DIY Crepe Paper Flower Garland

This year we are hosting the Easter lunch for my family. No big deal you say? Well, my family is big. Unusually big. My parents were the first to immigrate here from India over 40 years ago. Since then, many more of our family members on both my moms side and dads side have come from India as well and established their families here in California. Because they all came at different times over the years, we stopped keeping track of which side of the family they were on and we have been celebrating as one big family for years. At any given holiday our group is usually around 40-60 people. That leaves very few holidays we can host for since our house just isn’t big enough to host that many people inside. Easter is perfect for us because mid-April is usually perfect weather here in Southern California. This year, I was trying to think of a simple, inexpensive centerpiece that I could make to use on all our tables (of course, we have multiple).

This Crepe Paper Flower Garland is perfect. I made a longer one that is about 5 feet long, which is the perfect size to use on our tables this year, but also to use in the future on our mantel or side table.

Ok, let’s get started. Here are all the supplies you will need. I actually was able to order everything from Paper Mart which was perfect since I didn’t have to shop around at different stores. Crepe paper sheets aren’t easy to find in stores so ordering online is the best option.

Materials:

Green Floral Wire
Green Floral Tape
Natural Wrapped Wire
Crepe Paper  – I used Peach, Moss Green and Gold
Hot Glue Gun
Standard White Glue (like Elmers)

Let’s get to it!

First things first. Download this template here. You will want to pre-cut your leaves and petal leaves to make it easier. Each flower has 4-5 petals and I made about 7 flowers. Depending on how dense you want it to be, you might want to cut more or less. Next, you will want to cut your leaf halves. I used about 40 leaves which meant 80 halves. Make sure you cut them on the bias (the textured crepe lines at an angle) so that you get a more natural looking leaf.

You will then glue your leaf halves together with the standard white glue. I used Elmers school glue because it was lying around, but you could use any glue that is good for paper. After you glue your halves together, let them dry and then glue gun your floral wire to the seam. I cut my floral wire about 2 1/2 inches each.

Once you finish your leaves, you can move onto your flowers. Cut the gold crepe into 2″ circles. Take some crepe (I used some of the discarded crepe that was leftover from the leaf cuttings. Crumple some of the paper up into a ball and glue a length (about 3″) of the floral wire into the end of the ball using a glue gun. Wrap the gold crepe circle around the ball and glue to base and floral wire.  Then, start gluing the petals around the base of the stamen. You can wrap the floral tape around the base of the flower to give it a more finished look.

Wallah! You have your flower! Make as many of these you need before moving on.

Once you have all your leaves and flower made, then you can start gluing them to the natural wrapped wire. Using your judgement, glue them to look as natural as possible. Form your wrapped wire into the shape you want to go down the middle of your table, and you’re done!

I hope that making this flower garland puts you in the spring mood! This flower garland can be customized to the colors you want, length and would be just as cute at a baby or bridal shower, or a birthday party. Enjoy!!

I’ll have instructions for the cute mandarin oranges and lemons in another post. Stay tuned!