ONE WREATH FOR ALL SEASONS!
The practice of making wreaths probably has its roots in the Mediterranean cultures that preceded the Ancient Greeks. Originally, wreaths were made to wear on the head - hence the circular shape - as a symbol of victory (the laurel wreath) and, somewhere along the line, people began hanging them on or near the entranceway's to their homes - probably as a way to signify that the person associated with the victory lived inside. The use of the laurel (or "bay") leaf wreath probably gave way to the familiar evergreen type we are used to seeing hanging on the front doors of people's homes when the Germanic cultures (and, along with them, the Northern European, mid-winter celebrations of the Pagans and Celts) were assimilated into Western Civilization as a whole.
Today, a wreath hanging on the front door adds a cheerful, homey, welcoming and festive touch to a home at any time of year and many people enjoy hanging wreaths with different themes to match various holidays; however, with all those holidays and seasons, hanging a different wreath for each one presents a storage problem. Who has room to store several different large, bulky wreaths for most of the year?
The problem can be solved by having one permanent wreath base - made from wicker, rattan, grapevines, wood, etc. - and simply adding or removing seasonal embellishments as needed. There is a very simple way to do this even if you aren't a very "crafty" type!
Seasonal Ribbon Garland:
Dividing the year up into seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter and four different color schemes (one for each of them) gives us the start of our wreath decorations. First, determine how long a piece of ribbon will have to be in order to wrap in a loose spiral completely around the wreath "base", then measure and cut two equal lengths of acetate, all-weather ribbon in complimentary/contrasting colors using four basic, seasonal color schemes.
Here are some suggestions for those colors:
Spring: Pastel yellow and pastel pink, light green and lavender, or any combination of two of these colors.
Summer: Red and navy-blue or gold (primary colors) or any combination of two of these colors.
Autumn: Orange and gold, brown and dark green or any combination of two of these colors.
Winter: Any combination of metallics (silver, gold, copper, bronze, etc.) or white and a metallic.
So, on the first day of spring, we would remove the two metallic (winter color) ribbons that we wrapped around our wreath when autumn ended, replace them with the two ribbons we've chosen for spring and put the "winter ribbons" away for next year. Likewise, on the first day of summer, we would remove our spring-colored ribbons and replace them with our two "summer-colored" ribbons, etc. (Space to store a little bit of ribbon is a lot easier to find than sufficient space to store several wreaths each year!)
Bows:
As a finishing touch, we'll need to buy four bows in the same (or contrasting) colors as one (or more) of the seasonal ribbon-wraps (or, if you're clever at such things, you could make bows out of the same ribbons you used for the ribbon-wraps) to attach to the wreath once it's been wrapped with the ribbons. Then, we change the bow when we change the ribbon wrap - at each change of season!
Toy or Small Novelty Embellishments:
Just one more little touch will put the frosting on our wreath (so to speak). A small toy, ornament or novelty item indicative of each holiday can be attached to the wreath (or bow) with a bit of wire and then changed to suit the holiday without having to redecorate the entire wreath completely. This means that we'll need eight different novelties to span the entire year.
To cut-down on the time and materials involved, let's assign only two major holidays per season. (You may choose different holidays than the ones I suggest below - to each his/her own!) For example:
Spring: Valentine's Day and Easter, Mother's Day and St. Patrick's Day, Groundhog Day and April Fools Day, one of these holidays and a local holiday or any combination of two of these.
Summer: Memorial Day and Independence Day, Labor Day and Flag Day, one of these holidays and a local holiday or any combination of two of these.
Autumn: Halloween and Thanksgiving, the First Day of School and Discovery [Columbus] Day or Veteran's Day, one of these holidays and a local holiday or any combination of two of these.
Winter: Christmas/Hanukkah and New Year's Day, one of these holidays and a local holiday or any combination of two of these.
Just about anything can be used for a holiday embellishment but, here are some ideas to get you started:
For Valentine's Day, virtually any small heart-shaped object such as a small, heart-shaped, plastic candy box or even a costume jewelry heart-shaped brooch could be used - as could plastic cherub-shaped wedding cake ornaments. Even some Christmas ornaments have heart or cherub themes these days.
For Independence Day: Wrap an old AA battery in red ribbon and attach a bit of silver or gold tinsel to the top of it to simulate a firecracker going off. For any of the patriotic holidays, a small American flag or two could be used.
For Veteran's Day: A 3-D bronze or silver star Christmas ornament with a bow of red, white and blue ribbon or a piece of "fruit salad" (a set of military campaign ribbons) made from different colors and widths of ribbons glued to a narrow rectangular piece (or "bar") of cardboard.
For Thanksgiving: A small spatula, cookie cutter or dried gourd.
For the First Day of School: A large, stubby yellow pencil or an apple-shaped Christmas ornament and/or a small, plastic ruler.
For New Years: A small, plastic champagne glass (available at cake decorating suppliers) and a simple, round clock face showing midnight, a noise-maker or New Years "hat".
For Easter: A couple of plastic Easter eggs, small basket or stuffed bunny/chick.
I like using recycled favors and ornaments from weddings, Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, etc. for this purpose. (This has the added benefit of not adding to the pollution of our planet by filling up our landfills with still-useful objects.) The possibilities are endless, however - the only requirement is to make YOUR wreath uniquely "yours"! Let your imagination run wild!
Happy holidays!