Star Anise Wreaths: An unfussy DIY

The sequence matters: decide the footprint, then the finish, then the accessories. Looking for a fun and easy DIY for the holidays? I'll show you the step by step of how to make a star anise wreath! 

Several years ago I bought a large star anise wreath for our front door and loved how it looked. But what I loved even more was how notable it smelled (if you're not familiar with star anise, it smells like licorice!).

So when I started scheming up approaches for small wreaths to add to the back of our dining room chairs, I thought about how cute little star anise wreaths would be. I set out to make my own and am so happy with how they turned out:

Today I'm sharing the step by step of how I made our star anise wreaths so you can make your own! (post includes affiliate links – full disclosure statement available {here})

Gather Your Star Anise Wreath Supplies

The supplies that you I used to make our star anise wreaths are:

• 8″ rounded foam wreaths such as {these}
• Dark brown burlap – you can buy a yard of burlap fabric such as {this} and cut it into strips or buy a roll of brown burlap ribbon like {this}
• Whole star anise pods, which can be found online {here} or locally at Asian grocery stores. You can also find star anise at spice stores but you'll typically pay much more it.
• Wire edged ribbon for hanging (see my post on Christmas ribbon for the preferred sources)
• Hot glue gun such as {this one}

Wrap Your Foam Wreath in Burlap

If you bought a piece of burlap instead of burlap ribbon, cut the burlap into long strips 2-3″ wide. Next, hot glue the end of your first strip to the back of the wreath and give it a minute to dry. Then, wrap the burlap around the wreath, pulling it tight as you go.

I used two long burlap strips for each wreath, gluing the end of the first strip and the beginning of the second strip to the back of the wreath and continuing to wrap it around until the entire wreath was covered. Finish by hot gluing the end of your last strip to the back.

Glue on the Star Anise Pods

Now you can start gluing on the star anise pods. Simply put a generous dot of hot glue on the back of each piece of star anise and stick it on. It's a modest amount of a puzzle fitting the star anise pieces together as closely as possible. Sometimes you'll have to break off an arm or two of the star for the best fit.

Cover the entire surface of the wreath except for the back. It takes time (it took me about an hour per wreath) but is very simple to do.

Tie them onto Your Chairs with Wire-Edged Ribbon

Finally, simply tie the wreath to the top of your dining chair with wire edged ribbon, creating a bow:

The household has used them on my dining chairs for several years in a row now with a simple change of ribbon from year to year:

These star anise wreaths would also look great in other areas of your home, such as hung over a large mirror or on the back of kitchen barstools. It would help if you enjoy making them as much as I did!