A Homemade Advent Wreath

Handcrafting with our children is a happy part of a simple, homey Christmas, and the results will become keepsakes to treasure. Many times the results would also make thoughtful gifts for relatives and friends.

As lovely and satisfying as handmade gifts are, though, they do take a bit of forethought. Now is a perfect time to think about what kinds of homemade gifts you'd like to make this Christmas. Sit down with your children and perhaps a few books or holiday magazines and brainstorm your ideas together. Note what supplies you will need and add those items to your next marketing list. Take a stroll through your local craft store for more ideas and inspiration. Finally, take a look at your calendar and schedule a few weekends or evenings to work on your gifts.

Earlier this month, the boys and I made a candle craft to celebrate the Feast of the Archangels. As we worked on that project, I thought ahead to Advent and slowly this craft came to light. :) We plan to place our homemade Advent wreath in our children's Christmas corner this year, but we might make another for one or two people we know. Wouldn't it be fun to surprise someone you love with cocoa and cookies, and an Advent wreath made by your children's own hands?

This craft was very easy to complete in the space of a couple of hours this afternoon, though to be honest, I did most of it myself. I would think an older child could do this with adult supervision, however. Younger children would surely enjoy the painting and gathering of greenery!

Here are the basic materials:

• round wooden base
• 4 small glass candleholders
• purple and pink sheer ribbon
• small wooden stars
• paint (evergreen and gold)

Not shown: glue gun, tealights and evergreen sprigs

Directions: Paint the wooden base dark green and the small wooden stars gold. Alternatively you could "paint" the stars with glue and sprinkle them with glitter.

(Above you see the two applications; glitter left, paint right.)

While the paint dries, cut lengths of ribbon to fit around the outside of your glass candleholders. (A tip: The candleholders I bought for the Archangel craft were straight sided - and therefore the ribbon fit more smoothly around them. I did not realize the ones I bought for this project were tapered - this made it more difficult to get the ribbon to lie neatly in place.)

(A little overlap helps in securing the edges; trim the excess after the glue dries.)

With a hot glue gun, adhere the ribbon around the sides of the candleholders (3 purple, 1 pink). After all the paint is dry, glue the stars to the edge of the base and, then, the candleholders in the center.

As a final touch, tuck in a few sprigs of evergreen here and there, place a tealight candle inside each candleholder and light each night of Advent according to tradition. (You will need to replace the tealights each night; bags of 50 or 100 are available at craft stores and cost a few dollars.)

And here is the final result!

(Click on the image for a better view.)

I think the boys will enjoy blowing out the candles more than anything else - though they did like finding the evergreen branches. This task could be assigned to a young one throughout the Advent weeks.

Before I go, and since this is my first post here, I would like to thank Mary Ellen for her very kind invitation to post at her beautiful blog. I am honored to be included here and look forward to all the sharing to come!

Comments

[Alice]

Dawn, I love it, and I especially appreciate the clear instructions and photographs. The tealights are an especially nice idea because they will not break or blow out as easily as tall taper candles. This truly would make a memorable gift.

[Jennifer]

I love this as well. It seems like a much safer option when involving children. I always struggle to put together an Advent wreath. We are making this for certain. Thanks so much.

[Mary Ellen Barrett]

This is such a wonderful craft for children to help with and do. I love the whole thing. It also does not look crafty when it was finished. I could well believe you spent a good bit of money on this from a catalog. Well done Dawn and thanks so much for sharing your wonderful talents with us.

[Cici]

Dawn, what a wonderful idea. We will definitely be making this. Thanks so much for sharing this.

[Cay in La.]

This is beautiful. What a perfect Christmas gift.

[Jenn Miller]

Lovely, Dawn! Such clear directions, and such a lovely wreath. I'd say this one is perfect for those who are allergic to evergreen, too. ;-)

[Rachel]

WONDERFUL! I am sure DH will like it better (and I bet you could also paint the outside of the votive holders the colour you want too!!)

[Margaret in Minnesota]

This is lovely, especially the colored ribbon around the votives. There is so much you could do with that idea.

Thank you, Dawn!

[Krisann]

What a great idea! Thank you for sharing!

I am wondering though, how well did the hot glue hold up when the candles were lit? Did it soften and allow the ribbon to come loose?

Is there a heat proof glue that might work as well?

Blessings,
Krisann

[Dawn]

Krisann, this is an excellent question! When we made the Archangels candles we had them lit until the tealights burned down (and hour maybe?) and the ribbon held up.

I will try lighting the ribbon candles daily over the next few days to see if there is an issue with the glue. I wonder if there is a heat proof glue out there?

[Dawn]

Oh, and I also wanted to say thank you to you all for your lovely comments! :)

[Bia]

Is that a Southern Living pedestal? I have one, too, and your advent wreath idea would put that pedestal to perfect use. Thanks, and God bless!

[Diane Ingram]

I went online tonight to find something different for an Advent workshop that we've been doing almost 10 years...just how many DIFFERENT wreaths can you possibly make?? This idea is perfect for what I was looking for - thank you!!

[Kathy Baus]

Thank you for the idea for the Advent wreath. It is something that our parishioners could make for Advent. I'm looking for crafts that students could make to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe. any ideas? Kathy

[Carol]

Please tell me the dimensions of the wooden base that you used. This is a great idea and I want to cut the base myself rather than buy a base.
Thanks!
Carol