10 Thanksgiving Wreaths That Graciously Welcome Guests Into Your Home

The very first thing you'll do this Thanksgiving as a host is greet your family, friends, and guests as they arrive at your front door. With fall foliage in the air and dried florals abounding in the countryside, harnessing the natural materials of the season is the first step towards creating a memorable Thanksgiving wreath. These handcrafted decorations can be displayed right on your front door, above your Thanksgiving spread in the dining room, or directly over a crackling fire on your mantel.

From faux evergreens to foraged pinecones and dried items, these wreaths are created with all kinds of materials. All of them are nonperishable, so you can create them to use each and every Thanksgiving, or in the fall season leading up to the holiday. Since wreaths can help anchor any room's design scheme—especially dining rooms and informal sitting spaces where you'll host guests on Thanksgiving—creating a few in the weeks leading up to the holiday is a surefire way to enliven any part of the house. Spend time deciding which kind of wreath will complement the furnishings and color scheme of your dining room and living space. Each of these examples can be customized just by opting for another paint or ribbon color before you begin.

Make sure to pick out properly sized frames before you begin crafting, and spend some time thinking about how you'll hang it in your desired space. But that's where your planning should stop—more is more when creating these bountiful wreaths, and you don't want to skimp on seasonal embellishments. Even a bare space will appear more lavish and luxe if you play up these elements; more bows, more sparkle, more drama, and more warm, muted hues.

Equal parts farm house tradition and ombré obsession, this whirl of a wreath ripples from rust to beige to gold to blond. Wire small single-color bundles onto a circular metal form, working from bottom to top (light to dark). For an abundant, untamed look, tuck in longer straws and fronds, and finish with a thin velvet ribbon.

Shop Now: M&J Trimming Velvet Ribbon #02416, 5/8", $1.75 per yard, mjtrim.com. Ashland Wire Wreath Frame, 18", $4.79, michaels.com.

This dried wreath embraces a wildly elegant motif that hinges on natural materials found in your locale. Building on a standard straw base, add wheat stalks laced with wooden beads and sculptural seedpods to add a dimensional flair to your entryway.

Shop Now: Dried Decor Extra Large Wheat Sheaf, $30, drieddecor.com. AFloral Dried and Preserved Bleached Bell Cup Stems, $14 for 6, afloral.com. Woodworks Round Wooden Beads, 3/4", 10 cents, craftparts.com. Ashland Straw Wreath Form, 18", $7, michaels.com. Loops & Threads Tidy Pins, $4 for 25, michaels.com.

Now here's a way to harvest extra nuts from your holiday spread: Celebrate fall's abundance by creating a unique wreath made of hard-shelled nuts, including almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, and walnuts. You can mix the nuts in with acorns from your own backyard to fill out your wreath form; you'll need a pound of each kind of nuts you choose to use.

Shop Now: Ready to Decorate Floral & Craft Ring, 18", $6, michaels.com. Mixed Nuts (in Shell), $7 for 1 lb., nuts.com. Craft Smart High-Temperature Mini Glue Gun, $3, michaels.com.

This au natural wreath isn't rigid whatsoever; it embraces the loose nature of autumnal leaves, pinecones, and other dried florals. Feel free to add leaves and other elements collected outside your home on a natural wreath frame fashioned from supple branches and twigs. Try adapting our hoop wreath with natural materials instead and let your creativity roam free over your form.

Shop Now: Preserved Fall Oak Leaves, $22 for 1 lb., afloral.com. Dried Yellow Banksia with Leaves, $16, afloral.com.

Humble corn husks take a decorative turn when dyed a rich burgundy shade and looped around a wreath frame. The resulting display makes a radiant Thanksgiving welcome.

A gold satin sheen perfectly accentuates sparkling gold fir and boxwood leaves (either spray painted or purchased from your local crafts store). Begin by cutting your faux gold leaves and branches into 4- to 6-inch long pieces. Make bundles using one of each type, then bind them with 26-gauge gold wire. Attach one end of the wire (on its spool) to the wreath form (do not cut). Add another below the first, overlapping them, and bind them. Repeat this process until the entire form is covered.

Shop Now: Panacea Wire Wreath Frame, 20", $12, amazon.com. Beadalon 26-Gauge Artistic "Brass" Craft Wire, $7, amazon.com. Afloral Fake Winter Foliage Cedar Pick in Glittered Gold, 11 1/2", $2.20, afloral.com.

A simple wreath, this idea doesn't require perfect symmetry or bending of boughs. Rely on spray paint, a hot-glue gun, and floral wire. The gentle coating of white conjures the season's first snow. Begin by cutting floral wire into 2- to 3-inch-long pieces. For each sweetgum fruit, remove stem, dab hot glue into its opening, and insert a length of wire; let dry. Coat the sweetgum fruits and wreath with spray paint; let dry. Push the wire end of each fruit completely into wreath. (If pushing the wire in is difficult, pre-drill the wreath with a pointy object, such as a knitting needle.) Attach ribbon to the top with floral pins for hanging.

Shop Now: Dried Sweet Gum Balls in "Nickel", 50 for $12, bloomist.com. Martha Stewart Collection "Wedding Cake" Matte Spray Paint & Primer, $8, michaels.com. Ashland Paper Wrapped Stem Wire, $2.50, michaels.com.

This nut-and-pinecone wreath was made more special with an application of acorns and seed pods painted white, as well as gold and copper leaves. Begin by zigzagging floral wire between the rails of the form to stabilize pinecones when attaching them. Then, cut a 12-inch piece of wire and loop it around a pinecone (at the base for a shorter one, in the middle for a longer one) and twist to secure. Press both ends of the wire together, creating one thick tail. Wrap this tail around wreath form to connect pinecone to wreath. Repeat with more pinecones until wreath is mostly covered, placing smaller ones where needed to fill in the gaps.

Continue by removing an acorn cap, and drilling a small hole on either side of its stem, thread wire through before gluing cap back onto the acorn. Drill through nutmeg and thread same wire through, then thread a few dried sweet gum fruits as well. Finish by spray-painting this thread white. Repeat to form as many picks as desired. You may also cover the exterior or your wreath with leaves covered in metallic paint or gold leaf.

Shop Now: Ashland Wire Wreath Ring, 24", $5, michaels.com. AFloral Fresh Pine Cones, $32 for 100, afloral.com. Panacea 26-Gauge Floral Paddle Wire, in Green, $6, amazon.com.

Keep taking advantage of fall's vivid palette of reds and golds for as long as they remain ripe for picking by using natural fall elements. This wreath may seem elaborate, but all it requires is some patient repetition of a simple technique. Start with a 24-inch-diameter straw form, and about 130 Lady apples and wooden floral picks. Working in rows, jab the pointy half of each wooden pick into the bottom of the core of each apple and the other half into the straw form. Tuck some leaves into the gaps, and hang with a double-wrapped loop of monofilament on your desired wall placement.

Shop Now: FloraCraft Straw Wreath, 24", $11, walmart.com. Panacea Wood Floral Picks, 3", $7 for 90, amazon.com.

This smaller wreath is adorned with gold leaf-stickers and is made specifically to adorn the surface of a mirror, as shown here. Begin by painting your wreath form in gold, and letting it dry completely; then, apply your leaves to the wreath in the desired pattern. Once you have the placement you like, use a glue gun to further secure leaves. Let set. For more dimension, gently bend up edges of the leaves on the form. Finally, tie a ribbon around the top of the wreath in order to hang it later.

Shop Now: Floral Craft Wreath, 9", $3.50; and 12", $4, 3ringcircles.com.