Decorating for Christmas is something I absolutely love to do every year (even though it can take days and essentially makes your house look worse before it gets better!). I have a good collection of decor but always like to add something new each year and this year I decided to make something homemade ( I may have also purchased items too – who can resist the Christmas aisle in Homesense!).
I wanted to make something that could last for many seasons and after seeing variations of the dried fruit garland on Pinterest for years, I decided to tackle the project head on. Surprisingly it was quite easy – the most difficult part was trying to figure out how I wanted to organize the fruits. There are so many variations you could go with – check out my creation and tips and tricks below!
PICKING YOUR DRIED FRUIT
I knew I wanted to focus on orange slices as my main fruit on the garland but I also wanted to add in a few other items. I added in lemons for an accent colour without realizing they would turn completely black! I absolutely love this effect and how it turned out but be warned if you are not a fan of the darkness. I also purchased grapefruit in hopes of a lovely rub red colour but alas I was a little disappointed because my grapefruit was an orange/yellow colour inside – not the typical pink. If you have the opportunity to find ruby red I would recommend it for a fun colour variation but I’m still quite please how the garland turned out.
For my garland – which is quite long I used:
- 2 lemons
- 4 grapefruits
- 4 oranges
- 1 bag of cranberries
- 8 cinnamon sticks
DEHYDRATING THE FRUIT
To prep the fruit for dehydration – make sure to remove all store stickers and wash off any dirt that may be on the fruit. Then take the fruit and cut it into slices but ensure they are not too thin otherwise the fruit will shrivel up. I suggest around 1/4 of a inch is a good approximate. Also making them too thick will cause the fruit to dry for an extra long time.
I choose to dry my fruit in a dehydrator for about 48 hours (it was a slow process) but you can also choose to make yours in the oven. I found this article as well as this one with some good tips on oven dehydration. Once the fruit was dehydrated came the fun part of putting it all together.
PUTTING THE GARLAND TOGETHER
There are so many ways you can arrange your fruit that this part may take some time! I decided I wanted to hang this garland on our fireplace and went with a long hanging look but you can also go more horizontal if you want to string the garland around your door frames or stairs. I laid out all the dried fruit on my counter top until I got it in the right position. First I strung the cranberries and cinnamon sticks together on one long line. I knew I wanted to have the citrus fruit hanging down from a “line” and the cranberries and cinnamon sticks were a fun addition and pop of colour. I strung together 8 cranberries and then added on cinnamon sticks in between to break apart the garland.
JMS TIP: When picking cinnamon sticks try to get ones that are closed up together so they can easily stay on the string.
I then strung together the lines of citrus on a separate string and left enough room at the top to ensure I could tie it together to the cranberries. Once the lines were complete I tied them to the cranberries line by putting them in the middle of the 8 cranberries – everything for perfect symmetry!
This garland is a perfect activity for a wintry morning but I would suggest making the dehydrated fruit ahead of time if possible. It will allow you to put together the garland when you feel like it rather than waiting 6 hours for it to dry and THEN trying to put it together! Put on your favourite Christmas movie, make some hot chocolate and settle in for a fun day of decorating!
What is your favourite homemade Christmas decor piece you own?
If you create your own garland make sure to tag #jmsentertaining so I can see your creations!
*This post was created in collaboration with CJN Inc.*
