How to Run Wreath Making Workshops: A Complete Guide for Florists

Wreath making workshops can fill a quiet patch in the calendar and put new customers in front of your work. Whether they pay well depends on the ticket price, attendance and the full cost of running each session.

If you are weighing up your first workshop, or you already run a few and want them to pay better, this guide walks through the lot: pricing, supplies, class sizes, timing, marketing and insurance.

Why Workshops Work for Florists

Take an illustrative Christmas wreath workshop with 12 attendees at £60 a ticket: £720 in ticket sales. At £20 of materials and £5 of refreshments per person, those costs total £300, leaving £420 before your other costs. This example uses figures before VAT where applicable.

Eight fully booked sessions at those figures leave £3,360 before labour, venue hire, fees, marketing and other overheads. Include your preparation, teaching and clear-up time before calling the remainder profit.

The money is only half of it, though. Every person in the room is a customer you might keep. They watch you work, they get to know you, and they leave with something they made in your shop. Plenty come back later for bouquets, wedding consultations and gift orders long after the wreath has gone on the compost heap.

Workshop Structure

Duration

Run a trial with beginners and time the demonstration, making up, individual help and clearing away. Use that to set the advertised duration. A meal or a more involved design needs additional time.

Class Size

Lay out a complete workstation before setting the capacity. Allow room for the wreath, tools and shared materials, plus clear access and exits. Check the venue's capacity and accessibility requirements.

Test how many people you can support during the trial. Include an assistant in the budget if the group needs more help than one tutor can give. A smaller class can work financially if its ticket price covers the session's costs.

Venue Options

Your own shop or studio: include cleaning, heating and any normal trading time you lose, even if there is no separate hire invoice.

Hotels, restaurants or pubs: agree hire, refreshments, staffing and any share of ticket revenue in writing. Check who handles bookings and cancellations.

Corporate offices: inspect the room and check access, unloading and travel costs before quoting. Agree a minimum booking value from your costs, rather than assuming a corporate client will pay more per person.

Pricing

Cost the whole session, then divide by a realistic paid attendance. Include materials, refreshments, preparation, teaching, an assistant if needed, clear-up, venue hire and booking fees. Add the return you need for running it.

Set a minimum booking value for private groups if the session has costs that do not fall when fewer people attend. State what happens if the group size changes.

What Changes the Cost

• The size and recipe of the wreath, including ribbon and decorations
• Food and drink, if included
• Venue hire and travel
• Preparation and teaching time
• Extra assistance or equipment

Supplies and Costs

Materials Per Person (Christmas Wreath)

A standard Christmas wreath kit holds:

• Wire wreath ring (12" or 14")
• Sphagnum or carpet moss
• Reel wire and stub wires
• Twine
• Fresh conifer foliage (2-3 varieties: noble fir, blue spruce, pine)
• Accent foliage (eucalyptus, pistache, skimmia)
• Dried fruit slices (orange, apple)
• Cinnamon sticks and pine cones
• Ribbon (wired ribbon for bows)

Get a dated quote for the quantities you need, including delivery and VAT where applicable. Compare complete kits with separate components on the same basis. Include spare materials and the time spent dividing them into attendee kits.

Profit Margins

In the £60 ticket example, subtracting £20 for materials and £5 for refreshments leaves £35 a head, or £420 for 12 people. At an illustrative £95 ticket with those same costs, £70 remains per person, or £840 for 12 people. If the higher ticket price includes better materials or refreshments, increase those costs too.

Neither amount is net profit. Deduct your own time, assistant wages, venue hire, payment or booking fees, marketing and other overheads. If you want to check your own figures, use the Arrangement Calculator to cost materials and labour per head, then include the remaining session costs when setting your ticket price.

Seasonal Calendar

Plan dates around your workroom capacity and the designs you can teach. Test demand before buying materials for a full season.

Christmas (October to December)

Choose dates that leave enough time for your normal Christmas orders. Show the finished design and explain whether it is intended for an indoor or outdoor display.

Autumn (September to November)

Autumn wreath workshops built around seed heads, berries, dried flowers and seasonal foliage make a good warm-up to Christmas. Harvest and Halloween are possible themes to test with your audience.

Spring (March to May)

Easter wreath workshops using dried flowers, quail eggs, feathers and mosses tap the same craft crowd. Mother's Day timing works well as a gift-experience booking. Living wreath workshops with spring bulbs and fresh foliage give you a different seasonal angle.

Summer (May to September)

Dried flower wreaths can be offered throughout the year and suit summer, when fresh foliage is everywhere but Christmas feels a long way off. Fresh herb wreaths with lavender, rosemary and sage make a nice seasonal change.

Year-Round Opportunities

• Dried flower wreaths (no seasonal limit)
• Valentine's Day themed workshops
• Wedding season bridal party workshops
• Corporate team days (any time of year)

At the illustrative £60 ticket price with 12 attendees, 18-20 fully booked workshops would bring in £12,960-£14,400 in ticket sales before costs. Work out expected attendance and costs for each season before budgeting for that income.

Running the Workshop

Demonstration

Open with a full demo of the finished piece. Show the start and the end, but do not finish your demo wreath completely. People need to see what they are aiming for without feeling beaten by a perfect example.

Talk through each step before you do it. Demonstrate slowly and clearly. Then let everyone start while you work the room.

Common Mistakes to Manage

Beginners trip over the same things every time, and knowing them in advance lets you head them off:

1. Not using enough greenery. Put plenty out and push people to use it. Sparse wreaths are the number-one let-down.
2. No focal point. Teach them to build one main area of interest rather than dotting decorations evenly.
3. Cheap ribbon. Always give wired ribbon that holds its shape. It is the difference between a finished-looking wreath and a homemade one.
4. Decorations falling off. Spend time on the wiring. This is the skill people value most.
5. Odd numbers look better. Groups of 1, 3 or 5 focal flowers sit better than even numbers.

Refreshments and Atmosphere

For Christmas workshops the usual is mulled wine or Prosecco with mince pies. Budget £3-5 a head. Coffee, tea and seasonal treats cover you the rest of the year.

Have background music on while people work, but turn it off for your demo. Good lighting and a warm room matter more than people expect, especially in winter when doors keep opening and closing.

Photography

Set up a wreath photo spot with decent lighting. Get people to photograph their finished work and share it. Put a branded hashtag card at each workstation. Ask permission before reusing attendee photographs in your own marketing.

Offer a group photo at the end to attendees who want to take part. It doubles as a last check that everyone is happy with their wreath before they head off.

Wreath Making Kits

A kit is another format to cost and test. Include assembly, packaging, instructions and delivery, as well as the materials inside.

A typical kit has a wire ring, moss, reel wire, stub wires, twine, a selection of fresh foliage, dried fruit slices, cinnamon sticks, pine cones, ribbon and a step-by-step leaflet. Some include a QR code to an online video tutorial.

Virtual Workshops

They started in lockdown, but virtual wreath workshops have stuck around as a real format. Kits go out to people's homes ahead of a Zoom session, with you guiding the group through it live. This works especially well for corporate teams spread across different locations.

Revenue Potential from Kits

For an illustrative batch of 100 kits sold at £58 each, sales total £5,800. Materials at £20 per kit cost £2,000, leaving £3,800 before assembly time, packaging, delivery, payment fees and other overheads. That remainder is not net profit. Use figures before VAT where applicable, as in the workshop example.

Marketing

Where to List

• Eventbrite is heavily used by UK florists and brings a built-in audience, ticketing and sharing
• Your own website for direct bookings; check your booking software and payment fees
• ClassBento and Obby are marketplaces for creative workshops with their own audiences
• CraftCourses.com is a UK directory built for craft workshops
• DesignMyNight suits London and other city-based workshops

Social Media

Use the channels where your own enquiries come from. Show the design, date, location, price and what the ticket includes.

Post the behind-the-scenes prep, finished wreath close-ups, and attendee photos (with permission). A time-lapse can show the making process; compare enquiries and bookings with the effort spent producing it.

Tactics That Work

• Show how many places are left so people know the session is filling ("4 places remaining")
• Offer early-bird pricing to reward early bookers and bring cash in sooner
• Run bring-a-friend discounts to fill seats through word of mouth
• Keep booking records and marketing preferences separately. If you run Digital Florists, it keeps customer records and supports segmentation. Check the recorded marketing permission before using a list for invitations
• Target local SEO for "wreath making workshop [your town]"
• Pitch local press with a human-interest angle about how your workshops started

Insurance

Before your first workshop, check your insurance covers the activity.

Ask your insurer about public liability cover for the workshop activity, including the tools, venue and number of attendees. Check exclusions, limits and any conditions. The venue may require proof of cover before confirming the booking.

Employers' liability insurance is usually required if you employ staff to help. Check the rules and exemptions for your arrangement. Fines for running without it can reach £2,500 a day.

Get a quote for your own activities and tell the insurer when those activities change. Do not assume an existing shop policy includes teaching at another venue.

Health and Safety

Run a risk assessment before every workshop at every venue. Think about tool safety (bypass pruners and wire cutters need a quick safety briefing), allergies (ask at booking), and first aid. Agree who is responsible for refreshments, allergens and food handling. Check the food business requirements with your local authority; a short menu does not remove them. For alcohol, check the venue's licence and the licensing rules for your event before including it in a ticket.

Getting Started

If you have never run a workshop, start small:

1. Run a trial session for friends or family to practise your demo and your timing
2. Set up 2-3 public sessions for the coming season and list them on Eventbrite and your website
3. Price from your session costs and the number of paid places you can reasonably expect
4. Photograph your sample design and ask permission before photographing attendees for marketing
5. Offer a separate marketing opt-in for future sessions. Follow the ICO's email marketing rules; providing an address for a booking does not itself give marketing consent

After each session, compare actual time and costs with your budget. Ask attendees what needed more explanation and adjust the next session before selling more places.

Common Questions

How much should I charge for a wreath making workshop?

Work from materials, labour, venue hire, refreshments, fees and other session costs. Divide by realistic paid attendance and include the return you need. Publish what the ticket covers and any minimum group booking value.

How profitable are wreath making workshops?

In the illustrative £60 ticket example, £20 of materials and £5 of refreshments leave £35 per person, or £420 for 12 attendees. Deduct your own time, assistant wages, venue hire, fees, marketing and other overheads to find the profit. All figures in that example are before VAT where applicable.

How many people should a wreath workshop have?

Set the limit after laying out workstations and running a trial. Check venue capacity and access, and budget for enough assistance to support the group. There is no single profitable class size for every venue and tutor.

What materials do I need for a Christmas wreath workshop?

Per person you need a wire ring (12" or 14"), moss, reel and stub wires, twine, two to three conifer varieties, accent foliage, dried fruit slices, cinnamon sticks, pine cones and wired ribbon. Get supplier quotes for your recipe and include delivery, spare materials and preparation time.

Do I need insurance to run wreath making workshops?

Check workshop cover with your insurer and the venue before taking bookings. Employers' liability cover is usually required when you employ staff, subject to exemptions. Ask what activities, locations and equipment the policy covers and what conditions apply.

When is the best time of year to run wreath workshops?

Choose a seasonal design and dates you can support alongside normal orders. Test demand before committing to a run of sessions. Budget for expected bookings, rather than treating every available place as a sale.

If you are pricing your wreath workshops, the Arrangement Calculator helps you cost materials per attendee and work towards a ticket price based on your own costs. And if you are naming a workshop brand, the Florist Shop Name Generator can help with that too.