I’ve made both of my Derby wreaths and I also made a custom Derby wreath for my parents complete with their own barn silks and winning horses.

If you want to make your own Derby wreath, here are the supplies that you will need. A grapevine wreath, burlap ribbon, grosgrain ribbon, silk flowers, greenery, wooden cutouts, and a glue gun. These are the crafts that I used to make my wreaths, but you can customize your wreath any way you would like.

You can use any kind of base from a wood cut-out, a grapevine wreath, a greenery wreath, or even a ribbon. Then all you do is embellish as you wish!

For this wreath, I started with a boxwood wreath. I glued roses all the way around and then used floral wire to attach the horse ornament. It used to be Man-o-War before 2018, and then I switched it to Justify! This wreath was fairly easy to make and not very time-consuming.

My new wreath and the one I made for my parents took a little more time, as they are made custom with their barn silks and Derby & Triple Crown Horses.

I started with a grapevine wreath and I secured some floral wire to the top of the wreath so that I can hang it on my door. I then wrapped the wreath in a burlap ribbon, gluing the ends down to secure it. I used a natural burlap, but you can use any color you want. Then, I wrapped a grosgrain ribbon around the burlap ribbon and glued the ends down. With the grosgrain ribbon, I made a bow and glued that onto the wreath. For my wreath, I put the bow on the top and for my parent’s wreath, I put the bow off-centered at the bottom. You can choose to put the bow anywhere you like, it’s your wreath!

Now, to adorn the wreath, I purchased wooden cutouts from Etsy and painted the horses to resemble Authentic (Derby Winner 2020) and Justify (Triple Crown Winner 2018). I painted the horseshoe and jockey silks - custom for my parents with their own barn, Storyteller Racing. Once the cutouts were painted and dry, I glued them onto the wreath. Then, I took some greenery (boxwood) and roses and glued them around the wreath. I kept going until I was satisfied with how the wreath looked. Once it was finished and the glue was dry, I held up my wreath and made sure it looked good. I filled in any holes and added more glue to anything that didn’t look secure. That's it!

I proudly hang this wreath on my front door and love that I made it myself! This is a fun craft to do with your kids too. So, go get some supplies and make yourself a Derby wreath. Be creative and make it yours. Don't worry about making it perfect, just have fun!