Review: Christmas Dried Wreath Making Kit from M.Y.O*

The Christmas Dried Wreath making kit is from M.Y.O. (Make Your Own) who run in-person and virtual craft workshops based on kits from their sister brand, Creative Jungle Crafts. Rather than via a workshop, this kit was completed as a solo craft project, following M.Y.O’s online tutorial.

The Wreath making kit is for a contemporary wreath of dried grasses and other foliage, with additional decorative Christmas items included, so that you can really dress up your door for the festive season especially if you are looking for tips on decorating and hosting Christmas dinner.

What is included in the Christmas Dried Wreath making kit?

• Instruction sheet, including details for accessing the online video tutorial
• Single, slim wreath ring
• Green and metallic eucalyptus
• Other special grasses or foliage
• Dried oat and barley stalks
• Berries
• Cinnamon sticks, tied with raffia which you will also use in building your wreath
• Dried orange slices / apple slices / mandarins
• Floristry wire, tied with twine, which you’ll also use in building your wreath
• Bells
• Ribbon
• Treats – a Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate and a Bird & Blend teabag were included in my kit.

What extra equipment will you need?

• Scissors
• Sellotape or similar, to secure the hanging loop twine in position on the wreath ring

What did I think of the kit?

I love all sorts of Christmas crafting to get me into a festive mood and have made several traditional wreaths and fireplace garlands in recent years, so was looking forward to completing the Christmas Dried Wreath making kit. The slim hoop and natural styling of the grasses and other foliage seemed as if they would create a contemporary wreath which would be something different for my home – with the neutral base colours making the wreath suitable for display in any room.

The kit arrived in a sturdy, letter-box sized parcel, so it could be securely delivered even if the recipient was not at home. The M.Y.O. leaflet gave a full contents list for the kit; details of the website for the online tutorial; a password to access the tutorial; instructions for making the wreath and some photographs of finished wreaths as inspiration. I would imagine that anyone who creates wreaths all year round could use the printed instructions as a reminder, as they were quite clear and broken down into reasonable-sized steps. For this review, I combined the written instructions with the video tutorial at the Creative Jungle website – which was easy to access via the password provided. I read through the instructions and watched the 15-minute video tutorial before starting my wreath, which I would recommend. Seeing the different steps involved helped me to understand the amount of time the wreath was going to take to build (which doesn’t seem to be mentioned anywhere in the instructions) and that I should set the materials up on quite a large table, protected by a cloth as there was cutting and wire wrapping involved.

Being able to rewind and watch the steps of the online tutorial several times was a definite advantage as I began making my wreath. However, whilst completing these steps, I had several issues with the grasses and foliage in the kit, due to them being dried and quite fragile. One set of grasses had tiny, light ears on them, which fell away from the stalks as soon as I took them out of the box, so these were unable to be used. The oats, barley, eucalyptus and other special grass all needed to be cut to length and tied into small bundles with raffia or twine before attaching them to the wreath ring. The tutorial then advised wrapping the florist’s wire tightly around each bundle, both to secure it and to fasten it to the wreath ring. Each additional handling of the foliage caused pieces to break off or wear away and the tightly wrapped wire snapped even more of the stalks. Several pieces which were already attached to the wreath ring broke off whilst I was attaching the following bunch, leaving gaps in the design and making it unbalanced so that I had to remove and re-attach bunches, causing further damage. From my photographs, you will get an idea of how much material was included in the kit and how much I was able to use by the end of the process. I appreciate that some of this damage may have been due to my technique, but I definitely feel that the choice of grasses contributed to this problem – for example, the green eucalyptus remained strong and pliable, but very few of these branches were included in the kit; the oat and barley stalks were brittle but made up the majority of foliage in the kit.

Once the process of tying the foliage bunches to the wreath ring was complete, I had the option of adding the dried fruit, berries and ribbon as finishing touches. I decided against this as the fruit looked out of scale with the reduced amount of foliage that I had been able to use, plus the tutor had already described the berries as fragile and I didn’t want to disturb the materials I had already completed. It is my personal preference not to use ribbon in a natural-styled wreath but, as you can see in the photographs, I will need to find a way to finish the final bunch added to the wreath ring, to conceal the florist’s wire. I may wrap this area with a small piece of hessian or similar. A good amount of red ribbon was provided in the kit, should I have wanted to add a bow.

My finished wreath has only a small section of foliage. It is attractive enough to be displayed, but is very far from the lush asymmetric wreath shown at the end of the tutorial video, so I do not feel that that the Christmas Dried Wreath I was able to produce was good value for money. However, I believe this is purely due to the materials selected for the kit. As the instructions and online tutorial were extremely clear and accessible; the kit was interesting and the process has the potential to be very enjoyable, I would consider trying another craft kit from M.Y.O. in the future.

The pros: Incorporating online tutorials into a craft kit is an excellent idea and the tutorial & instructions are clear and accessible.

The cons: An expensive kit, with some materials proving difficult to use, resulting in a completed wreath very different to that suggested by the advertising and product information.

How much does the Dried Christmas Wreath kit cost?

The wreath kit is available from M.Y.O. here for £45.00

The company also offer a Make your own Christmas Decorations kit for £35.00 and kits for crafting throughout the year, ranging from £30.00 to £50.00.

About M.Y.O.

M.Y.O. was formed in 2017 by Diane and Sam, who believe that everyone is creative – they just need an outlet. The company provides the space, materials and guidance for adults to relax and create.

They’ve hosted over 10,000 guests in their Central London studio and regularly host creative off-sites, parties, celebrations, team building days, events and bespoke classes.

With M.Y.O, you can try ceramic painting; decoupage; calligraphy; paper crafts; macrame;  embroidery; T-shirt / tote bag design and more. M.Y.O. also supply creative kits through their sister brand Creative Jungle Company.

Review by: Sharon Corbally

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*We were sent the kit in exchange for a review. All opinions are our own.