Outdoor Advent Wreath

The oldest two girls were perusing Pinterest this morning trying to come up with themed basket ideas for a wedding shower Caitlyn has to plan.   As I was looking at the amazing things creative people have come up with, I realized that I had been pretty creative myself just last year.  (This is not easy for me).

Last November I made an outdoor Advent wreath.  Although I would try to find a less expensive way to do it, if I had to do it again, I was really pleased with the results so I thought I'd share.  I realize it's only September 1st but, I've seen Halloween stuff out for at least a week so I think I'm good.  Some people like to plan ahead.

For the base I used a small table that we keep next to the bar-b-q.  It is really nice because  the legs are supported by a bar.  I used tent stakes on the bars to hold the table steady in the wind.

I bought four pretty sturdy, tall, rectangular candle holders here:  http://www.quickcandles.com/Pillar-Candle-Holders-s/41.htm.  Luckily they also had the purple and pink candles.  I got six purple and two pink to make it through the four weeks.

ACO had pink and purple colored sand.  Michaels had the wreath greenery and red ribbon.

I filled the candle holders with pink or purple sand (3 purple, 1 pink). The sand holds the candles nicely and since the candles were shorter than the holders, it brought them up to a good height.

One of the kids wrapped the greenery around the candle holders and Liz made a lovely bow.

Last Advent was especially rainy and so I had to devise a way to keep the rain off of the candles.  I put some perforated tin foil over the openings and used large rubber bands to hold it on.  Here are a couple of photos.