How to Make a Christmas Wreath

The wreath is pretty much a traditional Christmas decoration that is popular to hang up on the door. The tradition of hanging a wreath for the holidays has been traced back to the Roman times, when the Romans would hang wreaths on their doors as a sign of victory after a battle, and in Greece, a coral wreath was typically awarded to the winner of a sporting event.

But, sporting events and battles has little to do with hanging a wreath during the holiday season. That can be attributed to the Advert wreath in the Catholic religion. The wreath is created with four different candles, with one being lit each Friday of Advert, which represents the coming of Christmas.

Modern wreaths are commonly made using thin tree branches curved into a circular shape and decorated with pine cones, berries, nuts, fake snow, and lights. The basic components of a Christmas wreath are symbolic of the holidays.

• Evergreen is commonly used to make the circular shape because they live throughout the winter, representing immortality and strength.
• Holly that is sometimes used to decorate the wreath represents the sun's return after winter.

Wreaths are the perfect symbol of the holiday season, representing how love and life has no beginning or ending; it's a continuous cycle for all to enjoy.

Because you can decorate your holiday wreath to your liking, there is a wide variety that you will find that you can purchase, but there's always something special knowing that you made yours.

When making a wreath, you can either purchase a pre-made wreath that will be a blank canvas for you to decorate, or you can completely start from scratch. It will save time to purchase a pre-made wreath, which is the main benefit; plus you can purchase them in different greenery species (evergreen, fir, etc.)

If you're going to make your wreath from scratch, you'll want to choose a good greenery.

• Boxwood
  
• Douglass Fir
• Evergreens (broad leaves)
• Holly
• Juniper
• Leyland Cypress
• Noble Fir
• Red Pine
  
• Silver Fir
• Snowberry
  
• Southern Magnolia
• Virginia Pine
  
• White Pine
• Wild Rose
• Yew

When choosing a greenery for your wreath, you may want to consider adding more than one type. It will add more dimension to your wreath.

You can use live plants, or you can purchase fake greenery that you can use year after year.

Tools that you will need include:

• Wire cutters
• Plastic or metal wreath frame
• Shears
• Green floral wire
• Gardening gloves

Making a Wreath

1. Wearing your gloves so that you can protect your hands from, you'll want to cut the greenery into pieces of varying sizes between 6 to 8 inches long. If you're using a smaller frame, you may want to cut the pieces a little smaller. Pieces that are too long will make your wreath look shaggy.
   
2. Wrap one end of your wire around the crossbar of your frame.
3. Bunch 3 to 5 of your larger pieces together and wrap them about 3 times at the bottom of the bunch to your wreath frame. (DON'T cut the wire)
4. Collect another bunch and position it so that it overlaps the first piece half way, like shingles on a roof. Face the stems the same direction and wire them tightly to the frame.
5. Repeat these steps until you've covered the frame and you're back at your starting point.
   
6. When you go to attach the last piece, hold back the first bunch and wire the last bundle underneath the first bunch. This will help hide the wire.
   
7. Tie off your wire and cut it.

If you want to prepare your wreath to hang, you want to tie a piece of wire or ribbon (wire is more sturdy and reliable) around the top of the frame.

If you want to decorate your Christmas wreath, now is the time to do it. You can use acorns, artificial snow spray, bells, berries, fake fruits, nuts, pine cones, ribbon, seed pods, and small ornaments. Lights are also a common decoration that are added to holiday wreaths. Some people will use real fruits and candies, but you have to be careful of animals munching on your wreath, especially if you place in on the outside of your house.

When decorating your wreath, you want to figure out your design before you get started. You want to choose your colors and decorations from the very beginning. Your Christmas wreath can be a symbol of your family and love, so put a little love into it. If you made your wreath out of fake greenery, you can re-use the wreath every year. Design your holiday wreath with pride because you'll want to answer, "I made it," when guests ask you where you purchased your wreath.

Your holiday wreath can have many different decorations, but you should settle on one basic theme. Some people choose a natural theme with berries and pine cones, whereas others may choose a more wintery theme with artificial snow spray, snowflake ornaments, and fake white flowers.

You can add your wreath decorations using the floral wire. Attach the wire to the twig of berries or pine cone and then attach the wire to the wreath frame.

When using smaller decorations, you will want to make it easy on yourself by attaching a few at a time. Instead of adding a strand of pine straw, add a few pieces and maybe a small bell.

If you want to use fresh flowers, use water picks to keep them from fading during the holiday season, and if you want to add a little sparkle to your wreath, you can spray it with glitter paint or artificial snow spray.

There are many things that you can do to your wreath, and when choosing an overall theme, you want to keep things in proportion to the size of your wreath. You don't want to over decorate a small wreath or sparsely decorate a large one. You want to be able to appreciate your homemade holiday wreath.