There are 2 basic kinds of wreaths: greenery and vines.  You can buy small ones of both kinds at some 100 yen stores, but shop early (October/November), as they sell out quickly. If they only have ugly ones, buy them anyway, and take the decorations off and add your own decorations. If you want larger sizes you will need to buy them someplace else. Keio D2 has good prices if you have one near you.

 

There are several things to keep in mind when choosing a wreath. First, the colors of the room might affect your choice. A room with blue curtains and bedspread may lead you to choose a silver motif, or maroon, or even pink. On the other hand, if your room colors are neutral, you can use any color for your Christmas decorations--you can pick a different color every year, if you like. But limiting the decorations of any room to just 2 or 3 colors will make the decorations seem to match better. Simply changing the colors of the decorations on the wreath can create totally different looking wreaths.

When choosing a wreath, you also need to keep the color of the background in mind. If you are going to hang the wreath on a white wall, a white wreath is not going to show up very well. Likewise,  a vine wreath is going to disappear against a dark brown door, but it will show up nicely on a white wall. The most contrast will provide the most impact.

 

Size should also be considered in choosing a wreath. If you are going to hang it on a door, it can be quite small. But if you have a large wall, and nothing else is on it, the wreath should be quite large, or you need to hang other things along with it, to fill the space better. If even a large wreath appears small, a banner may fill that space better, and then you can put your wreath on a door, or a wall that is not so large.

 

The bow traditionally goes at the top of the wreath, but it can also go at the bottom, or at an angle--4 O’clock or 8 O’clock positions. Some wreaths do not have a bow at all, such as a pine cone wreath.

 

If it is a vine wreath, I like to put some greenery on either side of the bow. Even for a large wreath, you can cut branches off a small tree and use them for this. There are two ways to put greenery on a vine wreath--either poke each branch between the strands of vine, or fasten several branches together with florist’s wire, then fasten it to the wreath with more wire. You can also glue them on with a glue gun, but then it is harder to change the decorations later on. If you want a wreath made of greenery, but all you can find is grapevine wreaths, you can make your own by covering the whole wreath with the tree branches rather than just on either side of the bow.

 

The most important detail of a wreath is the bow. This is cheapest if you buy ribbon and make the bow yourself. A small wreath only needs about 2 and a half meters of ribbon to make a good bow, but a large wreath or swag requires 5 meters--so be careful to check the length when you buy it. Some hundred yen stores sell these, but they sell out quickly, so check early and often. Seiyu often carries a good selection of ribbons right before Christmas, too. The ribbon is best if it has wire in the edges. The reason is that when the wreath is put away till the next year, they almost always get smashed. If the ribbon has wire, you can just reshape it with your hands, and it is ready to hang again. If it doesn’t have wire, you have to take the bow off, iron it, and make a bow again-- a lot of extra work!

 

How to make a bow: Hold the ribbon above the wreath or swag to determine how much length to leave for hanging down. Then starting from that middle point, start building the bow, alternating sides--first left, then right. Make each loop one or two centimeters shorter than the one before. The most important technique is to twist the ribbon upside down each time you return to the middle. If you have trouble holding it all, you can use clothespins to help you. The last loop should be one small one in the middle. Fasten florist’s wire through that small middle loop and around all the other loops in the middle. Twist several times to secure. If the wire is long enough, you can use it to fasten the bow to the wreath. If not, use another wire to fasten it on. Trim both ends of the ribbon, and fluff out the loops with your hands.