Wreaths are made to celebrate the cycles of nature and all life. We love to make festive wreaths with a mixture of green foliage and decorations that add some winter colour. Dried slices of Jaffa Juicy Oranges make the perfect accompaniment to a Christmas wreath, especially when complemented with some scented cinnamon sticks and pine cones.

Follow these simple 5-steps to create your own festive wreath at home.

What you’ll need

To create your wreath:

• Wreath frame (these come in a range of sizes and materials. Shop around to find one that fits your needs)
• Floral wire to attach foliage to your wreath
• String or ribbon (to hang your wreath)
• Scissors (and wire cutters, if you have some)
• A mixture of foliage (we recommend you use three different types of foliage. For example, you could pick 2 types of evergreen, like redwood, Douglas fir, or pine, and 1 type of a more delicate greenery like bay leaves, holly, magnolia, herbs, or seasonal flowers)

To decorate your wreath:

• Jaffa Juicy Oranges
• Cinnamon sticks
• Some string or twine
• Pine cones (foraged from outside!)
• Floral wire, craft glue or something similar to attach your decorations to the wreath

How it’s done

1. Lay out your greens, grouping them by type.

It’s probably best to do this outdoors or onto a piece of newspaper to avoid having to spend the rest of Christmas sweeping up greenery off your floor!

Make 6 bunches of each type of greenery (for a total of 18 bunches). To make each bunch, cut 4 to 5 pieces of the greenery using your floral shears (good, sharp shears will be your very best friend here). The pieces should be about 5 to 7 inches long.

2. Attach your bunches of foliage to your wreath frame.

Attach each bunch to your wreath frame with floral wire. Wind the wire around each stem a few times to ensure it’s secure. Make sure each bunch overlaps with the previous, to cover the stems. Spin the wreath as you add on more bunches, working in a counter-clockwise direction until your frame is completely covered in foliage.

3. Fill in any gaps

Once you’ve completed the circle, check your wreath for any gaps and adjust the positioning of the foliage as needed. You can cut off any excess stems or foliage, but you don’t have to if you want to preserve a more rustic look! 

4. Decorate your wreath

We love to use slices of Jaffa Juicy Oranges, cinnamon sticks and pine cones to decorate our wreaths.

To create your own Jaffa Juicy Orange decorations, simply slice your orange thinly (about half-a-centimetre to a centimetre thick), and pop the slices in the oven at 80oC for 4-6 hours (depending on the thickness)

You’ll know the slices are done when they’re only slightly bendable. Don’t worry if they’re not completely dry as they’ll continue to dry out once they’re adorned on your wreath.

Attach the slices to your wreath using some more floral wire or craft glue.

Bunch up some cinnamon sticks and tie them together with some string. You can also attach these to your wreath with wire or glue, along with the pine cones.

5. Hang your wreath

Create a loop using ribbon, string or some more floral wire, and attach it to the back of your wreath frame. Keep in mind that a wreath may be quite heavy depending on how much foliage you’ve attached, so ensure whatever you use to create the loop is strong enough to hold it over the festive period.

And that’s it! Your beautiful, homemade wreath is ready to be hung up for all to admire.