Upgrade Plain Christmas Wreaths With These Inexpensive DIYs

November 25, 2024

Upgrade your plain Christmas wreaths with these easy and inexpensive DIYs!


Wreaths are one my favorite ways to decorate for the holiday season. There are so many easy ways to add festive touches to inexpensive, plain wreaths. 

I put wreaths of every size all over our house when I decorate for Christmas. I realized this year that it takes me forever to put all of our holiday decor out because I can't leave well enough alone...I LOVE to tweak things and add my own touch.

I've done that with wreaths a lot over the years, and even more so this year. I've gathered a bunch of DIYs for basic wreaths to give you some inspiration for this season!

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I think evergreen wreaths are quite beautiful on their own, especially with some twinkling lights. I wanted this simpler look for the bookcases in my office that's been undergoing a makeover

I picked up a couple of these Norway spruce wreaths from At Home: 

24" spruce wreath


They come in a two and three foot width, mine are the smaller versions. 

I grabbed some of my pinecone stems that I use every year (from Hobby Lobby) and secured them together with some green floral wire:
faux pine cones with wire

Then I used that same wire to attach the pinecones to the bottom of the metal base on the wreath.

I added a bow with my camel colored velvet ribbon that I hung from the top: 
simple green wreath caramel ribbon

And then used three long pieces of the ribbon to hang from the bottom of the wreath as well: 
dark green bookcase wall
DIY office bookcase tutorial

I didn't want anything that would be too busy in here, so I love how neutral the green wreath is against the Vintage Vogue green bookcase. The camel colored ribbon ties in nicely with the wood countertop as well. 

I hung two wreaths on the bookcases -- one on each side. I still need to add some of my battery-operated fairy lights too! 

A couple of months ago I found these tiny cedar wreath napkin rings at Hobby Lobby. They were on sale for $2 for a set of two, so only a buck each!

I had a different plan for them though: 
tiny wreath with bells and ribbon

I gathered these teeny tiny brass bells (the sound is SO lovely!), the wire and some scrap ribbon. I use every bit of this frayed velvet ribbon -- six yards of it doesn't go as far as you'd think!

I strung the wire through the bells, gathered a few of them together and twisted to secure them. Then I wrapped that wire around the tiny wreath and tied a bit of ribbon onto the bottom.

The result was ADORABLE...I wanted to make tons more of them for all over the house!: 
bar over oven Christmas decor

These teeny wreaths are the perfect little Christmas touch just about anywhere -- I hung them on framed photos, our cutting board storage walls and on small hooks here and there: 
DIY wood picture frame ledges
Board and batten wall how-to.

hanging cutting board wall

wood gingerbread with wreath
Cutting board storage on side of fridge.

I think they'd be super cute hanging from the base of a lamp (or even the lamp shade), from a stack of books, gathered together in a bowl...you can't go wrong with these cuties. 

You can also use them as a little touch of greenery around candles -- they'd look sweet around the base of taper candles as well: 
tiny wreath base of candle

I made eight of these for less than $16 dollars, so two bucks each. (I had the ribbon.) 

Hobby Lobby seems to be sold out of them everywhere, but these small wreaths are similar and have cute little pinecones on them. Target also sells wreath napkin rings that would work, but they cost a bit more. 

If you have some extra greenery, you could even make your own small wreaths! 

I can't remember where I got this "real touch" wreath for our front door, but I've had it for a while:
real touch wreath with poinsettias

It came with a couple pine cones and a basic red ribbon on it, but I knew I could do a little something extra. 

I ran some of the floral wire through the base of larger pine cones (have I mentioned how handy this wire is??) and wrapped it around the base of the wreath to add some more texture. 

Then I tucked in these inexpensive poinsettia blooms I found at At Home. They add a great touch of bright red that is perfect on the front door!:
front door wreath poinsettias pine cones

Hanging wreaths from the back of a chair is an easy, festive touch! I've hung these cute little wreaths on the back of our island stools for a few years now: 
wreaths on back of island stools

They already have some tiny little pine cones, so I just tied them to the chairs with a bow with this skinny burgundy velvet ribbon. The loose burgundy bows add a nice pop of color to an otherwise basic wreath. 

I think I've had these preserved boxwood wreaths from Target for more than ten years! You're supposed to spray them with water occasionally, but I don't think I've ever done it. 😬

They still look brand new!:
boxwood wreath with bells

They were from the Smith and Hawken line there and they've held up so well. I later added the little bells that started out red all over -- I sprayed the top of the bells in a brass spray paint and left the red underneath. 

The bells and velvet ribbon dress them up perfectly! 

It doesn't take much to update older wreaths that need a little pick-me-up. I found these metal wreaths from Big Lots years ago. I loved the light, wispy greenery and bells:
metal wreath with bells berries

This year I felt like they needed a bit more color, so I stuck a couple berry bunches into the greenery. No need to secure them unless the wreath will be exposed to the elements outside. 

Over the years I've made a bunch more Christmas wreaths....this DIY ornament wreath was one of the hardest, but was so worth it!: 
DIY ornament wreath

The difficulty was my fault though, I shared how to make this without all the drama in that post. These ornament wreaths can get super expensive, so making your own is worth the time!

I LOVED the window shutters on our old house, and made them even more of a focal point by hanging wreaths on each one with ribbon from the top and bottom: 
wreaths on shutters with ribbon


Ohhh it looked so good!

I love grapevine wreaths for each season. I use the same grapevine base and change them out with seasonal decor -- it only takes a few minutes. A few years ago I made this super cute version with the wood skates: 
DIY grapevine wreath with skates

And the simplest idea yet...just hanging a little wooden cut out or word on top of a wreath is a nice little addition: 
boxwood "joy" wreath

These wood words and designs are super cheap at craft stores and you can paint them in a few minutes with some craft paint. 

I hope you enjoyed this little round up of how I decorate with wreaths for the Christmas season! Do you have any ideas to add? 

 

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