A little while ago, as I was driving up a road I don’t travel frequently, I saw a wreath made of flip flops hanging on the side of someone’s house. Initially, I had mixed feelings about the concept. But, for some reason, I couldn’t get that wreath out of my mind! So, I went cruising Pinterest to see if I could get an idea of how to make one. I found a Pin with a flip flop wreath, but I did not read the directions, I just used the picture as a sort of guideline.
I decided I was going to make this wreath as a birthday present for my Grandma last year. Her birthday is on the Fourth of July, and she loves decorating her house for holidays, and she loves flip flops. She is also a firecracker, so it is very appropriate that she was born on the Fourth of July! I thought this would be perfect for her, because it combines a whole bunch of things she enjoys!
To purchase the materials, I took a trip to the Dollar Tree. Everything there is $1.00! I found their American flip flop section. I chose 6 pairs of flip flops from the rack. They were actually pretty picked out, so I ended up with a couple duplicate pairs, but now that the wreath is complete, it is hardly noticeable. I also got all size large flip flops, because I thought it would be simpler to experiment using all the same size flip flops. I think using different sized flip flops (for example, 3 pairs large and 3 pairs small) would work out fine. It would give the wreath a bit of a different look. I went over to the fake flower section and picked out one bouquet each of red, white, and blue flowers. So the supplies for this wreath cost $9.54 total. Less than ten bucks…not bad!
Before I started, I took some old Boscov’s fliers and laid them out on the floor. Since I would be using a hot glue gun for this adventure, I did not want the “spider webs” to be all over the carpet!
I took all of the tags and hangers off of the flip flops, and sorted them by pattern.
Then, I started laying out the flip flops in a circular pattern. I started by placing one flip flop facing straight up and another facing straight down. I then took four more flip flops and evenly spaced them, placing two facing right and two facing left. I had six evenly spaced flip flops laying on the floor.
So, now comes the gluing. I put a glob of hot glue on each “bottom corner” of the flip flops so they would all be fastened together at least a little bit in the center. I did not attempt to pick them up because they were not sturdy at all!
Next, I started to place the remaining flip flops on top of the wreath base. As long as the base flip flops are spaced evenly, the top flip flops slide easily between the straps of the bottom flip flops. Once all of the top six flip flops were placed, I began to glue them.
I actually glued them two different ways. I started by hot gluing the bottom side of the top level flip flops. I just made a “V” between the two strap dots and put a few extra globs of glue toward the outer edges.
I carefully put the flip flop in its place on the wreath. I pressed down with my hand on the glued portion of the flip flop for a little while, until the glue cooled a bit.
The second way I fastened the flip flops was by placing the glue onto the base layer flip flops, and then placed the second level flip flop on top. Both ways of gluing worked fine, so if you try this, you can just choose whichever way is easier for you!
As I was gluing the second layer of flip flops on, I was noticing that the edges weren’t all sticking together. So, to attempt to remedy this, I stuck the tip of the glue gun under the edge of the flip flop, squeezed a dab, and then held it down for a little while.
After all of the flip flops were fastened together and it actually looked like a wreath, I wanted to hold it up and give it a good look. I reached through the middle of the wreath to pick it up, and it did not feel incredibly sturdy. I also discovered that some of the glue stuck to the paper underneath. I just got as much of that off as I could, it wasn’t a huge deal.
To try to fix the sturdiness issue, I decided to turn into a plumber caulking a bathtub! I ran a line of hot glue along every crease where a flip flop met another flip flop to try to seal everything up. I think it helped a little bit, because when I picked it up to turn it back over, it did feel a little more sturdy.
Now for the flower center! I popped the flowers off of their stems. I just took my thumb and ran in along the stem and pushed up on the thicker green plastic piece at the base of the flower.
Once all of the flowers were de-stemmed, I began to place them in the middle of the wreath. I started by putting a glob of glue on the base of the flower, and then tucked it into the crease where two top layer flip flops meet.
Even though all of the creases were filled, the center still looked a little empty. I started gluing flowers into the voids.
Once I had the flower placed where I wanted it, I took one pedal and added a dab of glue and pressed it onto the nearest flip flop. Here is where things got a little hairy. Apparently, the pedals were so thin that the heat from the glue kept trying to burn my fingers! So, if you try this, be careful!!
I finished the flowers by gluing a few of the center pedals together, just to try to prevent them from falling out the back of the wreath.
I think it turned out pretty good! And the best part is…my Grandma loved it!
If you also enjoy fun summer decorations, I encourage you to give this a try! Use brightly colored flip flops! Or use different sizes! There are many different possibilities! If you do try it out, feel free to comment and let me know how it worked and anything you did differently!
