An Upcycled Halloween Ribbon Wreath

As I was getting out my Halloween and fall decorations this year, I noticed that some hadn’t weathered the year as well as others. I enjoy dressing up the house for Halloween and to celebrate the new fall season. I wanted, no needed, a wreath for my door. I had the top of a tomato cage and some newspapers. And oddly enough, those two items can make a wreath. This upcycled Halloween ribbon wreath was so much fun to create and it was finished before lunchtime.

To start off, I needed to make my wreath form. Yep, I said make. I had an old tomato cage top that I could “upcycle” as the circle shape for the wreath. Then, my preschooler and I started twisting newspapers. After we’d twisted eight pieces of newspaper, I “braided” two pieces around the tomato cage top. After the newspaper was braided onto the form, I tied some string around the newspapers to keep them on the tomato cage top.

Next, it was time to get creative with the ribbon. We tied all sorts of Halloween ribbon and bows around the wreath form. We also wrapped orange tulle around the wreath form in places. Basically, the ribbon was being used to cover the newspaper and give the other elements of the wreath the proper background. I noticed that the ribbon wasn’t staying in place in certain places, so I used my hot glue gun to glue it down for a more secure fit.

Now that the wreath form was properly prepared, it was time to make the fun elements to decorate it with.

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Fake Candy Wreath Decorations

Materials:
Halloween Palmer chocolate wrappers
Polyester fiber fill
Pipe cleaners
Hot glue gun

First, I had to convince my family to eat a bag of Palmer chocolates so I could use the wrappers. This was very hard to accomplish. (Wink, wink.) After the chocolates were consumed, and wrappers safely delivered to Mom, it was time to fill the wrappers with cotton fluff and tie the ends closed with pipe cleaners. After tying the ends closed, I found the cotton would try to escape a bit, so I glued the wrapper edges closed. Then, using my trusty hot glue gun, I glued the “candies” on to the wreath. I didn’t want to use the real candies because, well, humans aren’t the only animals that like chocolate.

Pumpkin Wreath Decorations

Materials:
Small craft pumpkins (can be scavenged from other crafts)
Craft eyes
Hot glue gun

Next, I scavenged some small pumpkins I had from other decorations on the to-be-refurbished list. I added some craft eyes to the pumpkins, to improve their cute factor, and glued them on to the wreath. Quick and easy, just like I like it.

Pompom Spider Wreath Decorations

Materials:
Two large pompoms for each spider
Four furry pipe cleaners, cut in half
Craft eyes
Hot glue gun 

This decoration is really fun to build with kids. We glued two pompoms together. Next, we bent the pipe cleaners to look like spider legs. Ours had a small V close to the body (we glued one of the arms of the V to the bottom of the spider.) Then we had a large V bent in the middle of the leg. Finally, we bent a small section at the end to be the spider’s feet. After they were shaped, I glued the legs on the body with hot glue. Finally, I glued craft eyes on to the spiders and glued them onto the wreath.

This was a fun wreath to build, and I liked that I was able to build it from supplies I already had on hand. There were just enough parts of this wreath for my children to help with, so that they enjoyed the creation of it as well. The wreath celebrates the fun part of Halloween without any of the spooky — even the spiders are cute.

Here’s the complete supply list for an Upcycled Halloween Ribbon Wreath:
1 metal circle (I scrounged mine from the top of the tomato cage)
8 sheets of newspaper (rolled together long ways)
3 yards of thick yarn

15 to 18 yards of Halloween craft ribbon

6 yards of orange tulle

Polyester Fiber Fill

6 pompoms

2 small craft pumpkins

10 small craft eyes

15 pipe cleaners

3 chocolate candy wrappers

Hot glue gun and glue sticks