dried orange garland with leaves

Dried orange garlands? Yes, please. These fun, fruity decorations are much more simple to make than you think—and they’re very trendy in holiday decor right now. Plus, it’ll smell super festive in the house while the slices are cooking!

Scroll on to see how to make a garland with dried orange slices, the super-easy way. Try this DIY for holiday time, keep it up through the rest of the winter season!

Dried Orange Garland

Supplies:

supplies for dried orange slice garland diy

  • Scissors
  • 8-10 large oranges (sliced)
  • Bread knife (makes cutting easy-peasy)
  • Cutting board
  • Paper towel
  • Baking racks (the key to faster cooking)
  • Floral wire (Hack: Takes the place of a leather needle/hemp twine)

Instructions:

SLICE: Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. While it’s heating up, slice your oranges into rounds that are about 1/4 inch thick!

orange slices baking in oven

BAKE: Lay the slices out on a baking rack and blot them dry with a paper towel. (If you don’t have baking racks you can use a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper—you’ll just need more time for cooking). Pop the slices into your 250-degree oven, checking and flipping each slice every 30-45 minutes for 2.5-3 hours. Oven temperatures can be different. I did three trays at a time on a convection setting of 250.

COOL: You’ll know they’re done when the middle is no longer wet and shiny! Take them out and let the slices cool. Some may burn, just toss those—but keep the ones that are “burnt orange” in color because it’ll make your garland more unique! The most important thing is that they’re dry.

stringing dried orange slices

STRING: Typically, people would thread the orange slices onto a heavy-duty string/hemp rope using a leather or crochet needle. I’m cutting the steps here and using floral wire! It’s basically like having a built-in needle. I had gold floral wire on hand, so I used that.

Use its end to poke through one side of the “flesh” part of the slice across to the other side. Keep going until you reach your desired length! Floral wire can cause the flesh part to rip so be careful when “threading.” Simply make a loop at the end and wind your wire around so you don’t leave a sharp edge.

dird orange garland hanging above fireplace with greenery

HANG: Hang them anywhere—your fireplace, window, bed frame, mirror, etc!  You can also do this with lemons, limes and grapefruits (cooking times will vary).

Save a few slices to use as potpourri or a cocktail garnish! Oranges: not just a soccer snack.

Did you try this DIY? Show us your dried orange garland on Instagram @lulus using #lovelulus—and head to our Holiday Shop to score women’s Christmas dresses, accessories, gifts, and more this season! 

This post was originally published in December 2020 and has been updated with new content.