How to Make a Candy Cane Wreath

With Christmas just 6 weeks away, I thought I'd bring back a post I wrote at least 5 years ago ( maybe more?): How to Make a Candy Cane Wreath. This a pretty and inexpensive way to bring some cheer to your front door. Bonus... it's a great craft to make with kids!

It’s finally NOVEMBER… and I could not be more excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. More than ever, I feel like we could all use a little (or a LOT of) holiday joy!

Homemade Holiday Inspiration

To get us all in the mood, I’ve partnered up with some other amazing bloggers to publish a series of posts this month for Homemade Holiday Inspiration.

Each week I’ll share a post filled with recipes, crafts, decorating ideas, and more! I’d encourage you to check out all the posts, click through and bookmark a few that you want to make this Christmas!

It’s always fun to try something new and I’m sure your family and friends will love it! This week the group is sharing Christmas Decorating Ideas! I don't' have a new post to share with you but I wanted to freshen up and reshare something I posted years ago.

How to Make a Candy Cane Wreath for Christmas

So, around 9 years ago my son made this Candy Cane Wreath for me.  He'd seen the tutorial in a magazine (I think) and asked if I could buy candy canes so he could make it.  Of course, I said yes because I always try to encourage my kids' creativity!  

Well, I posted the wreath here, and my assistant recently pointed out to me that that post seemed to get a lot of traffic due to the wreath being pinned.  So - on her recommendation (thanks Susan - you ROCK!!), I asked Caleb if he remembered how to do it and he did!  I asked him to make another wreath and shoot a tutorial for me and he was excited to do it!

So all of the pics from here forward are thanks to my very talented (then) 14-year-old son Caleb. He's currently 19 years old (in 2020) and

If you'd like to keep this wreath year after year, I recommend making it with plastic candy canes instead of real ones. We learned the hard way (I'm not sure what we were thinking) that after a year in storage, candy canes melt and get sticky and it wasn't pretty anymore!

Besides, you really can't plan on eating the candy canes after this project - the glue could easily melt through the plastic and be ON the candy.

Here's what you'll need for this project:

• Approximately 20-24 real candy canes
• OR plastic candy canes
• Hot glue gun
• ½" ribbon  -I like red!
• And scissors  

Candy Cane Wreath Step-by-Step Pictures

1. Take two candy canes and lay them down together with the long sides back to back.  Use hot glue to attach them to each other.  Repeat this process again (and again and again)... but Caleb did them one set at a time.  Then he laid the pairs next to each other to make sure they'd line up.

You'd think all candy canes would be made the same, but he ran across a few irregulars that threw off his overall pattern.  Who knew?!

2. Attach the pairs together by gluing the "hooks" together and at the very bottom.  Let those dry before moving on (it only takes a minute!).

3. Repeat, repeat, repeat.... until you get a complete circle and you're almost done with your Candy Cane Wreath:

As you can see on the left side (there's a gap) - these candy canes weren't quite as uniform as the previous ones we used so the circle wouldn't close all the way.  That's okay though - he made it work anyway!  🙂

4. Cut off small pieces of ribbon (5-6" long) and begin tying them around the pairs of candy canes.  You can tie small bows or knots - whichever you like best.

As I'm editing these pictures, it also looks like Caleb started out doing bows, then decided to just do small knots.  Really it's up to you and how you want your wreath to look!  

5. Tie on a long circle of ribbon at whichever side you want to be the top to hang it with and you're done!

This was our original wreath:

And this is the wreath he made for the tutorial:

You can see slight differences in the wreaths but both looks "work." I think I like them trimmed look better than the loose knots, but either way - it works and it's such an easy project for a pretty, "sweet" wreath!

We have a red front door it's really pretty and festive hanging for this Christmas season!

Do you like to do craft projects at Christmas?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this Candy Cane Wreath Tutorial!

Now are you ready for some more amazing inspiration?

Homemade Holiday Inspiration

It’s time to be inspired by these amazing Christmas decorating ideas from fellow bloggers! Click through and be inspired!

• Christmas Kitchen Tour from Design Dazzle 
• String Art Christmas Tree from Domestically Speaking
• Christmas Front Porch from Hoosier Homemade
• DIY Chalkboard Banner from Marty's Musings
• Easy Farmhouse Christmas Mantel from Sondra Lyn at Home 
• Elegant Christmas Mantel from My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 
• Farmhouse Christmas Decor from Design Dazzle