A couple years ago, I needed a new Christmas wreath for the front door. Being frugal, I wanted to see if I could make one just as nice but more inexpensively than new.
Buy a grapevine wreath at a thrift store. If it's tacky looking, or the decorations are worn/missing, it will probably sell for a dollar or two. If you can salvage what is left, then keep it. Otherwise, throw it away and start over.
I always save various ribbons, fake greenery, ornaments, fabric or plastic flowers, pinecones, etc. Take wire trimmed ribbon (it seems to hold its shape best) and wrap it around the wreath. If it does not hide it all, that is okay. Then tape or hot glue into place.
Lay out your arrangement that you are going to put on the wreath. It's a lot easier to rearrange on a table, than to try to do it after it's been glued on!
After everything is glued in place, you can tie on a bow to match your ribbon, then tie a loop on top and hang. Voila! You have a wreath at a fraction of the cost, plus you made it yourself.
Last year's wreath became a present for a friend. I made a new one this year. This will probably be a yearly tradition, as I have so much fun making them.
By Wendiesioux from Edwardsport, IN
Related: 
Making a Christmas Wreath
By
11/29/2009
I go every Christmas to where the trees are dumped and take the ribbons some lights and wreaths. I take the wreaths and use the trimmings to cover my flower beds, berries to feed birds keep the frames for next year, go back to home depot where they trim trees the next year and get free trimmings to make my wreaths. All free and not that much waste for the landfills! JJ from Atlanta
By
12/19/2006
I have a wreath of pine cones wired to a frame I got at a thrift shop years ago, which I have decorated annually with bits of tinsel, ribbon, ornaments, etc.
By
11/29/2009
By
12/19/2006
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