Sometimes Christmas decor is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Check out this DIY Dried Orange Christmas Garland.
This cute, timeless project is so simple and looks (and smells) so good!
What you’ll need
- 8-10 Oranges, grapefruits, lemons, etc. Basically any citrus. Make sure they feel firm
- Twine, string, thread or yarn
- Sewing needle
- Scissors
- Cooling rack
- Cookie sheet
First things first – wash and cut your fruit
First, you want to wash your fruit. Scrub it really well. Once it’s washed and dried, go ahead and slice your fruit thinly, about 1/8″, so that you have full circles. If it’s too thick, it will basically never dry out, but if you cut it too thin, it might not hold together (don’t let that scare you though, this is so easy).
Set it up
Take your cookie sheet (I put foil down so it didn’t get messy) and then put the cooling rack on top. Spread your citrus slices out on the cooling rack. Fit as many as you can on the rack, without them overlapping
Put them in the oven!
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and bake the fruit for 2-3 hours. I did two rounds of this, the first without the cooling rack and the second with it. Round 2 was definitely quicker.
Just FYI, if you increase the heat by too much, it won’t dry them faster, it will just burn them.
Let them dry out
Once they look pretty dry in the oven, take them out and let them cool. I then put the rack on the counter uncovered and let the fruit dry out even more for the next 24-48 hours before stringing it. The thicker ones, especially, might need to dry out longer.
Time to string it
I really wish I would have had twine for this project, but I couldn’t find my huge roll of it, of course. I just used white thread, which worked just fine.
Now that your fruit is dry, take your needle and thread (or string, yarn, etc) of choice and thread it through each piece of fruit twice. Go up with the needle through one side of the fruit and then down through the fruit on the other side, just to give it extra stability.
That’s it! So easy and affordable, and if you have little kids, I’m sure they would love to help.
If you’re looking for a different type of garland, here’s another tutorial I did recently. It’s more of a pom pom garland. Check it out here.
If you make this garland, post a picture and tag me in it so I can see!
Pin below to save for later. Thanks for reading!!
Pin for Later
Thank you for the hints about using a cooling rack & not getting the oven too hot. This will be such a fun project to make!
I think those tips are key! It would take a lot to mess this project up though 🙂 Thanks for reading, Lucy!!
It really was such a fun and easy project. Maybe with your grandsons?
I need to make this one day!! I just LOVE how they look! Maybe not this year as I don’t really have space to add it to my list but next year. I feel it! hahah! Pinning this for later!
Thanks, Beth! It was so so easy and really adds a lot. But I totally get not wanting to add more to your list. I honestly admire that, I’m still working on being honest with myself and realizing that I can’t always do it all haha. Thanks for the comment!