Tree Toppers for Travelers: Plane, Balloon and Globe Topper Ideas

Most tree toppers for travelers on Amazon are one of three things: a plane, a hot air balloon or a star. No Amazon listing sells a globe topper, and none sells a map star or a world map tree topper. So this guide covers both halves: the travel tree toppers you can buy today and the ones you have to put together yourself from a small globe, a model plane or a souvenir and a topper holder.

Tree toppers for travelers: the short list

If the traveler…	Pick	Why
Flies a lot and wants motion	Lewondr airplane topper	A plane circles a lit star, music optional
Has a 7 ft tree and a 9 ft ceiling	Mr. Christmas biplane	The biggest plane topper, with a banner
Has done a balloon flight	Lewondr hot air balloon	Balloon and sleigh rotate around a star
Sails or cruises	Wooden ship wheel	Flat helm, no power needed
Wants a globe on top	4 in globe + topper holder	No store sells a globe topper, so you build one
Keeps the theme in the ornaments	Eight-point star	Reads as a compass rose, no cable

Airplane tree toppers

Plane toppers are the largest group of travel toppers, and almost all of them are animated: a small plane circles a lit star on a motor in the base. Most have a Santa figure in the cockpit. They run on USB or a plug-in adapter, so plan for a cable down the back of the tree.

Lewondr Santa airplane topper

The Lewondr measures about 8 by 9.5 inches, which suits a 5 to 7 ft tree. A red plane circles a lit star, and a silent mode keeps the lights on with the music off. It runs on a 9.84 ft USB cable and needs a USB wall adapter, the kind a phone charger uses.

Mr. Christmas Santa’s biplane

At 20 to 22 inches tall, the Mr. Christmas biplane is more than twice the height of the Lewondr. The plane circles an 8 inch LED star and trails a 12.5 inch tinsel banner. It straps to the trunk with Velcro, and a topper this size bends the thin tip of most artificial trees. Put it on a topper holder from the start (see below). The version linked here has an African American Santa in the cockpit.

Plane topper without a motor

Amazon has almost no plane topper without a motor. The way around it is a model biplane wired to a topper holder rod. The iron biplane below is about 6.5 inches wide and weighs 0.15 kg, light enough for a holder on a 6 ft tree. It doesn’t plug in, so there’s no cable to hide.

Hot air balloon tree toppers

Balloon toppers work like the plane toppers: a motor in the base turns the figures around a lit star. On most of them the balloon shares the base with another figure, a sleigh or a second Santa.

Lewondr sells its balloon as a twin of its plane topper, with the same size, USB cable and silent mode. A reindeer sleigh rotates around the star with the balloon. The Realspring carries a plane and a balloon on one rotating base, with a 3 m USB cable.

Nautical and star toppers for sailors and cruisers

Wooden ship wheel topper

The ship wheel is an 11.8 x 8.3 inch piece of flat MDF with a string for hanging. It has no cone or spiral, so it needs either a topper holder or two zip ties to the top of the trunk. Set it just in front of the top string of lights and the spokes show up against them at night.

A compass tree topper: the eight-point star

A plain eight-point star turns into a compass rose on a tree full of maps and globes. This one is 12 inches wide with 30 warm LEDs and a 6-hour timer. It runs on 3 AA batteries, which means no cable, and it zip-ties to the top branch and center pole. Buyers describe it as heavier than it looks, so add a holder on a thin tip.

How to make a globe tree topper

No store sells a globe tree topper, but a small desk globe with its stand removed weighs about 100 grams and sits well on a topper holder.

1. Pick a globe of 4 to 6 inches. Anything bigger looks top-heavy on a 7 ft tree. The 4 inch globe below has a removable base and frame, which leaves a bare plastic ball. 2. Twist the holder onto the trunk. The holder below is a metal rod about 11.5 inches long that grips trunks up to 1.25 inches across, with adapters for post, spiral, clamp and cone bases. 3. Seat the globe. Set the ball on the holder’s post at the south pole, where the stand’s axis was. If the post doesn’t seat in the axis hole, use the cone adapter and tie the globe on with green florist wire. 4. Light it from below. A globe has no lights of its own. Run the top string of tree lights in a tight spiral around the last 6 inches of the trunk so the light comes up under it.

For a tabletop tree of 2 to 3 ft, skip the holder: hang the blown-glass Earth from the top branch instead. It is about 4 inches across, weighs 1.6 oz and is painted with the continents.

Souvenir tree topper ideas from your own trips

A souvenir from a trip makes a travel themed tree topper no store sells. In October 2008, in a market stall off the zocalo in Oaxaca, I bought a punched-tin star about the size of a dinner plate. It has been on top of every tree I’ve had since. Mexican punched-tin stars are sold in markets year-round, and they turn up at markets across the country in the weeks before Christmas in Mexico.

Other souvenirs that work as a topper:

• A paper or tin star from a Christmas market. The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt, Strasbourg and Vienna markets all sell star decorations that pack flat.
• A hand-blown glass ornament. Glass baubles started in Lauscha, Germany, and Tlalpujahua in Michoacan is Mexico’s ornament-making town (Wikipedia). A large finial-shaped piece from either place sits on a holder post.
• A folded paper crane or a small origami star. Light enough for any tip, and easy to carry home from Japan in a book.
• A straw star from Scandinavia. Swedish and Finnish straw stars weigh almost nothing and tie on with their own thread.

At the Nuremberg market in December 2015 I carried a glass ornament back to Milan in the toe of a wool sock inside my carry-on, and it arrived whole. Pack fragile souvenirs that way, in the middle of the bag. Germany’s Christmas markets, some of them recorded since the 1400s, are covered in our guide to traditions in Germany.

Keeping a heavy or odd-shaped topper straight

Most artificial trees end in a thin, bendy tip, often no thicker than a pencil. That tip is built for a light star. A rotating topper with a motor, a flat wooden shape or a globe all lean on it within a few days.

• Use the bare tip only for light toppers. A glass ornament, a paper or straw star or an origami star can sit on the tip alone. Anything with a motor, a flat wooden shape or a globe needs a holder rod.
• Use a rod, not more zip ties. A holder rod takes the weight on the trunk instead of the tip. Zip ties only stop the topper from sliding, and the tip still bends.
• Check the ceiling. An animated topper needs its full height plus about 2 inches to turn without hitting the ceiling. A 7 ft tree under an 8 ft ceiling leaves 12 inches, too little for a 21 inch topper, so drop to a 6 ft tree or pick an 8 inch topper.
• Hide the cable. Run USB and adapter cables down the back of the trunk, clip them to inner branches and tape them to the floor at the base.

When I put the tree up in our Lisbon flat in November 2025, the tip of the 6 ft tree bent sideways under the tin star after a week, and a rod fixed it.

The rest of a travel themed Christmas tree

Most travel Christmas tree ideas come down to three layers below the topper: souvenir ornaments from real trips, a set of themed filler ornaments and one big map element at the base.

The world map skirt is 35.4 inches across (a 47.2 inch size is sold too) and closes with hook-and-loop tape around the stand. The wooden set of travel Christmas ornaments adds 48 shapes, four each of 12 designs, for the gaps between souvenirs. The glass passport and the three small tin biplanes go just below the topper where they catch the most light.

For souvenir ornaments, write the place and year on the back of each one with a fine marker, or on a small tag tied to the hook. For travel gifts beyond the tree, see our Christmas gifts for travelers.

Travel tree toppers compared

Topper	Height	Power	Attaches with	Holder needed
Lewondr airplane	About 9.5 in	USB, 9.84 ft cable	Base mount	Recommended
Lewondr hot air balloon	About 9.5 in	USB, 9.84 ft cable	Base mount	Recommended
Realspring plane and balloon	About 8 in	USB, about 10 ft cable	Rotating base	Recommended
Mr. Christmas biplane	20 to 22 in	Plug-in adapter	Velcro straps	Yes
Wooden ship wheel	11.8 in	None	String or zip ties	Yes
Eight-point star	13 in	3 AA batteries	Zip ties	On a thin tip
DIY globe on a holder	About 4 in plus rod	None	Holder post	Yes
DIY iron biplane on a holder	About 5.3 in plus rod	None	Wire to rod	Yes

Tree toppers for travelers FAQ