Holidays and Celebrations > Christmas>  Home Decorations  > Paper Fan Christmas Wreath

Make a cardboard base for the wreath. Draw a large circle--a lid makes a good pattern to follow.

Draw a smaller circle in the middle of the big circle. A plate makes a good pattern.

Cut out the circle with a box cutter or scissors.

Cut out the middle circle and discard the small circle.

This cardboard “doughnut” is now the base of the wreath.

Cover the cardboard with green paper. Glue in place, and cut off any excess paper.

Fold 7 or more sheets of green paper in accordion folds. See detailed instructions and photos below. Cut 14 thin strips of red paper and glue to the fans. Another option is to use red ribbon.

Glue the first fan to the base. A glue gun works well for this.

Glue the next fan on top of the first fan on the rounded side, and onto the base on the flat side.

Keep gluing the fans around the circle--glue each fan on top of the previous one on the rounded side, and onto the base on the flat side.

Holidays and Celebrations > Christmas>  Home Decorations  > Paper Fan Christmas Wreath

Glue the last one to the previous fan, and lift the first fan to glue the flat edge of the last fan to the base.

Starting on the short end of the paper, fold back and forth in mountain and valley folds (accordion folds) the full length of the sheet. (Although the color in the photo is blue, the technique is the same.)

Fasten the middle of the paper with a wire or thread.

Glue two sides together to form the rounded side of the fan. The other side will remain straight.

How to fold the fan shapes

This elegant wreath is made out of 10 sheets of green paper, one sheet of red paper and some recycled cardboard! To make a bigger one, simply find a bigger piece of cardboard for the base, and fold more sheets of green paper. Since it is so cheap and quick to make, it is ideal for a classroom or church.

Careful storage will insure that it can be used for many years. A box would be ideal to keep the paper from getting crumpled, and keep dust  off. A plastic bag can keep dust off, too--just store it in a place where things won’t get dumped on top, or shoved up against it; because paper is so easy to crumple, it is easy to ruin it. At least it is easy to replace if it does get messed up for some reason!!