Faux Christmas Wreath Workshop with OKA {gifted experience}

Last night I took a little road trip over to Harrogate to visit the beautiful OKA showroom on West Park for their Faux Christmas Wreath Workshop. You know I love a wreath – my house is full of them!

It turned into a bit of an epic as I set off later than I would have liked, so I was rushing. Holly had me curling her hair, and the mum guilt was already at record levels because I wouldn’t be around to put her to bed so I couldn’t say no to the hair curling. It meant I set off ten minutes late, and had to rush down to Next to collect my emergency boots. My old black boots had had a hole in for goodness knows how long – I only noticed when I went to wear them in September, and hadn’t bought any new ones since!

 

 

Boots collected, I hit the motorway only to get stuck in the rush hour traffic. Typical. I wolfed down a falafel wrap en route, dropping falafel all over the car in the process. When I arrived in Harrogate, I found a parking space but had to nip to the machine to check whether to pay or not. I put my new boots on before I got out of the car, but had to cross the grass verge which was really soft and muddy, and made my heels sink in. So now the new boots were muddy! Joy. So I’ve arrived late, with muddy boots and probably covered in falafel. It wasn’t a great start!

 

 

The event was hosted by OKA’s Harrogate team and their in house florist (dream job!!) Emma. Emma works with the beautiful faux flowers to create all kinds of displays, including these stunning examples. We had nibbles, mulled wine, mince pies and there were beautiful Christmas displays throughout the store.

 

 

I loved the ladder idea – I’m wondering whether I could do something similar over my kitchen island for Christmas… It’s basically a ladder, some faux greenery garland and some other stems or flowers.

 

 

After quick introductions, during which I felt like such an imposter as everyone else there was a “proper” blogger, we had a tour of the shop. It is full of the most beautiful homeware and gifts with various room settings to give you inspiration.

 

 

We then started to create our wreaths. We were given a base of faux fir and an array of stems, berries, leaves and other interesting bits to add in. I chose the purple eucalyptus, the lambs ear/sage style plants and some oak leaves to add a hint of gold. I also chose a little badger ornament to have peeping out from in and amongst the greenery. This badger has since been commandeered by Holly, and has been on many an adventure around the house!

 

We layered the stems on the wreath, tweaking until we were happy, then used cable ties to secure the stems to the base.

As the stems and base are faux, they can be used over and over. They are amazing quality – you wouldn’t know they were faux unless you felt them, and even then it’s hard to tell! OKA has an amazing range of faux flowers to choose from, but also offers a wreath making service so you can have Emma or one of the team put something together for you.

 

I’m loving my faux wreath, and it looks equally good inside and on the front door! Now I’ve just got to decide where to hang it…!

 

 

This experience was gifted, however all opinions are my own.