The PVC won't give you a wide enough base to keep your pole up. You need some sort of flange that you can fasten to your pole and then attach to a wider sheet of plywood or such to distribute the weight. Lowes' probably has threaded flanges but I don't think they carry plain slip flanges. You could always have your pole threaded at Lowes' and buy a threaded flange to match.

Some people use Christmas Tree stands but the bolts at the bottom are designed to dig into the tree and will not provide a very good grip on the aluminum making it very unstable.

The simplest way is to get a 5 gallon pail, place the pole in the center and fill it with sand. A more permanent method is to use a smaller pail and fill it with quick setting cement.

If your handy, cut some lumber to create a snug box around the base of your pole and then nail that box to a larger piece of plywood for stability. You can view a photo of a homemade base http://www.festivuspoles.com/pages/festivus/me_and_my_festivus_pole.htm. Scroll down the page until you see the photo of Jon and Steve from Wahoo High School. They have a neat base made out of plywood.

Another option is to get a hollow, cement block. Place the pole in one of the holes then use some scraps of wood to wedge it into place. Then cover the base with some of that "buffalo snow" or a tree skirt.

Then again, you could always lean it in a corner.

As you can see, we've actually put some time into figuring out how to stand up a Festivus Pole. We eventually came up with a base that we cut on our waterjet that folds up for quick storage. It was a lot easier than sending out a pail with sand as an option.

Tony
www.festivuspoles.com