Red and Green Christmas Ball Ornaments, 24 Pack 2.36 in Shatterproof

Description

Twenty-four plastic ball ornaments at 2.36 inches (6 cm) each, split across six hand-painted designs in traditional red and green. This is the set that does the unglamorous work on a tree: not the statement pieces, but the twenty-odd baubles that fill the gaps and stop the branches reading as empty green.

The six patterns

The supplier describes the designs as white dots on a red ground, coloured dots on a red ground, colourful dots on green and outlined circles on green, plus two further variations in the same palette. Four of each design makes up the twenty-four. Repeating a small number of patterns is deliberate and it is the right call for a filler set, because a tree needs rhythm to look finished; twenty-four unrelated designs would just look like a drawer had been emptied onto it.

The painting is applied by hand, so expect small differences between pieces of the same design. On a tree at two feet away that variation reads as depth rather than as a defect.

Shatterproof, and what that buys you

Plastic ornaments have one real advantage and it is worth being precise about it. They can go anywhere on the tree, including the bottom two feet where a dog’s tail, a crawling child or a vacuum cleaner is going to reach them. On a tree where the lower branches have to stay bare because everything is glass, the tree looks unfinished from any seated position in the room, which is where most people actually look at it.

The honest tradeoff is that plastic does not refract light the way glass does. Painted plastic absorbs the light from a string bulb and shows you its colour; glass takes the same bulb and throws it back. The usual answer is to run both, with plastic low and glass high.

Size and coverage

At 2.36 inches these are a filler size rather than a feature size. Twenty-four of them will cover a four to six foot tree on their own, or fill in around larger ornaments on a seven foot one. They are also the right size for a wreath or a garland, where a three-inch ball starts to look oversized.

Shipping

The set ships at about 0.66 lb in a 240 x 178 x 119 mm box. Handling is 1 to 3 business days and transit is 5 to 9 business days. Monday December 7 is the last order date for Christmas delivery.