From Store-Bought to Stunning: DIY Wreath Decorating Ideas

Let’s face it, those plain store-bought wreaths can often feel a bit… uninspired. But don’t worry, with a little creativity you can easily transform them into stunning pieces that will wow your guests and add a touch of personality to your home. Bonus, it is more budget-friendly to do the wreath decorating at home!

Whether you’re looking for a simple and elegant update or a full-on seasonal makeover, these tips will help you dress up your wreath and create a unique and eye-catching masterpiece.

Today I will show you a variety of wreath decorating ideas created by real people at a girls’ night wreath decorating party last weekend plus how I decorated a plain wreath for my front door with step-by-step photos.

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Decorating a Plain Wreath for Christmas: Inspiration & Ideas

Pre-decorated fresh wreaths can be so expensive during the holidays! The wreaths I have seen in some of my catalogs are $75 or more!! No way friends.

Let me show you how you can buy an inexpensive wreath at your grocery store or home store and spend a few minutes at home to make it look like you spend a fortune on it...but on a budget.

Materials

Of course, the first thing you have to get is a wreath! The wreaths you will see here are all 22″ wreaths but any size will work. Just make sure your wreath is the right size for your front door. You don’t want a puny wreath if you have a big front door.

There are so many commonly found items that you can use to dress up a wreath! Depending on the look you are going for. Anything from rustic & natural to more festive.

Here are the things you will be seeing on the wreath examples today made my my friends and myself.

• Fresh Greens
• Fresh Winter Berries
• Dried/Fresh Flowers
• Eucalyptus
• Pinecones
• Jingle Bells
• Dried Orange Slices
• Cinnamon Sticks
• Gingerbread Salt Dough Ornaments
• Feathers
• Ribbon
• Floral Wire

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Natural New England Wreath

Let me show you how I decorated my wreath using a variety of natural materials.

Choose A Wreath

When you are choosing a wreath take your time and check for freshness. It’s normal for a few needles to fall off when you pick it up. But do a once over to make sure there aren’t very dry-looking sections and it looks nice and green.

Also, hold it up to make sure it looks full and even all around.

Extra Greenery

To add another layer of texture and a slightly different color green I added a few pieces of cedar. They were from a Trader Joe’s cedar garland (10 ft for $12.99), I just removed a few pieces from the end of one.

It’s so easy to add more greenery to a wreath! Just push the end of the branch into the base in the center of the wreath to hold it in place.

Pinecones For Wreaths

Pinecones on winter wreaths are the perfect match! You could even decorate a wreath with pinecones and a bow and it would look perfectly festive for the season.

I am using a variety of pinecones that I gathered from around my home. It’s a mix of white pine, blue spruce, and Scotch pine. If you don’t have ready access to pinecones you can find bags of them at Walmart and all the craft stores for just a few dollars.

how to Wire pinecones

How do you add pinecones to a wreath so they stay put without a glue gun?? Use floral wire.

Grab a paddle of floral wire from your craft store. Floral wire comes in different weights, don’t get the super flimsy wire because it doesn’t hold very well. Look for the more sturdy floral wire for working on wreaths.

• Cut a piece of the wire long enough to wrap around the wreath.
• Eyeball the center of the wire and run it through the scales at the base of the pinecone.
• Twist the wire close to the base of the pinecone
• Place it on the wreath and then wrap the wire around the wreath and twist the 2 ends together to secure.

Attach Pinecones to the Wreath

For this wreath, I used 3 different-sized pinecones and alternated them around the entire wreath.

Make sure to follow the direction of the boughs. On my wreath, the boughs are attached going in a counterclockwise direction.

**As you are attaching your pinecones you can either stand up smaller ones or wire them in place on their sides**

Dried Orange Slices

How to Add Orange Slices to a Wreath

To attach dried orange slices to a wreath you will need to cut a piece of floral wire and run the end right through the meat of the orange.

Then find a spot for your orange and wrap the ends of the wire around one of the boughs to keep in place.

For this New England winter wreath, I bundled groups of 3 oranges together and wired them onto the wreath.

Winter Berries

In New Hampshire, we have plenty of winter berries that pop up in the late Fall. The blue juniper berries are from the woods behind my house and the red winter berries are from the side of a road near me.

From the larger berry branches, I cut smaller sprigs and tucked them into the wreath between the boughs.

Fun Additions To The Wreath

To finish off the wreath I added bronze jingle bells and pheasant feathers.

jingle Bells

To attach the jingle bells I used floral wire and ran it through the space on the back of the bell and then wrapped the wire ends around a bough and twisted until it was tight and the bell was secured in place.

The ones seen on my wreath are from Joann Fabric

The final addition to this winter wreath was a few pheasant feathers. In my opinion, feathers give your winter arrangements, wreaths, and garland an elevated high-end look.

The best part is that I have one bag of feathers that I use all year long in different ways so it is a reusable material for decorating and not that expensive either.

Finish Off With A Bow

For a last festive touch, it is time to add a bow. There is no right or wrong place to add your bow, it’s personal preference.

For the bow, I used 2 coordinating wired ribbons in shades of green and tied a simple bow.

• Place one ribbon on top of the other ribbon.
• Run the ribbons under the wreath and around.
• Match up the ends so the ribbon is even.
• Tie a basic bow.
• Fluff the loops and trim the ends at an angle.

Finished Wreath

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More Plain Wreath Decorating Ideas

Last weekend we had a wreath decorating party for a fun holiday girls’ night. Everyone started with an undecorated wreath and access to all of the same materials to decorate with but each wreath came out so different!

It was really fun to watch how creative each wreath was, even the gals who said they weren’t good at making things crafted beautiful wreaths for their front doors.

Tips For Hosting A Wreath Party

I have a complete guide to Hosting a Christmas Wreath Decorating Party so that you can get all of the details to throw your fun wreath party.

• Send out invites 2-3 weeks ahead of time and get a headcount so you can purchase enough wreaths & plan supplies. (Try making a Facebook event it’s an easy way to spread the word!)
• Find a space, each person will need about 3 ft of workspace to work on their wreaths. Keep in mind it’s messy from the needles.
• Purchase wreaths
• Set up a table for all the supplies.

Wreath Decorating Materials

You don’t have to offer so many supplies! If you were going to streamline this list I would just do pinecones, berries (real or faux), dried orange slices, extra greenery, and ribbon.

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Wreath with Flowers

If you are missing your flower garden, have you thought about adding a few botanical touches to your winter wreaths??

Trader Joe’s is my go-to spot for flowers and you can find varieties that will work on a winter wreath like sea holly, statice, and baby’s breath that will dry out naturally.

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Mixing It Up!

This wreath maker used a wide assortment of decorations to create a festive look for her front door.

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Boho Chic Winter Wreath

Do you want an out-of-the-box more modern-looking wreath for your home? Here is the perfect winter wreath with a touch of boho chic.

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Gallery of Wreath Ideas

Nostalgic Holiday Wreaths

Here is the group with their finished Christmas wreaths. Just look at how different each and everyone came out!

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This is such a fun “girls’ night in” idea to try! Not only do you leave with something beautiful it gets you in the holiday spirit and you get to hang out with your girlfriends and have a few laughs along the way.

xo, Jennifer

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More DIY Wreaths!