DIY A Stunning Christmas Garland On A Budget With This Festive Pool Noodle Hack

Choices in holiday home decor can often be overwhelming and expensive. With every retailer and website offering endless aisles and pages of options, sometimes it's hard to make choices or get exactly what you're looking for. This is particularly true of holiday garlands, which come in a multitude of materials and styles and often cost over $20 for the prettiest ones. Social media users and craft experts alike, however, may have a great solution for creating your own DIY garland that can be adapted for a variety of uses. The key? Pool noodles! By using these inexpensive foam pieces, you can create a custom garland on the cheap that fits your decor perfectly. These garlands are perfect for tricky spots like stair rails and over doors, as well as mantles, centerpieces, and more.

Though they have their most obvious use in the summertime months, nearly every retailer sells these foam noodles all year round. Dollar Tree even has them in a host of holiday-friendly colors. By using the noodles as a framework for your garland design, you can add ornaments, greenery, rolled garland, lights, and more to make a garland just as pretty and expensive looking as one you could buy premade at a florist, home, or craft store. 

While techniques for creating garlands from pool noodles vary according to the creator's aesthetic and needs, most tutorials begin with using the foam as a base for adding other materials. For a simple version of this hack as outlined by TikTok user @ashmariesavage, cut the pool noodle length-wise to form a perfect piece that fits around your banister that you can remove and use from year to year. Secure it in place with zip ties. Use hot glue to adhere ornaments and sprigs of greenery to the noodle until it's fully covered. This pool noodle hack also works on your mantle, and can easily be adapted for Christmas.   

A great way to use decorative floral picks is to add a dab of hot glue on the stem and poke them into the foam itself. You can also cover your pool noodle in fabric like velvet or burlap, which hides the pool noodle completely, or use chicken wire wrapped around it as a way to stick in florals without puncturing the foam. This is a great solution if you plan to redecorate and reuse your pool noodle garland from year to year with different florals and decorations to fit that year's theme.

You can also use pool noodles to give a little structure and heft to pre-made or natural garlands to keep them from sagging, perfect if you plan to hang them over a door, mirror, or archway. Just use zip ties to discreetly secure the garland to the foam and add more decorative elements around it to customize. These garlands look stunning when placed around a door or on a holiday arch outdoors. 

Pool noodle garlands are also great for non-hanging uses, like as the base of a gorgeous centerpiece for holiday meals. just cover the pool noodle in evergreen, ornaments, and other accents and run it down the center of the table. Because it has some structure, it can be moved as needed and put back in place during cleaning and table clearing. Definitely not limited to the holidays, use your pool noodle garland all year both indoors and outdoors by adding summery greenery and florals instead of festive ones.