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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Kate Buck

Students transform old traffic cone into stunning tinsel-wrapped Christmas tree

The festive season is well underway, and two students have come up with an ingenious solution to decorate on a tight budget.

Instead of buying a tradition Christmas tree, Ella Berney Smith, 20, and her uni flatmate have replaced a fir tree with a standard traffic cone.

They first cleaned it down with washing up liquid, before painstakingly gave it two coats of green paint using tiny brushes.

The makeshift Christmas tree was then wrapped in gold and red tinsel.

Ella and her pal then covered the base of it with brown paper and fixing it down with sticky tape.

Ella and her pal then covered the base of it with brown paper and fixing it down with sticky tape (Ella Smith TikTok)
The makeshift Christmas tree was then wrapped in gold and red tinsel (Ella Smith TikTok)

They then put a silver, present bow on the top for a star.

The pair at Leeds Beckett University, West Yorkshire, filmed them giving the cone - which they insisted wasn’t pinched - the makeover.

She posted it on TikTok and the 59 second clip has got more than 110,000 views and 18,000 likes.

Ella posted it on TikTok and the 59 second clip has got over 110,000 views and 18,000 likes (Ella Smith Instagram)

It finishes with them putting their homemade Christmas tree in their living room of their uni digs.

Ella, of Newcastle, said: "Turning our not stolen traffic cone into a Christmas tree."

The video had the Frank Sinantra festive hit 'Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow 'playing.

Fellow student Jaden Higgins said: "I'm howling. I love this."

Another - called Holly - added: "Should put it back out like that after Christmas."

David said: "Can't wait til I'm in uni now."

They insist the cone was not stolen (Ella Smith TikTok)
The finished product (Ella Smith TikTok)

Now we are in December, people up and down the country are bring out the decorations to celebrate.

But one town's attempt to get into the mood has been met with giggles from locals, after a Christmas tree was installed at a wonky angle.

The tree, covered in blue and white lights with red baubles, appeared to mimic the Leaning Tower of Pisa with Gosport residents, Hants, jokily posing as if propping it up.

Jan Richardson, who lives in the area, said she saw it being put up while gales were blowing due to Storm Arwen.

She said: "I watched the tree being taken off the lorry the other night and they had a dreadful time with the wind."

The installation of the festive decorations has not been smooth sailing as the town's first tree was damaged in transit.

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