How to Make a Christmas Wreath
The tradition of making pine wreaths before the winter holidays appeared almost 200 years ago. In 1839, Lutheran theologian Johann Hinrich Wichern came up with entertainment for children who were looking forward to Christmas. He made a wreath from an old wooden wheel and decorated it with candles. Every morning, in order to help the children feel that they were getting closer to the holiday, Wichern lit an additional candle on the wreath. This way, the children could track how much time was left before Christmas.
Although it’s not common everywhere to light candles on a Christmas wreath, in many countries, this decoration has become a symbol of winter magic and the upcoming holidays. 5-Minute Crafts will explain how to make your own Christmas wreath at home.
Christmas ball wreath
Materials:
- a base for the wreath
- Christmas balls (about 15-20 pcs.)
- 3 Christmas decorations in the shape of stars
- Christmas tree tinsel
- scissors
- glue gun with glue rods
- satin ribbon
How to do:
1. Wrap the base of the wreath with Christmas tree tinsel and secure its ends with a glue gun.
Note: If you don’t have a special base for the wreath, you can make it yourself. To do this, cut out 2 rings from cardboard, glue them together, and wrap them with paper tape to make the base more voluminous. Then use it as a regular wreath base.
2. Remove the tops with loops from the Christmas balls and start gluing them to the wreath one by one. First, attach 3 balls to the wreath: 2 of them should be approximately at the same level and 1 should be placed slightly higher between them.
3. Place the balls of the second row higher in the spaces between the balls of the first row. Instead of one of the balls, you can glue a star.
4. Continue placing balls on the wreath. To make the wreath more voluminous, don’t glue the decorations in one line, but also use the sides and a part of the back surface of the wreath.
5. When about half of the wreath is covered with balls, you can stop. Take a piece of satin ribbon and tie 2 small bows with it. Carefully glue the bows together, attaching one of them to the other in such a way that the loops are at the bottom.
6. Rotate the composition so that the part with the balls is at the bottom. Glue the bow in the middle of the tinsel part.
Alternatives:
- To make the wreath more interesting, you can use 2 types of Christmas tree tinsel and several types of balls of different colors.
- Instead of the balls, you can use natural materials like cones, acorns, nutshells, etc.
- You can completely cover the wreath with decor. To do this, take 2 times more balls than we took for our model.
Spruce wreath
Materials:
- a base for a wreath
- scissors
- wire cutters or garden pruners
- twine
- white acrylic paint
- dish sponge
- glue gun
- artificial spruce branches
- decor: artificial berries, cotton balls, cones, cinnamon sticks, dried orange rings, star anise, etc.
How to do:
1. Disassemble large spruce branches into smaller branches. If necessary, use wire cutters for this.
2. Start gluing the spruce twigs to the base. Place the first ones in such a way so that they go out from one point in different directions. Place the rest of the twigs in the intervals between the tops of the previous ones.
Lifehack: To make the wreath more fluffy, apply glue only to the underside of the branches.
3. To make the wreath neat, glue the branches in one direction and try to cover the entire visible part of the base with them.
4. Before you start with the decor, think about the details. Cover the tops of the cones with white paint (use a sponge and acrylic paint). Decorate the cinnamon sticks with twine.
5. Glue decorations to the wreath. It’s easiest to start with the larger elements. Select 1, 2, or 3 pieces and position them on the base, securing them with a glue gun. Place the smaller ones around the larger pieces so that they complement and emphasize them.
6. You can first decorate several groups of details and then combine them into a general composition or sequentially, moving along the circle, decorate the wreath.
Important: Make sure that the elements are located chaotically and overlap in different parts of the composition. If, when decorating a wreath, you decide to stick to symmetry, you need to do it very carefully. The slightest inaccuracy will be very noticeable.
7. Please note that to create a voluminous composition, decorations should be located not only on the front surface of the wreath but also on its side sections. Berries, cones, and other elements can significantly protrude beyond the wreath. This won’t be a mistake, but, on the contrary, will make the composition more dynamic.
Alternatives:
- You can use real branches of pine, spruce, and juniper cedar instead of the artificial ones. However, when using natural materials, keep in mind that the needles will begin to crumble after a couple of days.
- Textiles and wooden elements are great for decorating a wreath made of pine needles.