Festive Christmas Wreaths on a Budget

Christmas time is coming and the children are all excited. Crafts are an excellent way to get the children involved and teach them the joy of gift giving. Children especially love to give gifts they have created. Making a festive Christmas wreath with children is a delightful way to get them involved in the celebration. One of my favorite wreaths as a child was one I made from trash bags. It was fun, hey I got to use scissors and play with a wire coat hanger. Also, although I didn't know it at the time, I was actually improving my manual dexterity. This article will teach you how to make these beautiful and durable wreaths with your children.

The following items are needed for the wreath:

a box or bag or trash bags, the colored ones are really nice (the total number of bags depends on how full you want the wreath)

a wire coat hanger or some heavy gauge wire which can be shaped into a circle (coat hangers are really nice because they have a built in hanger)

scissors

child (Okay the child is optional however I truly believe at least one child makes this process all the more fun)

Now that all the items are assembled, its time to take out the trash bags and the scissors and start cutting. You will need many strips of plastic approximately 12 to 14 inches in length and 1.5 to 2 inches in width. These do not have to be perfect as they can be trimmed later if you want. I recommend using at least 6 trash bags if you are using the 13 gallon size or a few less if you're using larger bags.

After cutting the bags, lay the strips aside and get the wire ready. The coat hanger needs to be shaped into circle. After the circle is shaped, the real fun begins. Tying the strips onto the circle. As you tie the strips onto the circle, make sure to continue pushing the strips to one side, this will help make the wreath fuller and more beautiful. It is amazing how pretty this turns out to be when you get all the strips on the circle. When complete the wreaths can also be spray painted with a touch of gold or silver to add a bit more glitz. You can adapt this to making napkin rings. Just make the circles smaller and cut the strips shorter and not as wide, the process remains the same. If not napkin rings, how about tree ornaments or gift decorations? Allow your imagination (or the imaginations of your children) to run free and see how many different ideas you can come up with for these lovely wreaths. Wreaths made from this pattern are beautiful, durable, can be used anywhere, and most important of all, are budget-friendly.