Dried Fruit Christmas Tree Decorations

This year, why try your hand at making these dried fruit Christmas tree decorations?

Making your own Christmas decorations is a great way to add a personal touch to your holiday decor.

They’re easy to make and require just a few supplies. Plus, they’ll add a festive and colorful touch to your tree.

So gather up some apples, oranges, lemons, and limes, and get started on this fun holiday project!

Dried Fruit Christmas Tree Decorations

We’ve been wanting to make dried fruit Christmas tree decorations for a while now, so we made some at the weekend!

We dried out orange and apple slices – I love the star shape that you get when you cut through an apple – added a raffia loop and hung them on our tree!

There are a few methods that you can use to dry fruit slices to hang on Christmas trees – air-dry (over a radiator), in an oven, or in a microwave.

I’ll be focusing on the first two methods in this post, but check out Rainy Day Mum’s microwave tutorial for when you are really pressed for time.

And if you don’t want to dry your own fruit, you can buy them from Amazon done-for-you:

Materials & Tools Used in This Craft

For your convenience, I’ve linked [some of] the materials and tools needed for this project to Amazon below. The quantities are on the craft tutorial card at the end of this post.

• Sharp Knife – you want to use a good sharp knife to get nice, clean slices of fruit.
• Chopping/Cutting Board
• Baking/Cookie Sheet
• Parchment Paper – also known as baking paper or greaseproof paper.
• Wire Rack – when airdrying this will enable the air to get all around the slices of fruit.
• Paper Towels – to blot away excess moisture and to give the drying process a headstart.
• Fresh Oranges – you could also use other citrus fruits like lemons, limes, and grapefruits.
• Fresh Apples – you could also use pears – slice them lengthways to keep their beautiful shape.
• Whole Cloves – this is an optional extra to stud into the slices and add a terrific aroma to your decorations.
• Raffia – I love the look of raffia on the dried fruit slices, but you could also use jute twine or ribbon.

You will also need something to make small holes at the top of each slice. This could be a plastic straw or the tip of a large round piping tip.

How To Dry Fruit for Christmas Decorations

Airdrying Method

Step #1: Use a sharp knife to cut your fruit into ½cm/¼” slices. Discard the two ends of the fruit.

Cut apples across the circumference, rather than vertically through the core. This (should) yield the pretty star shapes where the seeds are.

Step #2: Create a small hole at the top of each slice (to thread the fruit onto raffia) using a plastic straw, or something else to pierce a hole such as a large round piping tip.

If you are using cloves in your decorations, press 3 or 4 into the fruit.

Step #3: Use paper towels to blot the fruit as dry as possible.

Step #4: Place the fruit slices onto a wire cooling rack, in a single layer and place them in a very warm dry place. We actually placed our orange slices over our kitchen radiator!

Turn the fruit slices over, especially if drying over a heat source like we did. It will take about a day (maybe more depending on the conditions of your house) for the fruit to dry completely.

Our Tip! We had the heating on and off during the day, but they still dried out with the warmth of the air in the house.

Oven Drying Method

Step #1: Prepare the fruit as in steps 1 to 3 of the airdrying method.

Step #2: Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper. You could also place a wire rack over the baking sheet to allow for more air circulation. Place the fruit onto the baking sheet in one layer.

Step #3: Set your oven to the lowest it can go – this will probably be around 100°C/225°F/Gas ¼.

Place the fruit into the oven for 1 hour, check and turn them over, and return to the oven for another hour. If the fruit is still flexible, turn them over again, continue to dry out, and check at 30-minute intervals.

Depending on the heat of your oven, and the thickness of your fruit, the time may be slightly longer or shorter.

Learn From Our Trial and Error!

It is very easy to make these dried fruit decorations, but it was a bit of trial and error for us to begin with!

We started by putting the fruit slices in the oven at the very lowest temperature.

After an hour we checked them, and all looked good. We left them for another hour, still fine…but then, we forgot about them! Oops!

The apples were okay, but the oranges had turned a horrible brown colour so we threw them in the trash.

How To Hang Dried Fruit Slices

With the fruit all dried, it is time to assemble them so you can hang them on your Christmas tree!

We decided to use some raffia, but you could use string or ribbon.

• Step #1: Cut the raffia into approximately 30cm/12″ lengths, and fold it in half to create a loop.
• Step #2: Push the loop through the pre-prepared hole at the top of the fruit slice, and pull partway to the other side.
• Step #3: Thread the loose ends of the raffia through the loop and gently pull to tighten.
• Step #4: Decide how long you would like your loop to be and tie a knot to secure it. Cut away any excess raffia.
  
  Use the images below to understand my method of forming a hanging loop! If you have your own way of doing things, please go for it!

Ways To Use Dried Fruit Christmas Decorations

Hanging the dried fruit slices on your tree is just one way you can use them to decorate for the holidays, so here are some more ideas for you:

• Attach the fruit to floristry wire to use in wreaths.
• Similarly, attach to garlands to decorate stair rails/banisters. You could also add cinnamon sticks and ribbon for an added festive touch.
• Use them to decorate charcuterie boards, cheeseboards, or other seasonal platters of food.
• Fill a bowl with dried citrus slices, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, star anise, and pine cones to make your own potpourri centerpiece.
• Use them as a garnish for winter cocktails, drinks, or desserts.

And if you don’t want to dry your own fruit, you could buy bags of dried cranberries, sultanas (golden raisins), and raisins to make long “jewel” strings to hang across Christmas tree branches!

More Ornament Crafts

Looking for more homemade Christmas ornaments to make? Right-click and open these in a new tab to read next!

• Reindeer Ornament Craft Using Cricut Cutting Machine
• Easy No-Sew Felt Christmas Ornament Penguin + Free Printable Pattern
• Felt Snowman Ornament Craft (Easy Sewing Activity for Winter!)
• Faux Hot Cocoa Cup Ornament Craft for Your Christmas Tree!
• Homemade DIY Christmas Baubles and Ornaments

I’ve shared lots of great craft ideas on The Purple Pumpkin Blog over the years, in fact, there are 100+ crafts to make and do at home for you to try!

It’s become quite the tradition for us to have a small evergreen tree as well as an artificial tree…last year we made gingerbread Christmas tree decorations.

We also collected lots of pine cones from our walk in the park at the weekend, and turned them into Glitter Pinecones!

I’ve also got lots more Christmas Crafts for Adults for you to try out. Right-click and open a new tab to read next.

This post is part of my long-running Create the Holidays series on The Purple Pumpkin Blog. Since 2012, I’ve shared free printables, crafts, recipes, and more for Christmas and the Winter Holidays. While I don’t officially run the series anymore, seasonal inspiration will still be here! Browse past Create the Holidays (formerly Create Christmas) years: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.

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