How to Hang Outdoor Christmas Garland Around the Front Door

Learn how to hang outdoor Christmas garland around your front door so your home will be looking beautiful and festive this holiday season!

Don’t hate me! I know it’s not nearly Christmas yet. But I wanted to make sure I got a few tutorials up before the decorating frenzy hits in case they would be helpful!

Also, the pictures I’m using in this post are from previous years. We haven’t decorated our own house yet. So no need to worry about my sanity! (Well, at least not for this reason… 😉 )

So now that I have that caveat out of the way, let’s talk about garland around the door! This was something that intimidated me the first time I did it because I wasn’t quite sure how to attach it and make it stay put. But it is actually a pretty simple thing to do. (And it looks GORGEOUS during the holidays!)

If you’ve never done an around-the-door garland before, read on to learn my oh-so-simple method for installing one. And get ready for your house to look so, so beautiful for the holidays!

How to Install an Outdoor Garland Around the Door for the Holidays

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Step 1- Gather the supplies.

You definitely don’t need any super fancy tools for this project. Here’s what I used to hang my garland:

Step 2- Install your hooks.

I debated for a while about the best way to go about hanging my garland. I considered Command Hooks but have had problems with them falling down before and didn’t want to mess with that. So I ended up twisting these small hooks directly into our door frame.

Now I admit, I was a little nervous about putting permanent holes in the frame of the door. However, the holes are so small that they would be easy to patch and paint if I would want to remove the hooks. But rather than patch and paint every year, I have just left the hooks in the door frame. I put them there in 2016, and they are still going strong!

Since the hooks are white, they blend in enough that they’re not noticeable. And it makes it really easy to hang my Christmas garland every year! (I’ve taken tons of porch photos for the blog over the years and no one has ever noticed the hooks. Guests don’t notice them either!)

I inserted four hooks on each side of the door frame and one hook at the top center of the frame for a total of 9 hooks. You can see exactly where I placed them in the image below. (I circled them so they were easier to see!)

(Is it driving me a little nuts that the hooks are not perfectly symmetrical now that I have them circled and it’s obvious? Uh, yes. 😂)

Step 3- Attach the garland to the hooks.

Now that the hooks are in place, it is time to hang our garland! I have used two different methods to do this, and both work well.

Originally, I used a package of dollar store floral wire that I had on hand to attach the garland to the hooks. My floral wire happened to be 20 gauge wire that was 16 inches in length. To make sure my garland held firmly in place, I doubled up and used two pieces of floral wire at a time.

First I wrapped the two pieces of floral wire around the wire on the garland, where the floral wire would be hidden by the greenery of the garland. Then I twisted it a few times to keep it in place. I then wrapped the two ends of the floral wire around the hook on my door frame several times to hold it there.

This year I ran out of floral wire. So I used zip-ties instead, and it worked really well too!

I simply wrapped the zip-tie around the garland and made a loose loop. I slid the loop over the hook and tightened it up, and the garland stayed firmly in place.

Once the garland was secured, I trimmed off the tails of the zip-ties using scissors. Then I fluffed the garland so it looked nice and full and completely hid the zip-ties.

Plugging in Around-the-Door Christmas Garland

For me, it was the easiest to start at the top center of my door frame and work my way down the door to install the two 9-foot garlands.

I made sure that the plug for the garland that would NOT be directly connected to the outlet on the house was at the top center position on the door frame. Then I could connect it to the other garland that would be plugging into the outlet.

Our outlet is sort of camouflaged into our stonework to the left of our door, and it just happens to hide nicely behind my planter! I just made sure that the plug of my garland on this side of the door ended up at the bottom, close to the outlet.

In the photo below from a few years ago, you can just barely see the cord from the garland snaking up to the outlet…

Step 4- Enjoy your beautiful outdoor Christmas garland!

I love making the front of our house look all festive for the holiday season! We don’t go crazy with lights, so greenery (real and faux) is our go-to way to add some Christmas spirit to the porch.

I love that this project– which was initially kind of intimidating to me– ended up being an easy way to spruce up our outdoor decor for the holidays.

Here’s a little peek at what the outdoor Christmas garland around the door looks like at night:

Aaaaaannnnnddddd… now I’m all excited to break out this year’s Christmas decor! 🙂

Do you hang a garland around your front door for the holidays? Do you use the same method as me or something different? I’d love to hear your strategy in the comments below!

And if you’re planning to hang an outdoor Christmas garland this year and want to refer back to this tutorial, be sure to pin the image below so you can find it easily!

Thank you so much for following along! Have a wonderful day!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.