DIY Hoop Wreath for the Holidays With Star Anise

A DIY hoop wreath with star anise is a simple & inexpensive craft that will add natural beauty to your holiday décor this Christmas season.

I love to incorporate nature into our home décor all year long, but there is something special about adding natural elements to holiday décor. It makes a home feel fresh, peaceful, and cozy. One of the best aspects of utilizing natural elements in décor, is that they are relatively inexpensive! Which means I am not spending a fortune adding to and updating our holiday décor each and every year.

This year, as I was imagining ways in which I could utilize natural elements in our holiday décor, some of my old favorites came to mind. I’ll definitely be using dried orange slices, pine boughs, and pine cones again. However, this year I wanted to add a few new natural elements, and one of the things that came to mind…star anise.

I typically always have whole star anise on hand for stovetop potpourri. As I was adding it to a pot of potpourri recently, I thought to myself, “How I can utilize this beautiful star shaped spice in our holiday décor this year?”

The answer…a DIY hoop wreath with star anise! Not only is this the easiest DIY wreath ever (it’s almost silly!), it is inexpensive too. (This entire wreath cost less than $10 to make.) This DIY hoop wreath with star anise is simply beautiful and will fill your home with delicious, warm, licoricey aromas. Perfect for the holidays!

What is star anise?

If you’re not familiar with star anise, it’s the seed pod from the fruit of an evergreen shrub native to southwest China. The pod is shaped like a star and has an average of eight points. Each point contains a single pea-sized seed. The star anise pod is picked before it ripens. Then dried in the sun, which turns it a deep brown color. Both the seeds and the pods are used in cooking and contain the sweet, strong anise flavor.

Star anise can be purchased whole and ground. For our DIY hoop wreath, we will be using whole star anise.

Supplies for DIY Hoop Wreath With Star Anise

• 10″ Gold Metal Hoop
• Hot Glue Gun
• Whole Star Anise (You will need around 37 star anise, depending on how big or small they are.)
• Holiday Ribbon

Hoop Note: You can use any sized hoop for this wreath ( will just need more or less star anise). You can also make the wreath with a silver hoop, embroidery hoop, or even a wire hanger shaped into a circle.

Holiday Ribbon Note: Use any holiday ribbon you prefer or have on hand. I love velvet ribbon around the holidays, so that is the ribbon I picked!

How to Make a DIY Hoop Wreath With Star Anise

To start your DIY hoop wreath, go through the bag of star anise and pull out around 37 of the best looking star anise. Pick various sized star anise to mix large and small pieces throughout the wreath. As you find the best shaped star anise, put them off to the side.

Unfortunately, you will find quite a few broken pieces (But don’t worry, the broken ones are fine for stovetop potpourri!).

Place the hoop on a flat surface.

Tip: You may want to line the surface with paper or cardboard to avoid getting hot glue on your countertops. I did not do this and had to scrape hot glue off our counters….shh let’s keep that a secret from Dave!

Now, you can begin hot gluing the star anise to the hoop. Place a dab of glue to the back of the star anise, see above photo (the side of the star anise with pods should face forward). Attach the star anise to the hoop. Hold the star anise in place for about a second or so to ensure it adheres to the hoop.

Hot glue the star anise all the way around the hoop, alternating between the small, medium, and large star anise. This will make the wreath look natural and organic. As you hot glue the star anise to the hoop, try to fit them as closely together as possible (similar to piecing a puzzle together).

I liked the look of the stem on some of the star anise, so I left that on a few of the pieces.

You may need to use small star anise or break the star anise to get the final piece(s) in place to finish the wreath.

It’s ok if some of the hoop is showing, which is exactly why I picked a gold hoop!

Your finished DIY hoop wreath with star anise should look something like this. So simple & easy to make but so naturally beautiful too!

Ribbon for DIY Hoop Wreath

Once all of the star anise have been glued to the hoop, you can add a simple bow with holiday ribbon.

I added this thin velvet ribbon, but here some other ribbon options I am loving for the holidays.

• Green Frayed Edge Velvet Ribbon
• Pristine White Frayed Edge Velvet Ribbon
• Golden Brown Frayed Edge Velvet Ribbon
• Noel Printed Cotton Ribbon
• Khaki Velvet Ribbon
• Christmas Red Stripe Ribbon

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