How to hang a garland around your front door

(Image credit: Future PLC)

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What you’ll need
Step-by-step
1. Assess your door
2. Clean the doorway
4. Hang your garland on the hooks
5. Secure with invisible string
FAQs

published 28 November 2023

Knowing how to hang a garland around your front door will help you bring your Christmas decorating ideas to life, which is why we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to make this process even easier.

Christmas door decor ideas are becoming more and more popular, and garlands are a great way to add this festive flair. Thankfully, there’s a very easy way to secure these garlands to your door frame without a hammer and nails to complement your wreath ideas.

With just a few key products that you might already have in your cupboards, you can hang a festive garland around your front door and instantly jazz up your Christmas curb appeal.

How to hang a garland around your front door

‘A door garland is a great way to add some festive cheer to the front of your home and a nice touch for when you are hosting over the festive period,’ explains events and hosting expert Lavinia Stewart-Brown.

‘There are lots of ways to hang them and it will depend on the weight/dimensions of the garland. However, for those not wanting to leave holes a great tip can be to purchase some command strips/hooks.’ And this is how to do it!

What you’ll need

A festive garland - like this 12ft Berry Garland from M&S
Command hooks or suction hooks - like this Command Large Hook from Amazon or these GlobaLink Suction Hooks from Amazon
Invisible thread - Blulu 500 Meter Clear Nylon Invisible Thread from Amazon
Ladder

Step-by-step

1. Assess your door

While we’d love to tell you that everyone can hang a garland around their front door without using nails or a hammer, that just isn’t the case. If you want to utilise the likes of Command strips or suction hooks, it’s important to understand that these products will only work on composite doors, glass doors, or wooden surrounds.

As these products weren’t designed to be used on rough surfaces, they won’t work if you plan to hang a garland on the brickwork above your door. Instead, you’ll have to get your hammer out or hang your garland somewhere else - for example, around your window frames.

2. Clean the doorway

Anyone who has ever used adhesive hooks or strips before will know that they can be extremely fickle. If you don’t prepare for this process, they can fall off as soon as you hang something on them. That’s why you should always read the specific instructions of the product that you buy.

In general, though, it’s a good idea to clean the doorway before sticking down your adhesive hooks, as this will give them a clean and solid base to stick to. You don’t need to whip out all of the cleaning products under the sink, though. A simple mixture of warm water and washing-up liquid should do the trick.

Then, make sure it’s dry before moving on to the next step.

3. Attach the adhesive hooks

How many hooks you attach to your doorway really does depend on the hooks that you buy and the weight of your garland. Generally, artificial garlands are much lighter than real garlands with real branches and foliage. This means that you should be able to get away with having heavy-duty hooks on either side of the doorframe.

However, if you’re opting for a real garland, it might be a better idea to attach smaller hooks across the whole doorframe to distribute the weight evenly. If in doubt, always buy hooks that can hold the most weight and always use more hooks than you think you might need.

If you wanted to, you could also buy some extra hooks and attach them sideways around the sides of your door. This will ensure that the ends stay put and don’t float around in the wind.

4. Hang your garland on the hooks

If you’re opting for adhesive strips rather than suction hooks, you should leave them for at least an hour before hanging anything on them. But when that time has passed, you can then hang your garland on the hooks.

It’s best to do this in stages and often easiest to start from the top and in the middle. This will keep the whole thing symmetrical and help you move the garland around the sides of the doorframe. Alternatively, you can opt for a more asymmetric doorscaping design.

5. Secure with invisible string

'With the great British weather, it’s important to make sure your garland is secure if you’re opting to hang one outside this year,' explains Alick Burnett, Managing Director at Blooming Artificial. And while this next step isn’t necessary, it’s certainly a good precautionary measure if your front door is particularly exposed to strong winds and rain.

All you have to do is cut off a small piece of invisible string and tie it around the garland and the hook, securing them together as one. Repeat this process for every hook you’ve used.

If the garland doesn’t feel as secure as you’d like it to, attach some more hooks to the doorway, making sure you repeat the process of waiting for the adhesive to settle and attaching the garland to it using the invisible wire.

When you’ve done that, you can step back and admire your handiwork!

FAQs

How do you install a garland around a front door?

The easiest way to install a garland around a front door is to use adhesive hooks. To do this, attach these around your doorway and then hang the garland from the hooks. For added security, you can then tie the garland to the hooks using invisible wire, which means it won’t fly off in the wind.

Alick Burnett also adds, 'A lot of people go for double-sided tape, but test this on a small area first before committing, as this can leave behind residue depending on the surface and duration of time the garland is left up.'

How many feet of garland do I need for a front door?

Ultimately, this depends on how big you want to go with the garland around the front door and the size of your doorway. But as most garlands are around 6 feet long, you’ll need to buy a few of them and attach them together if you want to cover the entirety of your front door. Alternatively, try and find a garland that is 12-foot long or bigger so you can use the same garland for the whole job.

Of course, 6 feet should be more than enough if you just want to cover the top of your doorframe. So, you need to decide what you want from your doorway decoration to answer this question.

So, will you be hanging a garland around your front door this Christmas?

Topics

Christmas

Lauren Bradbury is a freelance writer and major homes enthusiast. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of Chichester in 2016, before dipping her toe into the world of content writing. After years of agency work, writing everything from real-life stories to holiday round-ups, she decided to take the plunge and become a full-time freelancer in the online magazine world. Since then, she has become a regular contributor for Real Homes and Ideal Home, and become even more obsessed with everything interior and garden related. As a result, she’s in the process of transforming her old Victorian terraced house into an eclectic and modern home that hits visitors with personality as soon as they walk through the door.