How to Make a Cranberry Centerpiece

Select a container to make your topiary in. I used this white pedestal planter.

If you are going to use fresh greenery, as I did, soak a piece of wet floral foam and set it in the bottom of your container. If you are going to use all artificial greenery, you can just use a piece of dry floral foam.

Paint a styrofoam ball with burgundy colored acrylic paint. You will want to use a sponge brush and dab the paint onto the ball. I used a six inch ball for my container. Your container will determine the size you want to use.

I used pittosporum added to my floral foam. Any evergreens will look great. You can also make the base of your topiary out of artificial greens. You do not need to fill the foam, just add the greenery around the edge. You are sort of making a nest for your styrofoam ball.

I love using holly at Christmas and wanted to add it to my topiary. I picked up several holly branches at Joann’s. I cut the branches into smaller pieces to add into my base for my cranberry balls.

Just add the holly into your arrangement as shown below. You can see how you could make this part totally out of your choice of fresh or artificial greenery.

Try out your styrofoam ball on the nest of greenery.

Next, take the ball and stick 3 wooden skewers in it as shown below. You want to make these short enough and close enough to one another that you can secure the sticks into the floral foam in the bottom of the planter.

Secure the ball into your floral foam and you can begin to add your cranberries.

This part will take the bulk of the time. Just start adhering your cranberries to the ball, beginning at the top. Use hot glue to stick them to the styrofoam ball.

Keep working all around the ball attaching the cranberries. When you get to this point you are going to want to pull the ball out of the floral foam.

Pull the ball gently out of the floral foam and carefully set it on a bowl to keep it from moving around. Do this to finish gluing the cranberries onto it. If you keep trying to attach them while it is in the planter you will end up with hot glue dripping down onto your foliage.

Rotate the ball around and finish attaching the berries to ALMOST all of the ball. This bottom part of the ball will be hidden resting in the greenery, so you do not need to cover it with cranberries.

Now you have a beautiful centerpiece to display on your Christmas table.

I made a pair of these to display on my holly themed Christmas table. They look so lovely on a table, but would also be beautiful on a sideboard or a kitchen island.