When just some branches won't do

Bad Crafts: Weird holiday wreaths

12/18/13

I admire people who have their lives together enough to the extent that they hang a wreath on their front door for the holidays. I can never quite get to that point, personally.

And going all out to make a customized wreath that is tailored to their interests and/or hobbies? I'll be honest with you, I am in awe of that level of passion and commitment. Even if sometimes the end result is goofy and weird, I'm amazed by the sheer fact that someone was into their thing enough, and into decorating for the holidays enough, to pull it off.

How do you know when you have gone too far? I would say that as a general rule, if your hobby is making something, and you make a wreath with that hobby, you are probably safe. Knitters creating knitted wreaths, carpenters creating wooden wreaths, that kind of thing.

It's when you start going farther afield that you start risking raised eyebrows from the neighbors. Like, this tea wreath is cute, but how much would you have to like tea to make a tea wreath for your home? A lot. Maybe a scary amount.

Similarly, I would think twice about hanging this shotgun shell wreath. Unless you are the sort of person who wears camo print everything and drives around with a rifle rack in the back window of the pickup truck. In which case, no one is going to be surprised when you hang artillery on your front door to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus.

I don't know what to say about the concept of a garden hose wreath, though. I really don't. If someone is that into gardening, I would urge them to push themselves a little bit harder to come up with a more traditional, plant-based wreath. A hose wreath kind of says, "I'm into gardening, but not enough to grow anything that I could have used to make a prettier wreath."

Image courtesy Flickr/Muffet