A Christmas wreath on the front door is the first decoration anyone sees and the one that does the most work for the least effort. It takes two minutes to hang, it greets every visitor and delivery driver for a month, and a good artificial one comes out of the box again next year looking the same.
The nine Christmas door wreaths in this guide are all artificial, from plain green cedar to red berries and a conifer wreath with lights built in. This guide covers how to choose between them, what size suits a UK front door, which of ours can go outside, how to hang a wreath without drilling your door, and how to style one with a bow or ribbon. If you would rather make your own, our step-by-step guide to making a Christmas wreath covers that; this post is for anyone buying one ready-made.
Artificial or real: which Christmas wreath should you buy?
A fresh wreath smells of pine for about a week and looks good for three or four, which is roughly the length of December if you hang it late. After that the needles drop, the foliage browns on the side that faces the weather, and it goes in the bin in January.
An artificial Christmas wreath costs about the same as a decent fresh one and lasts for years. Artificial Xmas wreaths used to look plastic; real-touch stems changed that. All the Christmas wreaths for sale on our site are artificial, made from real-touch faux cedar and pine, faux eucalyptus and faux berries, so they do not dry out, fade over a month or shed on the doormat. You can put one up on the first of December and take it down on Twelfth Night without it looking tired, and the following year it comes out of the box ready to go. For a front door that gets wind and rain, that matters more than the smell.
The only thing to decide, then, is which one.
Choosing a Christmas door wreath
Most of the wreaths here are 60cm across at the widest point of the foliage with a 30cm centre; the LED conifer wreath is 55cm. Whether you call them Christmas wreaths or Xmas wreaths for doors, the choice is about colour and style, not size.
Green and natural
A plain green wreath suits any door colour and any style of house, and it is the one to buy if you like to add your own ribbon. The Christmas Wreath – Cedar is a full, all-green wreath made from real-touch faux cedar, with nothing else on it, so it is as traditional or as modern as whatever you tie to it. £39.95, ribbon not included. The Christmas Wreath – Fir Pinecone is the classic version, faux fir with pinecones, at £29.95. The Christmas Wreath – Eucalyptus Bow is faux eucalyptus finished with a jute bow, which gives a softer green than fir and works on a pale or sage door. £29.95.
Berries and colour
If you want the door to read as Christmas from the end of the street, buy berries. The Christmas Wreath – Red Winter Berries is deep red faux berries on a natural wicker base, so the colour does the work. £31.95. The Christmas Wreath – Winter Morning mixes red berries into faux pine for the red-and-green look, and at £23.95 it is the least expensive of our Christmas wreaths. The Christmas Wreath – Winter Walk goes darker, with dark berries and purple eucalyptus, and suits a black, navy or dark green door where red can look loud. £29.95.
Soft and white
For a calmer door, the Christmas Wreath – Pine Cone Berry blends white flowers and pinecones into real-touch pine. It is listed for indoor styling, so it is the one for an internal door, a hallway mirror or above the mantel. £39.95. The Christmas Wreath – White Winter Berries Cluster is a wreath of tiny white berries, £29.95, ribbon not included, and it is the pick for a dark front door, where white shows up far better than green.
With lights
The Soft Touch Faux LED Connifer Wreath has LED lights woven through layered soft-touch conifer fronds, runs on three AA batteries (not included) and comes with a cable tie to hide the battery pack behind the foliage, so there is no plug to find. It is 55cm and £42.95, and it is the one to buy for a porch, an internal door or a hallway where a plain wreath would disappear after dark.
What size Christmas wreath for a front door?
Most of our Christmas wreaths are 60cm across at the tips of the foliage with a 30cm centre; the LED conifer wreath is 55cm. Either way, the solid part of the ring is smaller than the number suggests. On a standard UK front door a 60cm wreath looks full and deliberate, and on a wider or double door it sits comfortably. On a narrow cottage door it is generous, so choose one without a trailing ribbon and skip the bow.
If you want to match a wreath to a specific door width, or your door has a lot of glazing, our wreath size guide goes through door widths and the proportions that work.
Outdoor Christmas wreaths: which of ours can go outside
Faux foliage copes with cold and damp far better than fresh, but no artificial wreath likes being soaked every day or blown about, so the general rule for an outdoor Christmas wreath is a door with a porch, canopy or overhang. Where a Christmas door wreath sits on an exposed door, it will last the season but weather faster, and the berries and fine stems go first.
Going by what each product page says:
- The Winter Walk and Eucalyptus Bow wreaths are listed for use outdoors as front door wreaths.
- The Winter Morning and White Winter Berries Cluster wreaths are fine outdoors as long as the door is covered and out of direct wind and rain.
- The Cedar, Fir Pinecone and Red Winter Berries wreaths are sold as door wreaths; give them a covered door too.
- The LED conifer wreath should only go on a sheltered exterior door, with the battery pack kept dry.
- The Pine Cone Berry wreath is listed for indoor styling, so keep it inside.
Whichever you hang, bring it in if a storm is forecast. It takes ten seconds and saves the wreath.
How to hang a Christmas wreath on a front door
Hanging a wreath on the front door is where most people get stuck, usually because they do not want to put a hole in a UPVC or composite door. You do not need to. Four ways, starting with the easiest:
An over-door wreath hanger
A metal hook that sits over the top edge of the door and hangs down the front. It needs no fixing, holds any of our wreaths easily and comes off in January without a mark. Check it fits the thickness of your door before you buy, and pick one with a padded or coated back so it does not scratch the paint. If the door has a weather seal across the top, make sure the hook is thin enough to let the door still close properly.
An adhesive hook
A stick-on hook rated for outdoor use and for more than the weight of the wreath, which for ours is not much. Clean the door first, press the hook on firmly and give the adhesive an hour before you hang anything on it. These work well on smooth painted wood, UPVC and composite doors, and the better ones peel off cleanly at the end of the season.
A ribbon over the top of the door
The traditional method, and the best-looking one. Loop a length of wide ribbon through the top of the wreath, run it up and over the top edge of the door, and fix the end to the inside of the door with a small adhesive hook, or a drawing pin if the door is wooden. The wreath hangs on the front with a ribbon tail above it, and you can adjust the height by shortening the loop. Our Velvet Ribbon – Bordeaux or Velvet Ribbon – Moss Green, £7.95 for a 10-metre roll, does the job with plenty left for the tree.
A magnetic hook
If your door is steel, a strong magnetic hook holds a wreath with nothing to stick or hang. Test the door with a fridge magnet first: many composite doors are not magnetic, and a hook that does not grip will drop the wreath on the step.
Where on the door
Centre a front door Christmas wreath at about eye level, which on most doors is the middle of the upper panels. Keep it clear of the letterbox, the knocker and the handle. On a door with a glass panel, hang the wreath over the glass so it shows from the hall as well as the street, or on the solid panel below it if the glass is large. Step back to the gate and check it before you walk away; a wreath that is 5cm off centre is the only thing anyone will notice.
Styling a Christmas door wreath
Most of our wreaths are finished and need nothing. If you want to add something, add one thing.
Tie a bow to the top
A bow at the top turns a plain green wreath into a Christmas one. The Large Red Gingham Bow has 55cm tails, long enough to hang over the foliage of a 60cm wreath, and it is the one for the Cedar or Fir Pinecone wreath on a black or green door. The Large Green Ticking Stripe Bow is the quieter option for a red or wooden door, and the Small Red Gingham Bow suits the smaller LED wreath. Fix the bow to the wreath base at the top with florist wire or a cable tie, rather than to a single stem, so the wind cannot swing it round.
Ribbon
Wind velvet ribbon loosely through the foliage so it shows in three or four places, or use it only as the hanging loop. Bordeaux on green foliage, moss green on the white berry wreath. Do not add both a bow and a woven ribbon; the door is small and the wreath should still look like a wreath.
Lights
Battery fairy lights work on any of our wreaths outside, as long as the lights are rated for outdoor use and the battery pack is tucked behind the wreath and out of the rain. A cable tie around the base holds the pack in place. Warm white suits every wreath here; cool white only suits the white berries.
Match the door, not the hallway
Red berries on a green, black or navy door. White berries on a dark door. Green foliage on a red, white or pale door. Purple eucalyptus on a grey or dark green door. A front door Christmas wreath is seen from the street, against the door, so the door colour is the one to work with.
Christmas wreaths indoors
A Christmas wreath is not only for the front door. A second wreath on an internal door, on a mirror in the hall, or hung above the mantel with a ribbon pulls the decorations together between the door and the living room. The Pine Cone Berry wreath and the LED conifer wreath are the two to use inside, and the LED one is the only wreath in the house that still shows at seven o’clock on a December evening. For what goes with it on the mantel, our Christmas mantel decor guidecovers garlands, candles and the ceramic houses.
When to put a Christmas wreath up and when to take it down
Wreaths at Christmas go up a little earlier every year, but the usual date is the first weekend of December or Advent Sunday, which is 29 November in 2026, and that is the right time for an artificial one. It has nothing to lose by going up early. Fresh wreaths are the ones that need to wait.
Take it down on Twelfth Night, 5 January, or on 6 January if you count Epiphany. If the door looks bare afterwards, the same hook takes a plain green wreath through to spring, and our front door wreaths for every season post covers what to hang next.
Caring for and storing an artificial Christmas wreath
Three jobs keep an artificial wreath looking new for years:
- Dust it before it goes up. A soft brush or a hairdryer on the cool setting lifts a year of loft dust out of the foliage.
- Reshape the stems. Faux stems flatten in the box. Bend them back out so the wreath is full all the way round, and turn the fullest side to the front.
- Store it flat in its box. Keep the box it came in, or use a wreath storage bag, and lay it flat rather than standing it on its edge. Take the batteries out of the LED wreath before it goes away.
Keep bows and ribbon separately so they are not crushed, and put the over-door hook in the box with the wreath so you are not hunting for it next December.
Final thoughts
Buy an artificial Christmas door wreath, pick the colour for your door rather than your hallway, hang it with an over-door hook or a ribbon, and put it up on the first of December. Add one bow if you want to, nothing if you do not. Bring it in before a storm and store it flat, and you will be hanging the same wreath in five years’ time.
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FAQs
What is the best Christmas wreath for a front door?
An artificial wreath in a colour that contrasts with the door: red berries on a dark or green door, green foliage on a pale or red door, white berries on a black door. Most of our Christmas door wreaths are 60cm across, which looks full on a standard UK door.
Are artificial Christmas wreaths suitable for outdoors?
Yes, on a sheltered door. Faux foliage handles cold and damp, but it should be out of direct wind and rain. Our Winter Walk and Eucalyptus Bow wreaths are listed for outdoor use; the Winter Morning and White Winter Berries Cluster wreaths are fine outside on a covered door; the LED wreath needs a sheltered door and a dry battery pack.
What size Christmas wreath do I need for my front door?
Most of our Christmas wreaths are 60cm from tip to tip, which suits a standard or wider UK front door. For a narrow door or one with a lot of glazing, see our wreath size guide, which matches wreath sizes to door widths.
How do you hang a wreath on a UPVC or composite door without drilling?
Use an over-door wreath hanger, which hooks over the top edge of the door, or an outdoor-rated adhesive hook. The traditional alternative is a ribbon looped through the wreath, run over the top of the door and pinned to the inside. None of them leaves a mark.
When should you put a Christmas wreath on the door?
The first weekend of December or Advent Sunday, which is 29 November in 2026. An artificial wreath can go up early because it will not fade or drop. Take it down on Twelfth Night, 5 January, or on 6 January for Epiphany.
How long do artificial Christmas wreaths last?
Years, if they are stored flat in a box and kept out of heavy rain while they are up. A fresh wreath lasts three to four weeks; an artificial one is used season after season.
Can you put fairy lights on a Christmas wreath?
Yes. Use battery lights rated for outdoor use, tuck the battery pack behind the wreath with a cable tie and keep it out of the rain. Our LED conifer wreath has the lights built in and runs on three AA batteries.
Do Christmas wreaths come with a ribbon or bow?
It depends on the wreath. The Eucalyptus Bow wreath has a jute bow built in. The Cedar and White Winter Berries Cluster wreaths are sold without ribbon so you can add your own. We sell large and small gingham and ticking stripe bows and 10-metre rolls of velvet ribbon separately.
How do I store a Christmas wreath after Christmas?
Dust it, reshape any flattened stems, take out any batteries and lay it flat in its original box or a wreath storage bag. Keep bows and ribbon in a separate bag so they are not crushed.
