Whip Up A Christmas Wreath From Scratch With An Easy Dollar Tree DIY

Handmade high-end Christmas wreaths can set you back between $60 and $175 (or more), depending on the materials involved and the length of time it takes to make the wreath. If you're all about bespoke wreaths but without the gigantic price tag, it's time to take a trek to the Dollar Tree. Once there, you'll pick up an assortment of items that, altogether, will cost less than $15, and which have the capacity to turn into an impressive, yet easy DIY Christmas wreath for your front door.

Dollar Tree carries floral garden wreath forms in 14.25-inch and 18-inch sizes. You'll need one wreath form for each wreath. (Buy two or more if you're crafting with friends). To make the wreath forms look less sparse, you'll need to cover them with the contents of one or two bags of mini pine branches and some Christmas House decorative round plastic ornaments. Silky ribbons in red, green, or blue give the wreath a fancy bow tie to wear.

When it's time to DIY this holiday wreath, make sure your tool kit has a ready supply of zip ties. It'll also need to have a pair of scissors and a glue gun, plus some glue sticks. Finally, you'll need something to cover your work surface with, like a large piece of discarded cardboard or craft paper. You'll be using quite a bit of glue for this. You'll also be flipping it over a couple of times. You don't want the still-wet glue to scuff up your work surface.

Your front door is the focal point of your home during the holiday season, and adding a simple and charming piece of door decor, like a wreath, amps up the curb appeal. As such, you'll want the wreath itself to be a standout, which you can accomplish through design or wreath size (or both if you're really ambitious). On top of the form, you'll glue the mini pine branches, laying them end-to-end. You also want to cover the stems. To do this, lay one branch down. Then, cover the stem of the first branch with the piney top of the next branch you lay down. Repeat this pattern until the wreath form is covered with branches. Turn it over, and then tie zip ties around the branches to ensure they're securely fastened to the wreath form. Don't forget to cut off the zip tie tails.

Flip the wreath back over and glue the plastic ornaments on. If you'd like to embellish the look, work some artificial berry branches in with the baubles and the branches. Once you're done gluing all of the pieces onto the wreath, place a large, decorative bow at its top before hanging it up to give it a vintage Christmas decor vibe. Finally, it's possible to add a bit of whimsy to the wreath. Tie or glue one of Dollar Tree's decorative Christmas icon shelf sitters onto the bottom of the wreath. It should look like a cheery Santa Claus or frosty snowman is perched, dangling legs and all, for the remainder of the season on the lower half of your door wreath.

The size of your completed Christmas wreath depends largely on the size of the base you use. The two wreath form sizes at Dollar Tree are pretty ample, but if you want your door's statement piece to be sizable, skip the floral aisle and head straight to the toy section, and pick up a 20-Inch Outdoor Fun plastic hula hoop. You'll glue the branches onto the hoop and tie them down with zip ties just as you did with the metal-framed wreath bases. However, given that this hoop is bigger, you may need more berries and branches to cover it with.

Because the wreath will be bigger, you want to make sure that its focal point – the bow on top – is also larger to ensure that it doesn't get lost visually. You have a couple of options for this. The most obvious solution involves a bigger bow. However, adding elements to it, like a Christmas House jingle ball ornament with pine or a Christmas House sherpa-trimmed ice skate ornament (both from Dollar Tree), makes a bolder, more spirited statement for the season. Tie the ornaments to the top of the wreath with a decorative ribbon or some holiday twine, allowing them to hang down below the ribbon.