Gingerbread houses, decorating the tree, making wreaths, parties with good food and cocktails, I believe they call this the most wonderful time of the year?

I mean, cocktails are always wonderful but add a homemade wreath and it gets even better!

This last week I teamed up with my friend, Jordan, of Honey Lavender, and we spent a wonderful afternoon foraging for wreath supplies and I made us some delicious cocktails to drink while we sat on the ground, listening to Christmas music, and made our own homemade wreaths! It was the perfect way to kick off the holidays!

Homemade food and DIY crafts are one of my favorite parts about this time of year! And with work and shopping for gifts, this time of year can definitely get stressful so it’s important to take time to do things we enjoy. I’ve been so busy lately that this was the first time I actually got to relax and enjoy the holidays.

Plus these Blood Orange Champagne Mules helped with the relaxing too, if I’m being honest…

I actually take no credit for this cocktail recipe (only the photos and the drinking). I got it from one of my absolute favorite blogs, Half Baked Harvest! Check out the recipe here!

It’s seriously so delicious and they were so easy to make! The only thing I changed was opting to use prosecco instead of champagne, only because I prefer the taste.

I woke up early before our shoot to hunt down some blood oranges but the grocery store I went to didn’t have any… Which was so weird because they are in season. I immediately called another local place and the lady on the phone assured me that they had the most beautiful blood oranges in store! Boy, was she right about that… Check these out:

The store that carried them is called Chuck’s Produce. They are local to Vancouver, WA and they always have the best selection!

After I figured out my grocery situation, I picked up Jordan so we could start foraging for our wreath supplies and then headed to her apartment for lunch.

We didn’t get a lot of “behind the scenes” footage of me making drinks because it kinda looked like a crime scene… but here is a little peak into the mess behind styling drinks:

For these I used Reed’s ginger beer but Cock n’ Bull ginger beer is also a great option!

Then I used Tito’s vodka just because it’s my favorite. I’m only 22 so it’s not like I have some vast experience of tasting vodka but I know what’s good compared to what was the cheapest that upperclassmen in college would buy me…

Even Jordan’s boyfriend got in on the action!

And then the DIY crafts started… After I styled my drink a couple more times, of course. Poor Jordan waited so long for hers while I was snapping photos…

Neither of us had ever created our own wreaths before, so if you are in the same boat then here are a couple tips:

What you’ll need:

• Wire
• Wire cutters
• Alcohol (to induce a sense of humor when your wreath is flopping around without any structure)
• Ribbon and/or twine (for decorating)

When it comes to all the “foliage” we actually foraged all our own. I’m not sure if it was legal… But we went hiking and grabbed pine tree branches from the ground and picked some holly. This was the method we used to save money. If you have the money, every craft store will have all the fake plants you could ever want!

If I was to do this again I would have also gotten some thicker wire in order to create a frame first. It took forever to pack the branches tight enough to give it a shape and mine still didn’t stay circular. After hanging on my wall for a week, it looks like an egg… But I’m really content with the final result!

This was such a fun way to get into the holiday spirit! It’s definitely inspired me to get into some more DIY stuff… Maybe gingerbread houses are next?