There’s a Christmas wreath to suit every style of home – from minimal to all-out-glamour. But if you’re still stuck for a design that reflects your own personal taste, then why not learn how to make a Christmas wreath?
Nothing gets you ready for the festive season quite like Christmas craft. Not only will it give your Christmas a personal touch, if you’re watching your budget, homemade Christmas wreaths can make a great gift.
Creating your very own fresh Christmas wreath this year is so much easier than you think. No specialist floristry skills required here, just a gorgeous selection of flowers and foliage and our step-by-step instructions – it’s a project that’s even suitable for beginner crafters.
If the fresh foliage wreath doesn’t take your fancy we’ve got 6 other tutorials showing you how to make a homemade wreath that are just as easy to follow!
What do you need to make your own Christmas wreath?
Christmas wreaths can be made out of anything you like – flowers and foliage, paper, ribbon or fabric, even gingerbread. The only thing you really need for a wreath is something to make the circular base or frame from and a bit of imagination.
Simple foliage Christmas wreath DIY
This first DIY Christmas wreath is made up of lots of little posies, which you overlap all around the wreath base. You can use anything you like, from eucalyptus and olive to foliage from your own garden like ivy or berries.
We have created an asymmetric wreath to show off the gorgeous gold wreath base, but you can attach posies all the way around if you prefer.
You are sure to be the envy of the neighbours when you hang on your wreath pride of place on the front door!
You will need
- Large metal hoop – ours measured 30cm
- A selection of foliage, flowers and berries – we used Eucalyptus, Olive, Hypericum berries, Waxflower, Timonium and Astrantia
- Scissors or secateurs
- Florist tape
- Twine
- Ribbon to hang
How to make a Christmas wreath – step-by-step guide with pictures
1. Cut up a selection of foliage, berries and flowers. Gather up a few sprigs together in your hand, varying the height of the pieces. Secure towards the bottom of the posy with florist tape.
2. Continue making up little posies in the same way, mixing up the selection of flowers and foliage used.
3. Position them around your hoop (don’t attach yet) until you have enough to fill just over half the wreath – or you could choose to cover the whole wreath if you have enough foliage.
4. Take your first posy and place it on the hoop towards the top, then attach it tightly using the florist tape
5. Take your next posy, and position it so it overlaps the base of the first posy and therefore covers the tape. Tape the second posy in place. You want the posies to all be pointing in the same direction.
6. Continue attaching posies, overlapping them as you go until you have covered over half the wreath and you are happy with the composition.
7. Cut a length of twine, tie it around the tape of the last posy, and then wrap the twine around to cover the tape entirely. Finish with a knot at the back, and snip the ends.
8. Fluff out the posies and add any extra sprigs where needed.
9. Loop a length of ribbon from the top of your wreath and use it to attach it to your door or in a window.
TIP – The flowers and foliage we used all dry out nicely, but to keep your wreath as fresh as possible hang it outside on your door. The morning mists will keep it moist. Alternatively you can attach damp moss to the base of each posy for extra longevity.
We have a whole range of wreaths to inspire you – a crafter’s dream wreath using a die-cutting machine to make the perfect snowflakes, a pretty paper Christmas wreath for adorning the mantelpiece and a rustic wreath with dried fruits and cinnamon sticks that smells as good as it looks. Scroll down to see more gorgeous options.
How to make a Christmas wreath with flowers
Fresh, faux or dried blooms and jewel colours set the scene beautifully at Christmas. Welcome your guests with a mix of fuschia roses, heather, small blueberries and foliage in this floral Christmas wreath.
You will need:
- Oasis foam wreath
- Florist pins
- Flowers and foliage of your choice
- 2m ribbon
- Scissors
- Fabric scissors
How to make a fresh floral Christmas wreath
- First soak the foam ring in water for about 10 minutes. While it’s soaking, start cutting the foliage for the base of the wreath into sprigs. Strip any leaves from one end so each sprig can be easily pushed into the foam.
- Work your way around the foam ring, inserting the sprigs to build up layers of base foliage. If you have any extra-long sprigs that stick out too much, gather and pin into place using florist pins.
- Once the base is completely covered, start adding the roses, berries and flowers. Work your way round – remember to leave a little space at the top for the ribbon bow.
- Once you are happy with the position of the flowers, add the bow. First decide how long the hanging loop needs to be. Cut a length of ribbon and loop around the top of the wreath. Knot the two ends to form the loop to hang it with. Use the rest of the ribbon to tie a bow onto the ribbon loop at the front. Then snip ends neatly with the fabric scissors.
How to care for a fresh foliage Christmas wreath
Fresh foliage or flower wreaths are a stunning way to decorate the front of your home for Christmas, but much like live Christmas trees, fresh wreaths need an extra bit of care to keep them in tip-top condition all the way through the festive season.
Here are our top tips for making your Christmas wreath last longer:
- Pick your flowers and foliage carefully – When picking the flowers to put in your wreath, it’s important to do some research and see how long certain flowers will last once cut.
Flowers like chrysanthemums or carnations do very well as cut flowers and are fairly resilient choices to use in a wreath. If you opt for a wreath just made from foliage, it’s best to pick hardy evergreens such as holly, spruce, ivy, and eucalyptus. - Watch out for frost – Even the hardiest blooms and foliage can be shocked by a sharp frost, keep an eye on the forecast and bring your wreath inside on nights when the temperature is set to drop below zero.
- Water daily – Use a spray bottle to mist your wreathe every day; as long as the foam base is kept slightly damp, your flowers and foliage should stay hydrated.
If you find that the wreath has dried out completely, you can sit it in the bath in a small amount of water to allow the base to soak up a good amount of moisture and for the flowers to perk up a bit before rehanging it.
How to make a Christmas wreath from paper
Unlike a real foliage wreath, this brilliant paper version will add festive cheer for years to come.
You will need:
- 30cm rattan wreath
- Thin card
- Paper or thin card in a selection of greens and white
- Tracing paper, pencil and scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Scorer or blunt knife
- Coloured pencils
How to make a paper Christmas wreath
- Trace the leaf, flowers and berry templates below then transfer them onto thin card and cut out to make your templates.
- Draw round the leaf templates onto the back of some green paper. Concertina the paper
a few times and cut out multiple leaves at once. - Draw veins on the leafs in shades of green, and add orange to the berries and tips of the flowers.
- Repeat with the berry and flowers templates on white paper. Score down the centre of each leaf and fold in half. Curl the flowers to give them some definition.
- Plug in the hot glue gun. Once it’s hot, apply a little to the back of the leaves and stick them all around the wreath.
- Continue building up the leaves all around the wreath, then add the berries and flowers in between.
How to make a Christmas wreath with an embroidery hoop
This embroidery Christmas wreath DIY mixes craft and foliage. This yuletide wreath is minimalist and fun, perfect if you’re going for the hygge look this year. It is also one that will wow any visitors to your home – and, best of all, it doesn’t take much time to make.
You can use lots of different greens for this make, such as traditional ivy, fresh greens, dried foliage or even fake florals if you’d like. It’s really up to you.
You will need:
- Medium to large embroidery hoop
- Foliage of your choice – winter greens are perfect for this
- Twine or gardening tape to secure
- Ribbon or twine to hang (optional)
To make an embroidery hoop Christmas wreath:
1. Position your embroidery wreath with the screw attachment facing upwards.
2. Have a play around with how you’d like to position your greenery. This DIY looks great with a few simple bits of foliage attached and with the greenery positioned at the bottom of the wreath, but it’s up to you!
3. Once you’re happy with your arrangement, secure each piece in place with a bit of gardening tape or twine.
Green coloured twine works best as this won’t show up against the foliage. Add the thinner plants to begin with, building up each layer until you get a look you’re happy with. Building up your greenery slowly won’t overwhelm your wreath and will hold it in place better.
4. Finally, if desired, add some extra touches such as pine cones or holly and some brown string or festive ribbon at the top of your hoop to hang it in place.
If you’re using fresh greens, this wreath will only last a short while but if you’re using fake foliage, then you can keep your decoration for years to come.
How to make a Christmas wreath with orange and cinnamon
Make your home look and smell festive with this gorgeous Christmas wreath.
You will need:
- 45cm green wreath
- Red berry sprigs
- Cinnamon sticks
- Dried orange slices
- 15mm-wide red check ribbon
- Small pine cones
- Natural raffia
- Hot melt glue gun and glue sticks
How to make an orange and cinnamon Christmas wreath
- Glue sprays of red berries onto the wreath
- Using the raffia, bind the cinnamon sticks together in 3 or 4 bundles. Glue these to the wreath at equal distances apart
- Make a small hole in the tops of the dried orange slices and tie together in pairs with the red check ribbon. Glue these to the wreath
- Glue some small pine cones to the wreath. Attach a bow made from raffia to the top and add a ribbon to hang from your door
How to make a Christmas wreath with a snowflake die-set
A wreath of snowflakes decorated with diamanté gems is perfect for hanging up indoors. All dies used in this project are Tattered Lace or TODO.
You will need:
- Large format die-cutting machine
- Essentials Large Circles die set ETL18
- Essentials Circles die set ETL04
- Snowflakes die set D111
- Card in white and blue
- Wide blue glitter ribbon
- Pale blue satin ribbon
- Diamanté gems
- Bow Maker
- Tattered Lace Detail Glue with fine tips
- Foam pads
- Super-sticky redline tape
How to make a snowflake die-set wreath
- Take the No. 1 die from the Large Circle die set, and the No. 16 die from the Circle die set. Place both on the base plate of the die-cutting machine and cut the circular 2 frame from white card.
- Using the three largest dies from the Snowflakes die set, cut 15 sets of three from white card and two sets from blue card.
- To create a full snowflake, place the largest snowflake on the work surface, stick the next size on to the large snowflake with a foampad, followed by the smallest one. Make up 15 white snowflakes and stick them on to the circular frame with detail glue. Snip the blue snowflakes in half and intersperse them here and there.
- Using the Bow Maker, tie a double-loop bow with wide glitter ribbon and stick to the top of the wreath with super-sticky tape. Create a loop from the satin ribbon and stick to the back of the wreath with tape. Finish with a diamanté gem in the centre of each white snowflake.
How to make a Christmas wreath for the table
Christmas wreaths aren’t only for hanging on doors and walls. Here, a homemade Christmas wreath makes the perfect centrepiece for your table setting. You can bring this beautiful decoration out year after year to brighten up your table.
You will need:
- Wire cutters
- Faux eucalyptus, ivy leaves and berries (we used a selection from Dunelm)
- 30cm embroidery hoop
- Hot glue gun
How to make a Christmas table wreath
- Using the wire cutters, snip off small sections of the eucalyptus, ivy leaves and berries.
Position the eucalyptus around the embroidery hoop first, and secure in place with blobs of hot glue. - Once the hoop is completely covered, start gluing the ivy leaves, interspersing them through the eucalyptus. Finally, dot berries around the wreath, gluing in place.
- If you like, put a wood round or charger plate on the table, place the wreath around the edge and create a display with pillar candles.
More Christmas crafts to make
Now you know how to make a Christmas wreath to suit your style, why not get creative and make more homemade Christmas decorations with Prima’s easy and free how-to guides. Here are some of our favourites:
Do you love crafting? Share your creations with us by tagging @primamag in your pictures on Instagram!