How to make a glowing DIY Halloween wreath – photo tutorial

Ahhhh, October, the best time of the year. There are few pleasures quite like a quick frolic around the Halloween product aisle – costumes, toffee-flavoured everything, massive pumpkins, and of course, a flood of decorations. New delights pop up every year, but wreaths seem to be getting more popular and more beautiful all the time. If, like me, you’ve lusted after a nice eyeball-covered glittery circle for a while now, but haven’t wanted to part with a sinful amount of money for it, this DIY halloween wreath tutorial is for you!

Making your own glam and spooky wreath should be fun, easy, and inexpensive. Mine took me about an hour, and cost a little over £10 to make. I had plenty of leftovers as well, so if I’d been willing to scrimp on my spiders, I’d have easily made two wreaths (but I didn’t because spiders are the best, dude. Buy two packs!)

You will need

• A wire strong that’s enough to keep its shape when you wrap tinsel round it, e.g. gardening wire. I used a 2mm black wire.
• A lighter wire is a nice-to-have for tying on your bits and bobs. I used a 10 metre spool of .5mm.
• Halloween tinsel – choose whatever kind you like. Buy two packs, just in case you run out.
• A pack of Styrofoam balls in plain white.
• Glitter spiders, 6 pack.
• Battery operated LED lights – these are optional but really awesome. I got mine cheaply from Primark, but I’ve also seen plainer or shorter sets in the other shops I was in for half the price.
• You’ll also need a wire cutter or old scissors, some markers or paint, and a little bit of tape.

Wrapping Halloween tinsel round the wire base…

Polysterene balls give great texture to coloured-in eyeballs…

Attaching the spooky eyeballs to the wreath isn’t as fiddly as it looks…

The glittery Halloween spiders (or motifs of your choice) will love their new home 🙂

How to make the DIY Halloween wreath

1. Grab your heavy wire. It should be flexible enough to form a circle, obviously, but also strong enough to hold its own shape when decorated. This can be hard to judge if you’ve never used wire before, so I’d recommend making sure that your wire is at least 2mm thick, and made of aluminium, which is light but strong. Make your circle, cut the wire so that the ends are slightly overlapping, and wrap one end tightly onto the other by folding it around a few times. Make sure it’s good and tight! You may need to readjust your circle a bit now, and probably again a few times before you’re done, so keep an eye on the shape as you go.
2. After that is the tinsel. Simply wrap it around the wire, nice and tight and pushing it up a little every few times you wrap more tinsel on, jut to make sure it’s all good and solid and there’s no gaps or wire showing. Cut it when you reach the end, and secure it with a little bit of tape, ideally on the underside of the piece.
3. Next are the eyeballs. Grab your makers and go to town! Make real-looking eyes, make monstrous red eyes, make Targaryen purple eyes, whatever you want. Because I am a big dork, I made the eyeballs look like the eyes of everyone in my home, a fun little touch that hasn’t gone unnoticed. When you’re happy with your eyeballs, take the light wire, cut off 2-3 inches per eye, and carefully spear the eyeballs onto the wire. The Sytrofoam should give without any issue, so just push the wire in about an inch, or a little more than halfway – whatever feels secure to you, just don’t push too far and poke through the other side! Next, wrap the remaining inch or two of wire onto the wreathe, keeping the eyeball facing outwards.
4. Sadly for me, I thought the spiders I bought were the type with little clips on the back, but I was wrong. Worry not, past me, there’s nothing a bit of wire can’t fix! If you can get clippy spiders, great, clip ‘em on, and if not, just wrap them on much in the manner of the eyeballs. You will probably be able to see a bit of wire on the spiders when you’re done, unfortunately, but it won’t be very noticeable, so don’t worry.
5. Have you been keeping an eye on the shape of your wreathe? Is it still a nice circle? Are you happy with what you’ve got so far? Great, then it’s time for the LEDs, if you’re doing them. Carefully wrap the lights on, taking care not to dislodge any of your previous work. None of the items I used are flammable and my lights are covered, but fire is still a thing, so please be responsible and conscious of fire hazards when putting on your lights.
6. Cut a final bit of light wire. Twist one end into a loop, and wrap the rest around the top of your wreathe. Now you’ve got a handy wee hanger.
7. You’re a Halloween deity!

Other cool things to try on your Halloween wreath:

• Fake flowers, especially in black, purple, orange, or red
• Little skulls or pumpkins
• A few dangly bats
• A bit of fake cobweb (but keep it well away from your LEDs, as it’s very flammable)
• Garlic cloves, to keep those pesky vampires away
• Lolipops or sweets, for the opposite effect on the vampires and trick-or treaters alike
• Glow in the dark spiders or other things, especially if you’re not feeling the LED lights
• If you’re feeling extra creative, you could also make your Styrofoam balls into little kitty heads, with some black and yellow paint, a bit of felt cut into triangles, and some wire for whiskers!

Enjoy your DIY Halloween wreath this year, and the next… forever.