How to Tie a Christmas Tree to Your Car

If you are cutting your own tree either from a tree farm or with a permit from the national forest service and transporting it home on your car here are a few tips on getting your tree home safely. First of all my disclaimer: I am no expert, just a mom who has successfully done this a few times before. So please take every precaution, I make no guarantees, and you do this at your own risk. Now with that said, some things you will want to take with you are gloves, a jacket that can get dirty, a tape measure, a blanket or plastic, 1/4 inch or smaller rope or twine, extra rope or twine, a red "flag" and a saw. We have used both a chain saw and a regular wood hand saw and prefer the hand saw as most Christmas trees do not have that big of a trunk and my children love the thrill of cutting it themselves. When you find the perfect tree measure the height, width, and trunk diameter to make it will fit in the spaces you have for it. Most car roofs will handle a 6 foot or smaller tree with no problem. If you  are going for a larger tree you may need a larger vehicle. When you are ready to transport first check if the tree will fit in the backseat or trunk as these are the easiest ways to transport it. You will want to wrap it in plastic or a blanket to protect the interior of your car. If you need to tie it to the roof of your car first you will want to place a blanket or plastic on your car to protect the paint. Lay the tree on you car with the trunk (or stump end) pointed toward the font of the vehicle and the top (or tip) of the tree pointed back toward the back windshield. Then if you have a roof rack wrap rope around the the tree and through the rack several times till tight. If you do not have a roof rack open all of the doors and wrap the rope around the trunk of the tree and feed the rope through the inside of the car to the other side back over the top of the tree and through the car again several times and tie it tightly. You will want to do this at the base and near the top of the tree. Make sure the rope you use for this is no more than 1/4inch think, not nylon, and will not stretch. Twine is an excellent choice. Once you have tied the tree test that the doors will close and lock securely. There should be no slack in the rope and test that the tree will not move. Pull on the rope an tree and double check. Attach a red flag to your tree so it is visible to other drivers and drive slowly with caution. In addition you can tie the tree to your antenna base, loop rope around the trunk of the tree and then through your open car trunk and shut the trunk and use bungee cords for extra protection. Happy tree hunting!