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Decorating With Dried Orange Slices

Decorating with dried oranges is a really simple and beautiful way to add some natural touches to your Christmas and winter decor!

Today I’m sharing 5 simple ideas of how to decorate with dried orange and grapefruit slices in your Christmas decor.

decorating with dried orange slices

Do you ever start a craft or a project with an idea and then before you know it, your idea has turned into FIVE ideas!? That’s exactly what happened to me this week! I wanted to make some large hoop wreaths for my two large living room windows! Dried oranges are so gorgeous so I decided to dry some orange slices and grapefruit slices so I could add them to my wreaths to give them a really natural look! Well, that one idea turned into 4 more ideas…giving me a total of 5 dried orange decorating ideas to share!

How To Dry Oranges Slices (and/or Grapefruit)

dried orange decorating

Decorating with dried orange slices is so easy to do, there must be a hundred ways to add them into your decor! Before I share all 5 decorating ideas…I’m going to share how I dried my oranges and grapefruit slices because…well that’s a super important part of this DIY!

  • Heat oven to 200-250
  • Line pan with parchment paper
  • Slice oranges 1/8-1/4 inch thick
  • Pat the slices with a paper towel to remove access juice
  • Bake the slices for 5-6 hours
  • Flip the slices over every 30 min or so
  • Remove when dried
  • Leave out on a cooling rack overnight

Drying grapefruit was a little trickier than the oranges. They took about an hour longer to dry than the oranges did. They also seemed to have more juice/sugar content so I had to keep a closer eye on them to make sure they weren’t getting too dark.

Now that we have the steps to drying the fruit covered…let’s get into the 5 ways to use dried orange slices (or grapefruit) in your holiday decor!

 

decorating with dried orange slices

Mini Grapevine Wreaths with Dried Orange Slices and White Pine Boughs

I had these two little grapevine wreaths and I also have a little window on either side of my front door that I thought they’d look cute hanging in. All I did was took one white pine branch (from my backyard) and attached it using floral wire.

decorating with dried orange slices

Then I threaded the floral wire through the dried oranges and added them to the wreath, one at a time! Three orange slices look like the right amount to me…so I stopped there. I added some sheer nutral ribbon and hung them up. It was SO easy and they look pretty cute hanging up in our windows!

Christmas Tree Ornaments Using Dried Oranges

 

dried orange decorating

 

This is the most SIMPLE idea I have ever shared or ever will share. All I did was take an ornament hook and hook it through the dried orange slice and hang it on our little tree! It doesn’t get any easier than that!

 

decorating with dried orange slices

Dried Grapefruit & Cinnamon Stick Christmas Tree Ornaments

This next idea is almost as simple as the last one…except I used cinnamon sticks with the dried slices! I threaded some floral wire through the cinnamon stick and then through a grapefruit slice. I twisted the wire together to secure the fruit slice and then slid the cinnamon stick down to cover the wire (twisted area) and then left enough wire on the top end of the cinnamon stick to create a hook!

 

orange slice christmas diy ornament

 

It only took a few minutes to make a handful of these and I love how the dried grapefruit slices add just the right amount of color to our “Woodland/Nature” Christmas tree! I think the dried citrus is really pretty but honestley, I LOVE how the grapefruit slices look even more than the dried orange slices! I windered if they’d stay pink after drying thme. But they turned more of a red-ish color than I had anticipated and the color is just right!

 

Garland And Swag With Dried Oranges, Dried Grapefruit And Pinecones

Next, I made some fresh garland with the leftover branches we’d trimmed off the bottom of the Christmas tree. I have a post all about how to make garland HERE so be sure to check that out if you want to give that a try! There are so cool many ways to use a strand of garland like this one! It would look beautiful hanging across the top of a large mirror, a shelf you could even use it as a centerpiece on your dining table!

 

christmas garland dried orange decorating

 

Once I had the garland made,I added the dried orange slices, pinecones, and dried grapefruit throughout the garland using floral wire again! It took me a lot longer to make fresh garland than add the orange and grapefruit slices. So if you had a faux garland or purchased some real garland and just wanted to add some dried citrus, you’d be done in no time at all!

 

how to make dried orange slice swag

 

I also made two small swags out of the same materials to hang on my vintage snowshoes! I think these would look beautiful hanging on an interior door if you didn’t have a wreath form but still wanted to dress up a door!

My swag bunch consists of 1 pine branch, 1 dried eucyliptus branch, 1 faux green sprigg, a couple pine cones and a few dried orange and grapefruit slices! I used floral wire to tie them all together and wrapped wire around the swag before wrapping it around the snowshoe.

how to make dried orange slice swag

Dried Orange and Grapefruit Hoop Wreaths

Last but not least…the hoop wreaths! The wreaths are the whole reason why I made the dried orange slices but, when I saw the dried fruit all done I had other decorating ideas pop into my head of ways to use them! Wich led to me running out of dried slices and me needing to make another batch so I could actually make what I set out to make in the first place! LOL!

 

how to decorate and make a dried orange hoop wreath

 

I use a 20″ gold hoop as the wreath base. I secured the floral wire to the hoop and then added a few pine boughs, dried eucalyptus, and some faux stems to the hoop wrapping the floral wire around the base of the stems 3-4 times before adding more and moving along the hoop.

 

how to decorate and make a dried orange hoop wreath

 

I took the dried orange slices and dried grapefruit and added them in here and there. I just threaded the floral wire through the orange slices and twisted the wire around the wreath. You could easily use hot glue to attach them if you wanted to! I used floral wire because I had it on hand and it works great! My son collected a bucket full of pinecones from our yard and I added in a few pinecones by twisting the floral wire around the pinecone and then twisting the wire around the hoop!

 

decorating with dried orange slices

 

To hang them in my windows I tied a green velvet ribbon to the center of the wreaths and used a tack to secure them to my window trim! Super Simple and I really love how they look hanging in the windows!

 

decorating with dried orange slices

Decorating with dried orange slices is inexpensive and there are so many beautiful ways to use them in your home! I love how simple it is to do and the best part is that home will smell INCREDIBLE!

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