Seasons > Christmas > Decorations for the home > Use Berries to Decorate for Christmas

Berry wreaths are so pretty, but they can be really expensive! Before Christmas sometimes you can find branches of berries at dollar stores or craft stores for a good price, and make your own berry wreath. Sometimes you can get them from a friend who is moving and doesn’t want them anymore. That’s what I did! They were all dusty and misshapen and didn’t look very nice. So I dusted them off with a wet cloth and straightened out the branches, and glued on some leaves that were falling off. They were good as new. There were two branches, so I bent them into a ring, and twisted the ends of the wire stems around each other to hold them in place. If you can’t get it to work, use florist’s wire to hold the branches together in a ring.

Berry wreaths are pretty, but they are usually not very big. So find a small wall to display them to advantage. In the foyer above a small chest of drawers is one example of a small enough area that the wreath doesn’t get lost. Look around your house for a wall or section of wall that is just the right spot for a berry wreath.

Another pretty way to display berries is to wrap them around the base of a pillar candle. The berries show up best against a white background. So here the white candle and the square plate provide that white background. These would disappear on a white tablecloth, so a red runner was place under the plate for dramatic affect. To make the arrangement with natural berries, you can ask around to see if a neighbor has a holly tree in the yard. Cut off a twig and see how quickly it dries out. If it lasts a long time, you can cut several small branches and lay them in a spiral around the base of the candle. If they turn brown quickly, try poking them into oasis (foam for flower arranging) that has been soaked in water. If they last well, make a base of oasis under the candle to poke the branches into.

There is nothing quite like red and white decorations to make it feel like Christmas.   For decorating the dining room, start with a white tablecloth for the base.

The more layers there are, the more interesting the decorations will be. Put a red table runner on the white tablecloth. This runner was purchased at a dollar store.

Next put a white plate on the red runner. Any shaped plate is fine, but the more unusual the shape, the more interesting the finished decoration will be.

The next layer is optional. Put a layer of red netting on top of the plate. (see photos above for this arrangement without the netting.

Next put the pillar candle in the middle of the plate. You see how boring it would be if we stopped here. Most dollar stores and craft stores sell pillar candles.

Finally, twist the berries around the base of the candle. Keep bending them until the berries are evenly distributed. If there are any branches that have fallen off, you can put them in any bare gaps.

If you have an open plan living area where the dining room and living room flow into each other, you can repeat the red and white theme with an accent table with similar decorations as the dining room. You can have more decorations that are exactly the same, or have some that are just a little bit different. Start with an interesting plate. This pillar candle is a short one, but it is given more height in a glass candle stand. The candle stand has a narrow base, so the berries can more easily be laid in a small circle around the base.

Any candle looks so much prettier with a ring of berries around the base. Look for packages of berries that you can twist into a ring yourself.

Just a few berries scattered around can jazz up a group of candles. Start with a plate. Next arrange the candles. Then put greenery in between the candles. Finish off the arrangement with some pinecones and berries.

Start with a a table. It doesn’t matter how ugly it is, because it is going to be covered.

Put a white table cloth as a base. This one is a folded sheet.

Next layer on a red top. If you can sew, you can buy a square of Christmas fabric and hem the edges.

Here is my dirty little secret: if you look at the back of the table, you will see that the red cloth is actually a shirt! As long as the table is agains a wall, no one will ever know!