from the abandoned house, funny enough) to trace his eyeballs.
I kind of free-handed the unibrow, and then Lisey and I worked together to make the mouth.
I used wire to attach the unibrow to the tree. Then I attached the mouth to the eyes (with wire) and attached those to the tree as well.
And then we were done!
Once we finished, this tree made me laugh really hard when I looked at it...it is just so ridiculous.
And in between giggles I said to Lisey, "My mom would NEVER have said yes if I suggested this kind of tree."
(I mean, this sort of tree would never have occured to teenage me, so it's sort of a moot point. 😉 )
Left to myself as an adult, I would be prone to decorating a tree in a traditional way, but man, Christmas has been hard for my kids for quite a few years now (our first marital separation was in 2018, so things have been rough for a while!)
So, I will say yes to pretty much any off-the-wall thing they want to do at Christmas.
Anyway! That's the long and short of our 2022 Christmas tree.
And it will be interesting to see if anyone finds this post next year by googling "Brobee Christmas tree". Ha.
I'll let you know. 😉
P.S. The Christmas candle carousel I bought is marked down right now. Brief review: I had trouble getting it to spin until I put a small wooden coaster underneath the base area. Also, tea lights weren't quite tall enough to provide the necessary heat; I used these candles instead.
P.P.S. Knix is my fave brand of washable period undies, and they are having a year-end sale where they are clearing out rather random colors. You can use my code: THEFRUGALGIRL_KNIXLOVE to get an extra $10 off of a $100 purchase. My fave style is the leakproof bikini. You can read a super full review of Knix and Thinx here to help you decide if you want to invest in period underwear.
(Tl;dr: I think my menstrual cup makes more frugal sense than period undies do.)
Loved the tree!!!
Have a wonderful day blog friends!
Why not just cut out a paper circle, fold it and staple it to make a cone?
Yep, that would work too!
But now I am the proud owner of three megaphones. I don't know if that's an advantage or not. Ha.
@Kristen, There's a couple on eBay from A Boy Named Charlie Brown, the first movie my parents took me to, that say "Head Beagle" on them. My dad always asked my beagles if they were the head beagle, which I never quite understood until recently, as it was a fairly long storyline in Peanuts in 1969. I used to read Peanuts in 1969 but given I was four at the time, I think I can be forgiven for not remembering.
Anyway, tempted by them because of Dad, but don't need more useless junk in the house.
@Kristen, well, the megaphones will probably prove more useful for future crafting projects than small traffic cones which is what I originally thought you had used. Just think how useful those megaphones would be at a Frugal Girl Rally! 🙂
@Mary ~ Reflections Around the Campfire, I thought they were traffic cones too! Great minds... 😉
I do love this. I love the reason for doing it, but just your ability to say "yes" is such a biggie. Families need what families need.
We have had a variety of trees at our house over the years — the Christmas ficus (leftover from our wedding, but now frostbitten and deceased) and the Christmas cactus (a tall cactus which Google says is called an African milk tree?!) and the Christmas houseplants and a couple actual sold-as-Christmas-tree trees. Then there's the pasture cedar, which is what we've done the last several years (as seen on thisprairielife.com, like a week ago).
I love how you support your kids’ creativity. I think letting go of how we think things “should” be, and seeing what our kids come up with, is both a challenging and amazing part of parenting (at least for a control freak like me).
Creativity can help the human brain recover from trauma, so you're onto something with your goofy trees.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2018/07/25/heres-how-creativity-actually-improves-your-health/?sh=35a4fbbb13a6
Also, they are just fun. 😉
Also, I think you should get some free boughs of discarded pine branches from a Christmas tree lot, wrap them in some of that garland and attach them to Brobee to make his arms. Then you can all pose with him hugging you and get a hilarious Christmas card image for next year.
@Becca, Oh, that would be amazing! Funny and cute.
One more suggestion, in case it didn't occur to you: the fact that you wrote a blog post about your tree totally makes everything you bought for it a business expense for tax purposes.
Happy Christmas! So glad you can use humor on what otherwise could be a difficult holiday. It will get easier, I'm sure, but don't lose the humor along the way.
Yes. Even in the midst of hard times, there are always funny things too!
I love this tree, and your mindset to encourage fun like this!
And I want to say thank you, Kristen. I've been reading your blog since about 2010, through having my 4th child and graduating nursing school. I'm going through a divorce now (first separation was in 2019), and will soon be leaving the marital home. Though I've only lurked, you have no idea how much sharing your story has helped me over the years, especially these last few months. You've helped me feel less alone and scared about where I'm at now and my next chapter, and have given me hope during rough times. Your grace and openness has been truly a blessing, and I hope you know that you are helping so many more than you may even realize!
Oh, I am so sorry you are going through this as well, but I'm so glad it's helped to know you are not alone!
What a fun tree!
I love that Lisey has such fun ideas and that you not only said yes, but helped with the creation!! So cute!
I had actually been wondering what kind of tree you had this year because something last week made me think about your Cookie Monster tree. I'm glad you had a fun one this year. 🙂
If Lisey is around, odds are good that the tree will be fun!
What a fun tree.
I pray you had the best Christmas this year than you had in a long time!!
Eyes on cookies, eyes on trees, is there a word for people with an eye obsession? 🙂
Well, the person here with the eye obsession is just named Lisey. 😉
@Kristen,
I mean, there's even an I in her name...