We are planning to stay put this Christmas after a year full of adventures. That said we did want to do things a little differently especially because we are celebrating Christmas for the first time in our new home. After some heavy midnight Pinterest soul searching we settled for a Scandinavian feel to our decorations, with minimal wreaths and a lots of herbs and wild plants. We asked our partner in crime Emily from June in March, to come over with her daughter Romane and help us implement our wild green festive ideas (We also managed to drink some cider, chase out little monkeys and eat blue Spanish cheese with roasted pumpkin).
So here is our guide to creating your own Scandinavian Christmas and making the perfect minimal wreaths, by Emily (June in March)
- Start by having a Pinterest mood board. It will keep you focused and prevent you from losing track and over buying things and plants you don’t actually need.
- Get a few good (wire) frames. In Hong Kong you can get them at the flower market in Prince Edwards. The safest is to use a pre made wreath structure. I also buy a lot of my my wires in the construction shop in Wan Chai. They are definitely cheaper than the flower market ones. The shop at Thomson road number 20, has the most lovely people working in there and a big adorable cat! It’s also where I buy my super sharp florist scissors 🙂
- Pick your flowers – as much as I love a very traditional Christmas tree with green and red decorations, I like to use something more unique for the wreaths. I like using eucalyptus, cineraria (lamb ears), olive branches, rosemary as the base for the leaves and then adding flowers on top. For flowers, Christmas wreaths need to be long lasting so use dried immortals flowers or succulents. Both are always safe.
- Keep it fresh! Once the wreath gets a bit dry (unfortunately just a few days before Christmas) I usually spray the wreath with gold or white spray paint. It gives you a brand new wreath! Any type of spray paint will work. They sell some at the Brigthen shop at the flower market. But you can get it also from the paint shops, and art and craft shops.
- Have fun! Don’t be afraid to put too many leaves, you can always take them out later. Prepare to be very patient! Start with the leaves and add the flowers at the end.
- Keep things minimal! Don’t go crazy with too many different colours. And keep your ingredients to 4 maximum.
- I’m not for Christmas decorations in November! The first week of December is a good time to start. But remember to have the gold or white spray in hand a week before the festivities starts!
- If you want to use delicate flowers such as amaryllis, roses, peonies make sure to only put them on the wreath right on the 24th! They don’t last without water!
Merry Christmas! Send us photos of your wreaths and Christmas décor to hi@nikakaitravels.com
Follow Emily here
Photography by Michelle Proctor
