A Festive Table Garland For Thanksgiving

The holidays are finally here and I couldn’t be more excited. Each time Fall rolls around, I start skimming Pinterest for ideas on new festive wreaths. I think it’s so chic and fun to make your own (you can see the one I made for our door last year here). I seem to always be inspired by citrus, and I fell in love with some dried orange decorations for the holidays this year.

Now, when I first decided on this orange, chilli and eucalyptus wreath, I did plan for it to hang from our front door. But, when I was making it, it soon became obvious that it was too heavy to hang from the twine that I had strung it on. If I did this again with the intention of making a wreath, I would thread everything onto wire instead of string. It just goes to show you that I really do make these DIYs, and I don’t have a whole team of professional food stylers helping me! Sometimes things don’t always go as planned (such is life), so we got creative and decided to use the finished product as a table garland for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. I placed a candle in the center of it and it looks so festive!

Supplies:
Silver dollar eucalyptus
12 Chillies
2-3 oranges, depending on size
Wire or twine
Plain white candle
Sharp knife
Baking tray / sheet
Parchment / greaseproof paper
Skewer / toothpicks

Step 1:
Preheat your oven to 250 F. Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and leave it to the side.

Step 2:
Cut the oranges into slices of similar thickness using a sharp knife. Serrated knives work best because they don’t squash the orange, so it keeps its shape. They shouldn’t be so thin that they fall apart, but we are drying them out and don’t want it to take hours, so they shouldn’t be too thick either. Place them flat on the baking sheet. Place the chilis on the tray along with the oranges and put into the oven.

Step 3:
Bake for up to 3 hours, checking on them every 30 mins or so to ensure they aren’t burning! The ideal time to take them out is when the oranges are no longer squishy but hard. Once properly dried, take the tray out of the oven and leave to cool for about an hour. The longer they’ve been sitting out, the more they harden, which makes them easier to string.

Step 4:
Once the chilis and oranges have cooled, you can begin to pierce holes in them with toothpicks. You should do the same for the eucalyptus leaves, and you can even pierce holes in these while the oranges and chillies are in the oven, to save time. Thread the wire through everything in the pattern of your choosing – since we had more oranges than chilis, we did: orange, eucalyptus, orange, eucalyptus, chili – so on and so forth.

Step 5:
Once everything is on the string, tie it in a knot to secure it. Place a candle in the middle of the garland and then you’ll have a festive centerpiece!

I absolutely loved making this (even if it didn’t come out as I originally intended!). I would love to see you guys making your own versions of this. Don’t forget to upload a photo of your creation then tag me so that I can see it! I will be sharing my favorite DIYs on Insta stories.

xx,