DIY Christmas Evergreen Wreath

December 5, 2020

Written by Lauren Sumner

Almost every Christmas since 5th grade, I’ve had a special tradition of making Christmas wreaths in December. It started out as a way for me to raise money to buy Christmas presents for my family. Now, I continue to make my own wreath every year for the joy of it. It’s become a beloved tradition of mine, as important as the Christmas cookies, and even the tree itself.

Wreaths add so much charm to your front door, but they can cost quite a bit to get from the store. When you make it yourself, you mostly can use materials from your backyard. And more importantly, it will be a beautiful memory for you to look back on. Whether you make it alone and the process is a time of peacefulness and reflection for you, or you make it with others and have the joy of togetherness, making your own wreath is sure to be an especially memorable and festive part of your preparations for Christmas.

Materials:

wire wreath ring (if you plan ahead, the cheapest way to get this is on Amazon, but they’re available at craft stores and farm supply/hardware stores as well. Be sure to get a supportive ring, it should be three wires thick (not one) and have a slight concave on one side for the boughs to sit in. The size of the ring is up to you, but 12″ is a nice standard size that I would recommend for most.)
green floral wire (I get mine from craft stores like Michael’s but it’s on Amazon too and should be in stock at your local hardware store)
wire cutters
pruning shears
plenty of evergreen boughs (I usually gather mine from the woods outside my house but if you live in a place where the boughs are less accessible, Michael’s and other similar craft stores have a great seasonal floral selection)
pinecones (optional)
red berries (optional)
whatever you find that you think would look pretty!
wire lined ribbon (I personally think that a nice 2-3 inch thick ribbon looks best)

The Process:

1. Gather your evergreen boughs (whether from the woods or from the seasonal floral section). It’s important to remember that you’ll need more than you think. Grab a lot from the beginning so you don’t end up having to make extra trips. Better to have too much than too little.

2. Using the pruning shears, select the parts of the boughs that have the most greenery. Pile the pieces of greenery on top of one another, from the longest piece to the the shortest piece. Be sure to spread them out nicely so that it doesn’t all seem to be in a crowded bunch.

3. Using the floral wire, secure the pile of greenery by wrapping three times around the bottom gathering of stems, then place the secured pile into the concave of the wreath ring.

4. Secure the wire to the back of the wreath ring and begin to wrap the wire around the length of the greenery pile and the ring. Be careful to keep the wire as inconspicuous as possible (I find that the best way to do this is by teasing out small branches of the boughs and letting them overlap the wire).

5. Continue the process, creating new piles organized according to length of greenery, securing the piles with a bit of wire at the bottom stems, and then nestle the piles into the ring to be wrapped in wire. Once the ring has been completely filled out in evergreen, you’ll have a lovely evergreen wreath to which you can add embellishments of your choice.

6. By this point, you’ll have the hang of using the wire to secure things to your ring. I like to use pinecones because it’s so easy to hide the wire in its layers!

7. If you use berries, it’s usually just a matter of sticking them into the boughs at this point, but if you find they need some extra support, wire them in, too.

8. Adding whatever other decorations you like (some other ideas would be sticks of cinnamon, dried oranges, battery operated lights, poinsettia sprigs, etc)

9. Now to add the bow! For this, you tie a bow using thick wired ribbon, but make sure there is plenty of length to the ribbon tails. (I also suggest you cut the tails diagonally.) Then stick the floral wire through the middle knot of the bow, and wrap around the ring to secure it.

10. The final step is to create a wire loop on the back of the wreath to hang it from!