Make Your Own Thanksgiving Wreath: Inexpensive and Easy!

I love decorating my home for the holidays – especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. I use several wreaths. I hang them over the fireplaces, on the doors, and sometimes on the windows. This can get pretty expensive unless you make your own.

Making a wreath as part of your Thanksgiving décor is fun and easy. And if you use natural materials you can find for free, the wreath can be totally without cost. You can also add embellishments found at stores like the Dollar Tree or at Everything’s $1. You can have an attractive wreath for just a couple of bucks, if you choose!

To start, you’ll need a basic wreath, of course. For a freebie, make your own out of grape vines. Use vines that have been recently cut, or go out into the woods and pull your own. Just coil long vines. When you get to the end of a vine, secure the end in the wreath. Start with another vine by placing the starting end in the wreath, and continue to add to the coil. Try to keep the surface of the wreath relatively flat if you’re planning on adding ornaments or other embellishments. When the coil is the size you want it, use a couple of vines to wrap around the coil to secure it. Voila! You have your base.

You can also make your own wreath base with stalks of dried wheat. If the stalks are dry and brittle, you’ll need to soak them in water until they’re pliable. Coil the stalks and secure them with natural twine. This can be covered with ribbon or other embellishments later.

If you don’t want to make the basic wreath, purchase one. Select a grapevine wreath, a corn shuck wreath, or a foam wreath ring.

Keep in mind that if you use the foam ring, the entire surface of the wreath will have to be covered. You can do this by wrapping wide ribbon around it – one with a Thanksgiving theme or one in a Thanksgiving-related autumn color. You could also cover the foam ring by gluing silk leaves to it.

Next, decide on your wreath decorations. Freebies include small pine cones, wheat, millet, cattails, seed pods, and nuts. The dollar stores have packs of small plastic pumpkins and gourds that make great wreaths. They also have packages of silk fall leaves.

Before adding your decorations, examine your wreath closely. Is it symmetrical? If not, gently shape it with your hands. Decide where the top of the wreath will be.

Use a hot glue gun or E6000 glue to add to the wreath. I like to cover part of the wreath with silk leaves and then glue the small gourds and pumpkins on top of the leaves. Small bunches of dried flowers, miniature hay bales, miniature scarecrows, or miniature ears of Indian corn look nice on the wreaths, too. These can be glued on or fastened to florist picks. You might also consider berries, apples, or bunches of plastic grapes.

This is a great craft for kids to help with. It will really get them into the Thanksgiving spirit as their wreaths are proudly displayed!