Crafting your own lovely festive decorations with the help of your children is so much fun! Read on for our step-by-step guide to making a Christmas wreath.
Make a Christmas wreath this festive season. With our top tips you can craft your festive decorations to your own taste and get the whole family involved! Children love Christmas but why not make the few weeks leading up to the celebrations equally as fun as the holiday itself. Build up the festive excitement during December and organise Christmas-themed activities with your children to get them into the holiday mood. They will enjoy taking part in the holiday preparations and they’ll be so proud to show visiting family members all the lovely decorations they crafted.
What you’ll need:
- Wreath base – bought or follow instructions below.
- Scissors
- Lightweight florists wire or similar
- Ribbon/twine
- Evergreen branches – e.g. ivy, holly, fir
- Decorations: you can use anything you like such as cinnamon sticks, pine cones, Christmas baubles, ribbon, holly, rosemary, dried citrus fruits, etc.
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Create the base
To make a Christmas wreath first, you’ll need a wreath base. There are so many options you can choose from. You can buy a base, wire ring or a fresh spruce wreath from your local garden centre but it’s so much more fun to make your own! To make your own wreath base bend some thick wire or a metal coat hanger into a circle or any shape you prefer. You can shape your wreath into different shapes. Try a star, a heart or even your initials.
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Attach the evergreen branches
To build your wreath, start by securing the evergreen boughs to your base. Lightweight florist’s wire works wonders to help you attach the greenery to the wreath. Lay a small bundle of greenery on the base, and wrap the wire tightly around the stems a few times. Don’t cut the wire yet. Instead, add another bundle, overlapping the previous one by half and wrap some more wire around stems. Overlap the stems as you go to cover your base avoiding gaps. Keep adding stems until the wreath base is fully covered, then tie off the wire, cut it and tuck the end away. Once you’re done attaching the you can then use some natural twine to securely bind everything to your base. Twine holds really well so it can help your wreath last longer.
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Pick a theme
Decide how you will decorate your wreath. You can use just about anything to follow your taste or to incorporate the theme from your other festive decorations. Reds, whites or a bit of shimmer (gold or silver spray paint) works really well on festive decorations but you can always go for unusual colours and combinations. You can try a natural look using cinnamon sticks, dried orange slices (your children can help you prepare these), holly, ivy or pine cones. For a more modern look, you can add glass baubles, glittery lights, sparkly stars or bells. You can also try more unusual decorations. Buttons, flowers, pegs, children’s drawings can make an alternative festive wreath.
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Have some fun
The most important thing with any craft project is to allow yourself and your children to have lots of fun while you make a Christmas wreath. Your finished wreath need not to be perfect. It is much more important that the whole family gets to be part of making special festive memories in the process!
