Tree Toppers

The topper is the part of a commercial tree that people photograph, because it is the one element that sits against open air rather than against branches. It is also the part most often bought last and sized wrong.

Our toppers run from 24 inches to 48 inches, with a 4 foot option, in lit and unlit styles. The range includes Moravian LED stars in gold and silver, crystal star toppers with cool white or warm white LEDs, beaded crystal stars, illuminated patterned toppers and three-bow toppers.

Scale it to the tree, not to the ceiling. A topper that looks generous on the workbench disappears on a 20 foot tree. As a rough guide, the topper should be large enough to read clearly from the distance people actually view the tree from, which on a public tree is usually much further away than the person choosing it imagines. On tower trees, the larger sizes are the ones that register at all.

Allow for the height it adds. This is the detail that causes problems indoors. A 48 inch topper adds four feet above the tree, and a lobby with a 20 foot ceiling and an 18 foot tree has nowhere to put it. Measure the ceiling, subtract the topper, then choose the tree.

Lit or unlit. A lit topper needs a power route to the top of the tree, which is straightforward on a pre-lit tree and an extra step on an unlit one. On outdoor trees, a lit topper is usually worth the additional wiring, because it is the element that remains visible once the light has gone.

Warm white or cool white. Match the topper to the tree lighting rather than choosing it separately. A cool white star above a warm white tree reads as a mismatch from a distance, and it is the sort of thing nobody notices on a screen and everybody notices in person.