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How to Dry Orange Slices & other Citrus Fruits for Christmas Decorations

Bringing natural elements into the home during the festive season is one of my favourites, and if we can create them ourselves even better – twigs and pinecones make beautiful Natural Ornaments but they aren’t the only things – dried citrus fruit makes a fantastic addition to your natural decorating and they are so easy to make. Follow our simple tutorial on How to dry oranges for Christmas Decorations, it’s so easy the kids can get involved too!

How to Dry the Perfect Orange Slices for Natural Garlands and Ornaments

Watch the video and then carry on to get all the materials instructions and at the bottom, you can print them all out for easy referral.

Check out these beautiful Orange Tea Light Holders that you can make with any additional Oranges that you make have.

I remember doing this as a child, it’s age-old and there are many ways to do it – but this is our prefered method and the kids can even help to create them – strung up, made into a wreath, ornaments and even in a bowl of homemade potpourri they last a while and are really festive.

If you don’t want to wait hours for them to dry we have perfected our orange slices dried in the microwave method and shared it now! It’s so easy in just over an hour you can have homemade dried orange slices ready to craft with.

Full step-by-step instructions on how to dry your own whole oranges to create natural Christmas decorations for the home.
Homemade Whole Dried Oranges with Slits

You can also dry whole oranges with slits at home find out How to Dry Whole Oranges.

Materials and Equipment for Making Orange and Lemon Slices for Christmas Ornaments

  • Oranges or lemons
  • Knife
  • Chopping Board
  • Oven
  • Baking Tray
  • Parchment or Greaseproof paper
  • Optional Cloves for decoration and scent

Instructions on Drying citrus fruit for Christmas Garlands, Wreaths and decorations

Cut up the fruit in thin slices.

kids adding cloves to orange slices to make dried fruit decorations for Christmas

Once the fruit is sliced place onto baking trays which have been lined with a sheet of baking paper/greaseproof paper.

To add to the Christmas smell add in some cloves which believe me will make your house smell amazing as they dry in the oven.

to dry citrus fruit for festive decorations
Process of how to dry orange slices with kids and easy Christmas craft using Natural materials.

With all complete put into the oven at 75C (lowest setting on my oven) and after 2-hours turn over the slices, then another 2-hours repeating until they are dry.

Depending on your oven they make take longer and also based on the size of the slices that you cut.

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Ideas for using Dried Fruit Slices For Handmade Christmas Decorations.

dried orange christmas decorations in a bowl
  • Once dried get ready to create some amazing natural decorations in the home. Here are just a couple of suggestions of how you could use them.
  • Fill up a bowl with the dried citrus fruit, add in some cloves, cinnamon sticks, star anise and pine cones to create some festive potpourri for the home.
  • Use a decorative glass vase and fill with the dried slices and why not add in some fake Lemons and Limes and Oranges (these won’t go mouldy when left all over the festive season).
  • Combine with twine and cinnamon sticks to create decorations for the tree.
  • Possibly my favourite way is to decorate the bannister with an artificial evergreen garland, add in the dried fruit, some cinnamon sticks tie these in with some florist wire which hides and you can even add in extra parts of holly. At the end of the festive season remove the dried fruit and use as potpourri for the winter and store the garland for next winter.
how to dry orange and lemon slices

How to Dry Orange Slices for Christmas Decorations

Cerys Parker
Simple how-to guide on drying orange slices at home for Christmas. Use them for wreaths, garlands for decorations for the tree with kids.
3.80 from 24 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cooking Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes

Video

Equipment Needed

  • Oven
  • Chopping Board
  • Knife

Materials Needed
  

  • Oranges you can use lemons and limes as well
  • Cloves optional for added decoration to the orange slides when drying

Instructions
 

  • Chop the orange into slices about 1/2cm thick.
  • Place on a lined baking tray.
  • Into an oven at 100C.
  • After 2 hours turn the orange slices.
  • Leave for a further 2 hours in the oven.
  • Check and turn.
  • If they are still very flexible you may need to return them for another hour or two this will vary with your oven and the thickness of the orange slices.
  • Remove and let cool before using for decorations.
Keyword Christmas Decorations, Dried Orange Slices, How to Dry Orange Slices, Natural Crafts
Have you Made This?Let us know how it went!

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How to dry citrus fruits for festive decorations
Dried orange slices
Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

18 Comments

  1. Thank you for this great idea and detailed explanation.

    Do you think it is a good idea to spray the dried fruit slices with hairspray to preserve them for longer?

    Thank you in advance for your reply,
    Marina

    1. I never have but have seen people covering them in mod podge. Mine are now a couple of years old and still going well.

  2. Jennifer Wakefield says:

    How close to Christmas do you make yours?

    1. I am still using the ones I made last year in a Port Pouri they can be kept and reused once dry so when you are ready and have the time you can make them.

  3. Are these okay to eat? I’ve purchased dried oranges somewhere — maybe Trader Joe’s — and they were delicious, but I think they had added sugar.

    1. They are 100% natural so you could, but they are bitter dried apple slices like we made our apple star ornaments with are delicious though and don’t need any extra sugar.

  4. Isela Garay says:

    Tried these!!! They are HEAVENLY! I’ve hung them up against my windows at work and at home – they look like stained glass and smell syrupy sweet!Thank you so much for sharing!

    1. Ohhhh fantastic – I love ours – I’ve combined them with whole oranges and a garland to drape down the stairs this year and they look fabulous and make the house smell amazing.

  5. I ONLTY HAVE A DAUTH AND IS THAT DRY FRUT CAN BE OK TO MAKE DECORETION AT LANTINS CONTRYES THAT DOESNT SNOW AND IS SUMER TIME ALL TIME I ASK FOR THE HUMIDITY ? i am from south mexico

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