I have seen dried oranges as Christmas garland all over my Pinterest and Instagram lately. I love how organic and natural it looks with other Christmas decor, so I attempted to make my own.
This is a fairly simple DIY and I think this can be a great activity to include kids or the whole family in. This can become a fun tradition that can be looked forward to all year round! I talk a lot about Christmas traditions in my previous post, if you haven't read it yet check it out here!
What I loved about making this was that I already had all the supplies in my house when I decided to make the garland. All you need is some oranges, cranberries, string, and a needle. This garland is easily customizable as well, you can add greenery, pine cones, different citrus fruit, or cinnamon sticks, the list is endless.
Step 1: Cut the oranges! You want to cut these fairly thin, I'm not too good at this so the drying out process took a little longer than usual.
Step 2: Dry them out! You can do this a couple of different ways, I've seen baking them on a baking sheet at 200 degrees and flipping them every 30 minutes. You can also dehydrate them if you are able to do that. I did this with our air fryer, I put them in and let them dehydrate overnight and they were ready for me in the morning!
Step 3: String them up! You know they are ready to be hung when they have a leathery texture (NOT crunchy).
Step 4: Decorate!
My garland was a little short because I only had three oranges to work with, but it was good practice for the next time I do this. I will definitely be making more because I love the way it turned out and the garland smells so good!
I personally love hand making Christmas decorations or ornaments. The homemade look is never perfect, but I think it is a way to include everybody and make memories. This is a fun and easy project that gives a natural Christmas look and smells wonderful. I hope you feel inspired to make some of your own Christmas decor. Comment and let me know what your favorite handmade decorations are.
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