I’m not the first to make a giant paper holly garland, but this is my spin on it! This was very easily a naptime craft for me. It can be done in a couple hours, and in the second step I’ll share a way of making it even shorter. If you do it my way you’ll need:

•  Mid weight cardstock
• Gold spray paint
• 3-4 green acrylic paints
• A selection of 2 inch and 4 inch disco balls
• ½ inch rope
• Green floral wire
• Scissors
• Paint brushes
• Hot glue gun and sticks

1. Start by making your holly leaves. You can get as creative as you’d like or you’re welcome to download and print my holly leaf templates. I made about three different styles because I think one shape gets very visually boring.

Trace and cut out your holly leaves. For this 6 foot garland, I cut 30 leaves. Then fold them in half vertically down the middle.

2. Next you’ll need to paint them. I wanted the back of my holly leaves to be a tarnished gold. You don’t see the backs of the leaves much in the photos, but I knew that in real life folks would get glimpses of the backs of the leaves. Because I’m adding disco balls, I want to echo that with a little bit of shine on the back.

So I spraypainted the back of the leaves gold and then 7-8 of leaves in four different shades of green. I wanted my final product to look variegated. Using just one color of leaves is going to give you a very flat look at the end.

Once the green paint dried, I added a simple stripe down the middle in a contrasting green. Again, this is to give the leaves dimension and interest.

NOTE: If you’d like to save some time, simply cut your leaves out of several shades of green cardstock. Then, the only paint you’ll need to add is the stripe of green down the middle. And the best quality about acrylic paint is that it dries super fast.

3. Unwind your ½ inch rope. I recommend not cutting the rope until you’ve attached all of your holly leaves and disco balls. That way if you end up making it a little longer you haven’t cut yourself off early.

Once you have your rope stretched out, cut several 4 inch pieces of floral wire. To attach the leaves to the rope, lay a leaf against the rope, angle it the way you want it to lay, and then tightly wrap the floral wire around the rope and bottom of the holly leaf.

It helps me to think of the leaves in threes. So I lay out three in a row, arranging them at the angles I want. Then I carefully attach them one at a time. After that is just repeating until they’re all attached the rope. When they’re all attached, snip the ends of your rope so that the tails can’t be seen.

4. Finally, you need to attach the disco balls. Use more floral wire to affix the disco balls to the rope where you’d like them. If you want them towards the outer edge of the leaves instead of near the rope, use your hot glue gun. Now you’re ready to get decorating!

Disco Christmas garlands pack a big decorating punch, so place them wisely. Or, throw caution to the wind and put them everywhere!