Place two large mirrors at right angles in one corner of the room. Insert a quarter-section of a tree between the mirrors. It looks like a whole tree but takes 75% less time to decorate.
-- AO, Sep 08 2003

Nothing makes Christmas more fun for kids than cheap lazy parents.
-- DeathNinja, Sep 08 2003


Grow a whole forest for 1/4 the price.
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 09 2003


I wonder if that trick would work for the gifts too? You could $ave 75%
-- TIB, Sep 09 2003


You'd have to grow more mirrors, though.
-- thumbwax, Sep 09 2003


why are we all talking about christmas? - bah!
-- po, Sep 09 2003


not when the friggin' auditors are in town.
-- po, Sep 09 2003


Get one of these trees and start a fire. In tandem with the mirrors, smoke will throw the auditors off.
-- thumbwax, Sep 09 2003


they won't let me play with matches..
-- po, Sep 09 2003


nitty norah
-- thumbwax, Sep 09 2003


Hmmmm. Presumably you only want to decorate the front of the tree, in which case the reflections would be of a bare tree. Or ... if you decorate the back to get the decorations reflected, the bit facing out would be bare ... so to realise your dream, you would need to decorate the whole tree, which rather defeats the object - unless of course the 1/4 tree is pushed right into the angle of the mirror in which case you can't walk round and see the "back" anyway ...
-- pjd, Sep 09 2003


I appreciate the space saving feature of this idea since I have a small space. I like that at the holidays there will also appear to be more people at your parties than there actually are. More jolly, less clean up! +
-- k_sra, Sep 09 2003


Wearing this would mean faster dressing in the morning and no need to cover your ass at work.
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 09 2003


!?
-- pjd, Sep 09 2003


Methinks he means 'Kaleidoscopic clothing.'
-- RayfordSteele, Sep 09 2003


Yeah, one just needs clothes over the front 90 degrees between the wearable mirrors.
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 09 2003


You would also have to slice off a quarter-round section of yourself.
-- AO, Sep 09 2003


Your angles are all off, surely? (Kaleidoscopes work at 60°, not 90°)
-- DrCurry, Sep 09 2003


[AO] Or cut them to fit your "profile".

[DrCurry] I beg to differ. 90 degrees still gives four reflections instead of six. Even a half tree against a flat mirror (180 degrees) would give the illusion of a whole tree.
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 09 2003


poetic licence, I think DC.
-- po, Sep 09 2003


Dr, 60 degrees would be better, but unless you live in a Dymaxion house you are unlikely to have a room with a 60-degree corner.

Speaking of poetic license (which may be revoked soon):

This k’leidoscopic tree of mine
Saves floor space during Christmastime
And makes the gifts stacked on the floor
Seem to be multiplied by four
-- AO, Sep 09 2003


Even my bird eventually realizes the bird in the mirror is him. If you could just block the nasty reflections of the observers, the illusion would work.

Then again, I haven't put up a tree in my adult life. I occasionally threaten to open a brightly colored umbrella and put an angel on it.
-- kilroyscarnival, Sep 09 2003



random, halfbakery