DIY: Holiday Gift Bow Wreath

Learn how to make this easy DIY Christmas Holiday Gift Bow Wreath craft that can be displayed on a mirror, wall, or the front door!

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As a kid, I considered no gift completely wrapped without a matching bow. My Poppa would work so hard to stack presents under the tree so that no present would have a squashed adornment that I had handpicked myself. When the presents were opened, he’d put all of the bows from all of his presents in my hair.

DIY: Holiday Gift Bow Wreath

Isn’t it strange how such a little item can bring back such amazing memories? My Poppa isn’t with us anymore. This will be the second Christmas he hasn’t given me his bows. But when I saw their huge bags for sale, I knew I wanted to craft with them to remember my grandfather, so I grabbed three packages to take home.

In the end, this fun holiday bow wreath came together amazingly well. I hope you’ll make your own and love it as much as I love mine!

Supplies Needed for  Gift Bow Wreath

• 14-inch foam wreath form
• around 100 bows, allowing for some messed up bows inside of your packages
• hot glue
• wide ribbon

How to Make a Gift Bow Wreath

Take your ribbon and hot glue it to the back of your wreath form. There is no need to cut it; keep it on the roll.

Wrap around once completely to cover the foam…

and then hot glue the ribbon to the backside and trim the excess ribbon, winding it back onto your spool. (no waste, yay!) Be sure to glue the dickens out of that sucker.

Okay, so my first attempt was to use the sticky from the bows on the foam, and it worked for a while. But then they just started falling off all over the place. So don’t do that. Instead, peel away the back bit that reveals the adhesive, apply a nice strip of hot glue, and press onto the form.

Continue adding bows, pushing them up against one another to prevent from seeing the white of the form beneath. Before gluing one down, play with it like a puzzle to see how you can get the best fit.

Go over the front side, the inside, and the outside. But leave the backside empty (it will rest on the wall, door, etc.).

To keep from burning yourself, use a wooden skewer in tight spots to help push the glued bits down until they take hold.

Eventually, You’ll find it more difficult to keep adding the bows. Be patient and take care when using hot glue to avoid burning yourself or accidentally sticking it to your work surface.

Before calling it a day and unplugging your hot glue gun, hang it where it will be and make sure that when viewed at an angle, there are no blank spots where you can very obviously see the foam beneath.

Isn’t it super pretty?! I went with the traditional bag of bows I remember from childhood, and they ran me $3 for 40. They also have more color scheme-oriented bows, so you could always go that way for something a bit chicer!

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Allison

A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.