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Every year I watch someone unbox a garland, drape it over the mantel exactly as it came out of the plastic, step back, and look a little disappointed. It is not the garland. Almost every faux garland ships squashed flat so it fits in a box, and hanging it straight from that box is the single biggest reason it reads thin. The good news is that the fix costs almost nothing and takes about twenty minutes. Below is exactly how I get a basic garland to look full and layered, plus the damage-free hardware I use to hang it on a mantel, a banister, a doorway and a glass front door without putting a single hole in anything. Everything here is on Amazon.
My Top Picks at a Glance
Best hook for garland: Command Clear Medium Wire Toggle Hooks. The wire closes over the garland so it cannot slide off. Shop it here
Best banister solution: Haute Decor Decorative Twist Ties, 20 inch, in green. Shop it here
Best layering strand: Bendable Pine Cedar Garland Shop it here
Best filler picks: Vickerman 6' Artificial Green Monterey Cypress Garland. Shop it here
Best ribbon: Ribbli camel velvet wired ribbon, 2.5 inch. Shop it here
Best lights: 33 ft battery string lights with a built-in timer and green wire. Shop it here
Best for a glass front door: suction cup wreath hooks, no holes and no over-door gap. Shop it here
Best for taking it down: a heavy duty 24 inch wreath and garland storage bag. Shop it here
Why Store-Bought Garland Looks Skimpy
Three things, and all three are fixable. It is compressed from shipping, so the branches are lying flat against the center wire instead of spreading out. It is one single texture, so your eye reads it as a rope rather than as greenery. And it is usually hung flat and tight against the surface, which kills any sense of depth. Fluff, layer, and let it drape. That is the whole method.
Step 1: Fluff It Before You Hang It, Not After
This is free and it matters more than anything you can buy. Lay the garland out on the floor and work along it with both hands, bending each branch away from the center wire and then splaying the individual tips in different directions. You are trying to turn a flat rope into a cylinder. Alternate which way you bend so it fills out evenly instead of all leaning one direction.
Give yourself fifteen to twenty minutes for a nine foot garland and do it before it goes up. Fluffing a garland that is already hooked onto a mantel is miserable and you will not do it properly.
Step 2: Layer a Second Strand on Top
One garland is a rope. Two garlands twisted together is greenery. The trick is to pick a second strand with a completely different leaf shape than the first, then weave it in rather than laying it on top.
Real Touch Bendable Pine Cedar Garland
My favorite layering strand because the cedar is soft and drapey where a standard pine garland is stiff and spiky, so the two textures read as two different plants instead of more of the same. There is wire running through every branch, so you can bend a section into a curve and it holds. Wrap it around your base garland in a slow spiral and tuck the cedar in between the pine branches so the two look like one plant rather than two things stacked.
Shop the bendable pine cedar garland
Artificial Norfolk Pine Branches
If you would rather stay all evergreen, these 18 inch Norfolk pine stems are the move. The flat, fanned shape fills gaps that a standard garland leaves, and because they are individual stems you can push them in exactly where the garland looks thin. I use six to eight on a mantel length.
Step 3: Add Picks, Berries and Pinecones for Depth
Fullness is really about varied depth. A few oversize elements do more than a lot of small ones, so go bigger than feels right and use fewer of them. Push the stems in at an angle rather than straight down, and stagger them so no two sit directly across from each other.
Monterey Cypress Garland
The cheapest way to add bulk. On its own it is a thin six foot strand, which is exactly why it works as filler rather than as a feature. Weave a length of it down the middle of your main garland and it doubles the density without reading as another layer on top. Cut it into shorter pieces if you only need to fix one thin patch.
Shop the Monterey cypress garland
Snowy Cedar Picks with Red Berries
Frosted cedar sprays with a little red in them. Good if you want the classic look and a bit of color, and the frosting catches light so the garland does not go flat under a lamp.
Frosted Green Berry Stems
My pick when I want texture without color. Berries add tiny round shapes among all the needles, which is exactly the contrast that makes a garland read expensive.
Natural Pine Cones
Real pinecones beat faux every time and they cost almost nothing. Tuck them deep into the garland rather than resting them on top so they look like they grew there. Spaced evenly but not perfectly, which keeps it from looking like a pattern.
Step 4: Use Ribbon That Swags Instead of Bows
Wired ribbon is the only kind worth buying for this, because you can bend it and it holds the shape. Instead of tying bows along the garland, cut lengths of about eighteen inches, pinch the middle, and tuck them in so they loop out and then disappear back into the greenery. It reads full and expensive and takes a fraction of the time a row of bows does.
Camel Velvet Wired Ribbon
Neutral, warm, and it works with every other color in the room, which is why I keep coming back to it. The 2.5 inch width is the sweet spot for garland. Narrower disappears, wider overwhelms.
Burgundy Velvet Wired Ribbon with a Gold Edge
For a more traditional look. The gold edge is what keeps a deep red from going flat, and the satin back means the twists still look finished where the ribbon turns.
Step 5: Light It From the Inside
Lights should sit inside the garland, not on the surface of it. Run the strand along the center wire and then pull the branches back out over it. You lose the dotted-line look entirely and the whole thing glows from within instead.
Battery String Lights with a Timer
33 feet, 100 LEDs, green wire that vanishes into the greenery, and a timer so it comes on by itself every evening and shuts off overnight. Battery matters here, because a garland on a banister or a doorway is rarely near an outlet.
Shop the battery string lights
Command Clear Mini Light Clips
If you are running lights along a mantel edge or a doorframe rather than inside the garland, these hold the strand in place without tape or staples and come off clean in January.
Lighted Willow Branches with a Timer
Not strictly garland, but I mix these into mine every year. Mixing a few lit branches in among the greenery adds height and a different kind of sparkle than a string light gives you.
How to Hang It Without a Single Hole
This is the part people get stuck on, and the answer is different for every surface. Here is what I actually use in each spot.
On a Mantel
Clear wire toggle hooks on the underside of the mantel ledge, not the face. Place the center one first, then measure out from it so the rest are evenly spaced. The wire toggle closes over the garland so it cannot slide off, which is the failure mode with a plain hook. Press each one for thirty seconds and then leave it alone for an hour before you hang any weight on it. That hour is not optional and skipping it is why adhesive hooks fall off.
If you want a deeper swag than a hook allows, tie a loop of clear fishing line around the garland and hang the loop on the hook. You can adjust the drape to the inch, and nobody can see the line.
On a Staircase Banister
Twist ties, every time. Decorative green ties blend into the greenery, bend to any shape, and come off without scratching a finish, which zip ties cannot promise. Secure the garland at every few balusters rather than only at the ends so the swags stay even instead of sagging in the middle.
Shop the decorative twist ties
If you are doing a long staircase or more than one, the bulk pack of banister ties is the cheaper way to get there.
Around a Doorway or an Arch
Clear hooks at the two top corners and one at the center of the header, then floral wire to attach the garland to each hook. Floral wire is the unsung hero of all of this. It is cheap, it disappears into greenery, and it lets you cinch the garland tight to a hook so it does not shift every time the door closes.
On a Front Door, Including Glass
For a solid door, an over-the-door hanger is the no-damage answer. The adjustable one holds up to twenty pounds, which matters once you have layered a garland and added picks to it.
Shop the adjustable wreath hanger
Shop the budget over-the-door hook
For a glass storm door or a door with a full glass panel, where an over-the-door hanger will not close properly, a heavy duty suction hook is the answer. Clean the glass with rubbing alcohol first and let it dry completely. Suction cups fail on a dusty or oily surface, not because they are weak.
Shop the suction cup wreath hooks
Command also makes a clear hook rated specifically for outdoor window glass if you want adhesive rather than suction.
Outside, in the Weather
Indoor adhesive fails in the cold. You need weather-resistant strips, and you need to install them between 50 and 90 degrees, which usually means hanging your outdoor decor earlier in the season than you think. These outdoor clips are what I use along porch rails and eaves.
How Much Garland Do You Actually Need?
Buy more than the measurement says, because a garland hung tight and straight is the other reason it looks skimpy. The rule I use is 1.5 to 2 feet of garland for every linear foot you are covering. For a staircase, the easy shortcut is to count your steps and multiply by two, which gives you enough to drape about a foot below the railing.
For a mantel, measure the length and add at least half again so the ends can spill over the sides rather than stopping flat. A garland that stops exactly at the corners always looks short.
Take It Down the Easy Way
After all that fluffing, do not stuff it back into the original box. A hanging storage bag keeps the garland in a loop instead of folded, which means next year you unzip it and it is already full. This is genuinely the difference between twenty minutes of fluffing and five.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make cheap garland look expensive?
Fluff it thoroughly, layer a second strand with a different leaf shape, add three to six oversize picks rather than lots of small ones, tuck wired ribbon in as loops instead of bows, and run the lights inside the greenery rather than on top. The garland itself matters far less than those five things.
How do you hang garland without nails or damage?
Clear adhesive hooks with a wire toggle on a mantel, decorative twist ties on a banister, floral wire to hooks around a doorway, an over-the-door hanger or a suction hook on a front door, and weather-resistant clips outside. Press adhesive hooks for thirty seconds and wait an hour before hanging anything.
How much garland do I need for my staircase?
Count your steps and multiply by two to get the number of feet. That allows the garland to drape one to two feet below the railing instead of running tight along it.
Will Command hooks hold a heavy garland?
Yes, if you use enough of them and respect the weight rating. Medium wire toggle hooks hold about two pounds each, so space them every two to three feet and distribute the weight rather than relying on two end hooks. Hang nothing for the first hour after installing.
Should I use real or faux garland?
Faux, for anywhere that is hard to reach or that you want up for more than two weeks. Real cedar is beautiful for about ten days and then it sheds constantly. My compromise is faux as the base with a few real clippings wired in, which gives you the scent without the mess.
How do I keep garland from sliding off the mantel?
Use a hook that closes, like a wire toggle, or tie a loop of fishing line around the garland and hang the loop rather than resting the garland on an open hook. Open hooks and a heavy layered garland do not mix.
More Christmas Decorating Posts
If you need the garland itself, or the wreaths to go with it, start here.
The Best Artificial Christmas Garland and Wreaths
The Best Affordable Christmas Decor
The 12 Best Artificial Christmas Trees on Amazon
Trim the Tree: My Favorites for Christmas Tree Decorating
How to Style a Mantel: 5 Easy Rules to Follow
And if you want these roundups as soon as they go up, along with the sales worth paying attention to, join the email list below. It is the easiest way to catch the good stuff before it sells out.
