How to Make Lighted Holiday Mantel Garlands

A lighted garland immediately makes a room feel decorated and festive.

Lighted holiday mantel garlands make a room look cozy and warm by day and by night. A lighted garland is a good way to immediately make your mantel look festive and bright without spending a lot of money on decorations or on energy costs for lighting up the entire house. This decoration is fast and simple, spicing up your holiday decorating without a lot of fuss.

Things You'll Need

• Fir garland
• 2 strings of mini lights
• Small red velvet bows
• Glass ball ornaments
• Ornament hangers

Instructions

1. Weave the lights into the garland. You can wrap them around the garland or just interweave them with the branches. Make sure that they appear to be positioned and strung randomly rather than looking like a straight line. When you run out of lights, if you are not at the end of the garland, attach the second string. If you are at the end of the garland, then let the string dangle from the end of the garland.

2. Attach the red velvet bows. Most Christmas tree decorations of this type have gold or metal wires on the back. You can just twist the wires around pieces of the garland to hold the bows in place. Arrange them randomly around the garland, but make sure that they are all on the front, or you may have trouble hanging the garland.

3. Hang the ornaments on the garland. You can let them dangle off the garland or you can bend the ornament hangers so that they appear to be part of the garland itself. Now, you are ready to hang your garland on your mantel or arrange it artfully on the table as a centerpiece.

Tips & Warnings

• Embellish your garland further with candy canes, tinsel and Christmas tree ornaments.