How To Make A Christmas Evergreen Swag [Easy Holiday DIY]

I don’t know about you, but I’m a fan of an evergreen swag on the front door during the holidays. It’s just a bunch of evergreen boughs bound together and hung, but there’s something about it’s rustic, natural simplicity that appeals.

For me though, my swag days started out of thriftiness combined with my love of an easy win DIY.

Years ago when the budget was really tight, I used to collect the boughs that came off of the bottom of the Christmas tree when they would trim the trunk at the tree lot.

I’d fluff and fan out those boughs, and arrange them into an attractive bundle of greenery. Then I’d secure them, tie on a Christmas ribbon, and voila, I’d have my holiday swag on the front door - for free!

Well this Christmas swag DIY is almost identical to my simple, thrifty swags of yore. In fact it barely qualifies as a DIY. Basically, if you have opposable thumbs, you’ve got this.

Ready to learn how to make one yourself? This Christmas DIY is way too easy, so let’s get our swag on!

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Holiday DIY swag supplies

Greenery boughs plus anything else like eucalyptus, holly, or other seasonal berries.

Twine to secure the boughs

Ribbon to cover the twine - or just go for a rustic look and stick with the twine.

Bells (optional) secured with twine or ribbon

SHOP THE LOOK

How to make your Christmas evergreen swag

If you decide to add bells to your holiday swag, I think you’ll find they’re a fun addition. They look pretty and sound festive whenever you open the front door. Plus they add a measure of security for little ones escaping or whomever coming in. (I collect bells when I travel and keep them on every exterior door in my house.)

I bought these vintage bells from eBay a while back. Their original rope was fragile, so I looped twine through each bell.

• I only knotted the bottom bell and just looped the twine through the other two so I could adjust their proximity to each other if needed by loosening the string, adjusting, and then using the weight of the bell below to keep the string taut once they were in place.

I bought two bunches of conifer greenery and one silver dollar eucalyptus from Trader Joes. I supplemented by trimming from the neighborhood Redwood street trees. (They’re enormous and produce water sprouts all around the base that need constant pruning.) Collecting the Christmas tree lot trimmings works great too like I mentioned doing in the intro!

Holly or other red berries would be another beautiful, festive addition.

I arranged my greenery into a swag I liked. I put the longest boughs in back, fanned out the rest, and placed the eucalyptus on top in the front center and draped the bells in with the eucalyptus.

• I left a length of the twine holding the bells that extended beyond the ends of the boughs.

• I tightly bound them all together at the top with another piece of twine, wrapping it a few times before knotting it in front.

The swag greenery and the vintage bells are bound together with twine.

I wrapped the length of string holding the bells a couple times around the twine binding the boughs in back. Then I tied a loop-knot with the end of the bell string.

You could also just make a separate loop and tie it to the twine holding the boughs. (This would have been simpler and just as effective in hindsight.)

I wrapped the extra length of the bell string around the bough twine, then made a knot for hanging the swag. Alternatively, just slip a piece of twine through and knot it to make your hanging loop.

Then I cut off a piece of burlap ribbon, wrapped it a couple of times to cover the twine, (check how it looks from the front when you do this) and also knotted it in the back.

Here’s the back of the holiday swag showing the burlap ribbon knot and the hanging loop.

Now your swag is all ready for hanging!

I have the tiniest of nails hammered in above my speakeasy window on my front door that I use to hang wreaths and my swag. If you aren’t on board with putting a nail into your door (certainly don’t blame you) then there are a couple options:

• You can use a wreath hanger that goes over a door with a hook on one or both sides.

• 3M Command No Damage hooks - hold on a variety of surfaces such as paint, wood, and tile. Some are made especially for hanging on glass and are rated for freezing weather.

SHOP THE LOOK

I found some forgotten fairy lights in a drawer and put them on for a little night-time ambiance - fun!

This easy DIY holiday swag brings Yuletide cheer to your front door. Fairy lights woven into the evergreen swag add evening ambiance.

Ready to give swag-making a try? It’s an easy mini-project that brings fresh, natural, and festive Yuletide cheer to your front door. Have fun with it and enjoy the holidays and the closing out of this unprecedented year!

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