Halloween is easily one of my favorite times of the year and I love incorporating Disney aspects into my Halloween decor. Early on in my marriage I made a Haunted Mansion wreath that was cute, but over the years it got worn down and I just didn’t love it as much so I set out to remake a new wreath for my front door that was a little bit more updated.
I had a white and black damask ribbon that started as the base of my wreath because it reminded me of the iconic wallpaper in the attraction, and then I added purples, greens, and blacks to match the colors you see in the rides as well as the cast member costumes. The beauty about this DIY is that it’s pretty forgiving and you don’t have to be super crafty for this to turn out well, and it isn’t super expensive either. Plus you can also make this your own by adding things you would like. So let’s get into it!
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WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Before you start your wreath, make sure you have all of your supplies! Here’s everything you’re going to need:
β’ Wire wreath frame– I did a 14″ frame but you could do a 18″ frame if you want it to be bigger
β’ Sheer purple ribbon
β’ Green satin ribbon
β’ Damask ribbon
β’ Thin black ribbon
β’ Sheer black ribbon
β’ Black flowers- you could do roses, dahlias, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, whatever you’d like
β’ Floral wire
β’ Hot glue gun
I have included some other ribbons and flowers you could also use in this on my Amazon storefront that you can check out!
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Step 1: Wrap your wreath frame in purple ribbon
I decided to start with my purple ribbon first because it it sheer and wide so it would be a good base to build on as I built my wreath up. I would definitely recommend using wire edged ribbon because it will hold it’s shape much better and is easy to manipulate to look how you want.
When you do your purple ribbon, tie the ribbon to the cross connectors between the sections. I just tie the ribbon around it instead of using the floral wire because it’s easier and faster. It will also hold better than the wire and it will help cover up the metal frame.
Repeat the previous step all the way around the frame, tying the ribbon to every cross connection as you go and stagger where you tie the ribbon on as you go around. You can see below I tied it to the second row on the outside and then moved to the very inside rode on the next tie. This will give it dimension and will help your wreath look more full.
Below you will see what you wreath will look like after you wrap the purple ribbon around the frame a couple of times. There really is no rhyme or reason to how you do it and you will be able to tweak it as you get further along, you are just making the base of the wreath so don’t stress to much about how it looks yet. If you want a more full wreath, you could go around with the purple ribbon a few more times.
Step 2: Add the green ribbon
After you’re happy with your purple ribbon layer, it’s time to move on to the next color. I did green next and I made sure it was a different style of ribbon because I didn’t want it to be all sheer, I wanted texture and dimension to my wreath. Also, make sure it isn’t a bright green because that just doesn’t fit the Haunted Mansion color palette. Try to find a deeper green, it will look much better in the finished wreath. You will also need the floral wire for this next step.
Take the floral wire and weave it through the green ribbon. Just work the ribbon between the fibers and it should go through. I put my wire through each side and once through the middle.
Once you have the wire through the ribbon, twist the wire around the ribbon so that it has a pucker and you still have extra wire on each side. Then, snip the ribbon so it has a nice decorative finish.
Once the ribbon is ready to go, you need to secure it to a cross connector on the wreath frame. Just like I mentioned before, try to do it on a cross connector that you didn’t start on with the purple ribbon. I would also recommend starting this one on the outside layer of the frame so that the decorative end will stick out from behind the wreath when you are done with it. Wrap the extra floral wire from the ribbon around the frame to secure it in place. PRO TIP: If you wrap it around the cross connector and the frame itself, it will secure it better so it doesn’t slide.
Once the green ribbon is secured, wrap it all the way around the frame like you did with the purple ribbon. In this case, I would use the floral wire to secure it to the frame instead of tying it because this ribbon is thicker and it isn’t sheer, so using the floral wire will be easier. Once you finish your first layer of green ribbon, do another layer or two so you have several layers of the green. Again don’t stress too much about how it looks because right now, there’s still plenty of stuff to add.
Step 3: Add the damask ribbon
Now it’s time for the beautiful damask ribbon comes into play. I searched all over to find the perfect ribbon for this wreath and this damask ribbon is exactly what I wanted! I found it here on Amazon. It has the wire edge so it holds its shape really well and it has a hint of glitter on it and has some texture to it which works really well in this wreath.
With the damask ribbon, I try to be a little more careful about how I place it on the wreath. I tried to weave the floral wire through it like I did with the green ribbon and put a decorative cut on it like I did in the previous step. But this time, instead of doing one long strand of ribbon all the way around the wreath, I cut it into small pieces and put them on the frame one by one. You can see below this was the first piece I put on the wreath and it looks much more precise than the rest of the wreath.
I took smaller pieces like this and placed them all around the wreath. Then, once I had those on I would do pieces that were a little bit longer so I could wrap them from the front side to the back so it had more flow. Always use the floral wire to secure this ribbon because it is too thick to tie. You can see below how some of the pieces are smaller and some are longer so they wrap around the frame more. Put the damask ribbon all around the frame until you are happy with the results. You will still be adding more do it, so you can always add more later if you need to.
Step 4: Add the black ribbon for smaller details
This is where you can get creative. I used two different types of black ribbon for smaller embellishments and details. Both are thin ribbons, one is sheer and one is satin. That adds some texture and dimension but it still fits with the other ribbons I have already used.
I took the ribbons and laced them around the frame like I did with the other ribbons and then I created little loops that I hot clued onto the wreath for some added detail. Because these are thinner ribbons, they’re really only to enhance the wreath.
Step 5: Filling in the gaps
Once you have all of the steps done and all of the ribbon is on, you will be able to see what needs to be added. Maybe you need more purple or green, maybe you’ve got empty spaces where you can see the frame. This is the time to fix that. You can see below after I did all of the steps I still had a lot of work to do. There were gaps and the wreath just didn’t look full.
At this point, I cut smaller pieces of ribbon and fill in the gaps. You want to get to the point where the colors are balanced and you can’t see any of the frame showing through. l added way more purple because it’s sheer and it isn’t as striking as the other ribbon. Then I put more damask and at the end I pieced more green and black in to wrap it all together. Do not move on to the next step until you are happy with how your wreath looks.
Step 6: Glue on the flowers
This part is totally up to you to decide which kind of flowers you want to add. The flowers I used I found at Hobby Lobby years ago, but I have found some on Amazon that you can use that would also look really good. I have several flowers to choose from on my storefront but on my wreath, I used dahlias and hydrangeas. Really, you can use whatever you want. Or if you want to skip the flowers, you can. But I think they add detail and texture to the wreath that it needs.
When I did the flowers, I hot glued the one big flower to the top right corner of the wreath. Then I took the smaller flowers below and hot glued them throughout the wreath. I found it easier to use a hot glue gun to put these on then to try and secure them with a floral wire.
After all of those steps, here is my finished wreath!
Now you can make your own Haunted Mansion wreath at home to add a little Disney to your Halloween decorations! You can find more Haunted Mansion inspired DIY’s on my DIY page!
