How to make a pampas grass garland (video tutorial included)

There is definitely a theme this year and I can’t seem to stop. It definitely all started with my pampas grass Christmas tree that I keep talking about. Then I followed it up with my dried floral Christmas tree that I showed a couple of weeks ago and I showed you my pampas grass garland on our living room mantel in last week’s boho Christmas decor housewalk. So today I want to share the tutorial with you!

I recently told my husband that I need a bumper sticker that says ” I brake for grasses”! LOL because everywhere I drive I see beautiful pampas grass and other dried grasses and dried flowers and I contemplate stopping even if it is a highway. I promise I won’t though but I think of all the pretty things I can make with them. It doesn’t get more affordable than that.

How to make a pampas grass garland

I didn’t just want to make a thin strand of garland. I wanted mine to be thicker with more substance in certain areas. So it’s a combo of garland and dried floral arrangement. 

If you want a thin garland then you can just use the one part of my tutorial to make a thin strand of pampas grass garland.

Supplies needed to make this beautiful pampas grass garland

• pampas grass or any other fluffy grass (example HERE)
• a variety of different dried grasses (optional)
• floral wire
• scissors
• floral foam blocks
• fairy lights
• command hooks
• two rocks
• hairspray
• lighter grasses are optional (I bought this one HERE and HERE)

Tip: If you don’t have access to free grasses growing close to you, check out Facebook Marketplace. I have noticed several people selling bunches of the same grass I used for affordable prices.

I don’t recommend this tutorial for an open fireplace to avoid a house fire. Also keep candles away from the pampas grass garland.

Instructions

If you want to make your own pampas grass garland, it will definitely help you if you watch my video to see how I constructed the entire garland. Below are some of the steps and descriptions with some helpful tips.

I started out by placing two floral foam blocks on the fireplace on each side. In front of the foam blocks, I stuck a command hook on each side as well. Sorry I don’t have a photo of where exactly because I forgot and mine were already there because I had a wood bead garland hanging on the mantle before.

I used the below metal and plastic command hooks but I’m sure others will work as well.

I cut the pampas grass stems on an angle so they are easier to insert into the floral foam blocks.

Then I started to insert them into the foam blocks. This is where I tried to figure out exactly what shape I wanted. I decided to work around the starburst shape that is currently hanging above the mantle but you can shape your garland any way you’d like.

Below you can see what shape I settled on. these would look great alone on the mantle as well.

This is when I decided that it would be a good idea to place a rock on each foam block so they wouldn’t fall forward.

I formed a similar shape for the right side of the garland.

This is the step where the actual garland wrapping part with floral wire comes in place now. Like I said at the beginning of this tutorial. You could skip the swag part and just make a really long garland the way I wrapped the stems below and in the video.
Or you could make the garland part hit the floor. For me that was a bit too much since I have side tables that would be in the way of the garland hitting the floor.

Simply keep adding more pampas grass stems and move upwards by wrapping floral wire around the stems.

When I had the desired length of the garland, I formed a loop with the floral wire.

Use the wire loop to hang the garland pieces onto both corners of the mantle from the command hooks.

Below you can see both sides of the pampas grass garland hanging down.

All I had left to do is connect the middle. It looks pretty as well if you leave the two swags the way they are in the above photo but I wanted to connect them as an entire garland so I could place fairy lights on the entire fireplace mantle.

The fair lights are a much better option than standard traditional Christmas lights because they are light and get less hot.

This garland and the shape reminds me a bit of angel wings which is another reason I love it so much. I’m a sucker for symmetry but you can definitely make it look more asymmetrical.

I added the fairy lights to the pampas grass garland before setting it all with a good coating of hairspray. This helps prevent the garland from shedding.

Finished Pampas Grass Garland for our fireplace mantle

Lastly, I added some different lighter dried grasses to the garland and you can see that combined with the fairly lights it makes a drastic change in texture and lighting. I love it!

Below is a photo of our decorated fireplace area. Make sure to check out the rest of my home and boho Christmas decor.

As I already said. the fairy lights definitely help with making the grass that I used look lighter. I also mentioned in my other pampas grass posts, it definitely also helps cutting the grass down late in the season when the seeds are gone.

Another idea is to place feathers like I did in my dried floral Christmas tree or different shiny ball ornaments. Maybe I’ll load the garland up with ornaments next year because I see myself still loving the look for a while.

If you are new to my blog then make sure to check out my DIY dried floral Christmas tree and how my fireplace looked decked out with simple boho fall decor.

…and last year’s DIY pampas grass Cristmas tree.

You might also like my DIY boho Christmas ornaments using pampas grass pictured below.

If you love garlands as much as I do then also check out my easy macrame garland tutorial, rope tassel garland, and my large wooden bead garland.

I hope you enjoyed this easy tutorial. You could also use this pampas grass tutorial as wedding decor. I’ve seen it done before and love the look so much.

Tschüß,