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

Wreath making workshops are one of the steadiest extra income lines a florist can add. They fill a quiet patch in the calendar, put new customers in front of your work, and the margins are good for the hours you put in.

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

The maths is plain. A standard Christmas wreath workshop with 12 attendees at £60 a ticket brings in £720. Materials run roughly £20 a head at wholesale, and refreshments add another £3-5. After costs, you are looking at £400-500 net from a single two-hour session.

Run eight sessions across November and December and you have added £3,200-4,000 to the year, in a window when a lot of florists are treading water between wedding season and the Christmas order rush.

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

Most workshops that go well run 1.5 to 2 hours. That gives you time for a demo, the hands-on bit, and a relaxed finish without anyone feeling rushed. You can stretch a premium session to 2.5-3 hours if you build in a seated lunch or afternoon tea, but two hours suits most formats.

Class Size

The group that works best is 12-15 people. Below eight, the room goes flat and the numbers stop adding up. Above 20, you cannot give everyone enough attention on your own. Each person needs about two feet of table space (three is more comfortable), so your room sets your ceiling.

For groups over 12, have at least one assistant working the room. They field questions, help anyone falling behind, and keep things moving while you stay on the instruction.

Venue Options

Your own shop or studio is the most honest setting and the cheapest to run. It shows off the business too, though space usually caps your numbers.

Hotels and restaurants come with the atmosphere already built in, and you can bundle the workshop with afternoon tea or a festive meal. Hotels like Boringdon Hall, Langley Castle and Hotel Indigo Manchester all host florist-led wreath workshops. Some venues take a cut of ticket revenue rather than a flat hire fee, so price that in.

Pubs are getting more popular. Fuller's pubs run wreath workshops from as little as £19.99 a head across a number of UK venues, which shows how the partnership model scales.

Corporate offices are a different game. Mobile workshops, where you travel to the client, are in demand for team days. Corporate bookings usually pay more per head and come in bigger groups.

Pricing

What you charge swings a lot with your positioning and where you are. Here is a realistic read on the UK market:

For corporate and private group bookings, you price per head with a minimum spend. Expect to charge £60-£70 a person with a minimum of £600-£800 per booking. Some providers do tiered rates: Botanique Workshop in London charges £67 a person for groups of 12-20, dropping to £61 a person for groups of 31-42.

What Pushes the Price Up

• Premium materials (luxury velvet ribbon, David Austin roses, exotic dried flowers)
• Food and drink included (Prosecco and mince pies are standard; afternoon tea is the upgrade)
• Venue prestige (a hotel ballroom commands more than a village hall)
• Brand reputation (an established flower school charges more than a first-time host)

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)

Wholesale cost: roughly £15-20 a person. Triangle Nursery sells a pre-made wholesale wreath kit at £19.95 plus VAT per person, with a wire frame, moss, binding wire, floristry wires, conifer, blue spruce, pistache, twine, dried fruit and cones. Buying the components separately can bring it nearer £10-15 a person if you pull foliage straight from your existing wholesale suppliers.

Profit Margins

At a £60 ticket with £20 materials and £5 refreshments, your gross profit is £35 a head. With 12 people, that is £420 a session. At a premium £95 ticket, the same sum gives you £70 a person, or £840 for a session of 12.

Add the rest of the costs (venue hire if there is any, assistant wages, marketing) and your realistic net per session lands between £300 and £800, depending on your tier and overheads. If you want to check your own figures, the Arrangement Calculator will cost materials per head and tell you the ticket price that protects your margin.

Seasonal Calendar

Christmas leads the way, but stopping at November and December leaves money sitting on the table.

Christmas (October to December)

This is the big one. "Christmas wreath making" pulls strong search demand, and workshops tend to run from late October through to mid-December. November is the busiest booking month, with plenty of florists running several sessions a week.

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 themes go down well, and the National Trust and country estates run autumn wreath events regularly.

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 sell year-round 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)

A florist running a full seasonal programme of 18-20 workshops a year can reasonably bring in £9,000-12,000 in workshop income alone.

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. Every photo shared is free marketing.

Take a group photo at the end. It doubles as a last check that everyone is happy with their wreath before they head off.

Wreath Making Kits

DIY wreath kits are a proven extra income line. Plenty of UK florists sell them online now, including The Real Flower Company (£68), Botanique Workshop (£58.50), and a good number of independents in the £40-£60 range.

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

Selling 100 kits at £58 with about £20 material cost each brings in around £3,800 in extra profit. Put that alongside in-person workshops and you have a solid seasonal income line.

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 with no platform fee
• 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

Instagram is your main channel. Workshops photograph beautifully, and every person who shares their finished wreath sells the next session for you.

Post the behind-the-scenes prep, finished wreath close-ups, and attendee photos (with permission). Time-lapse videos of a wreath coming together do very well as Reels.

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 a list of past attendees; they are the most likely to rebook and bring a friend. If you run Digital Florists, it keeps your customer records and lets you segment last year's class in a few clicks, so they are easy to invite back before the next workshop
• 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.

Public liability insurance is essential. It covers injuries to people and damage to the venue. Most outside venues will want proof of public liability cover before they let you host.

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have any employees or assistants helping out. Fines for running without it can reach £2,500 a day.

Florist insurance covering workshops typically starts from £5-6 a month. Specialist providers include Simply Business, PolicyBee, Protectivity and Markel Direct. The main thing is to tell your insurer when you branch into workshops, as it can affect your existing policy terms.

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. Keep food and drink service basic to stay clear of food hygiene headaches.

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 at the mid-range for your area until you have built confidence and reviews
4. Photograph everything for next year's marketing
5. Collect email addresses from every attendee for future sessions

The first session is always the hardest. By the third you will have tidied up your approach, found your timing, and started getting the word-of-mouth that fills future sessions without paid ads.

Common Questions

How much should I charge for a wreath making workshop?

In the UK, most independent florists sit in the £50-£70 mid-range tier. Pub and community sessions run £20-£40, London and established studios charge £75-£100, and luxury workshops with premium materials reach £125-£195. Corporate and private groups are usually priced per head (£60-£70) with a £600-£800 minimum spend.

How profitable are wreath making workshops?

At a £60 ticket with around £20 of materials and £5 of refreshments, you make about £35 gross per person, so roughly £420 from a session of 12. After venue hire, any assistant wages and marketing, realistic net profit lands between £300 and £800 a session depending on your tier.

How many people should a wreath workshop have?

12-15 is the group that works best. Below eight the atmosphere drops and the numbers get thin; above 20 you need extra staff to keep up. Allow about two to three feet of table space per person, so your room sets your real limit.

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. Wholesale cost is roughly £15-20 a head, or £10-15 if you buy components separately through your own suppliers.

Do I need insurance to run wreath making workshops?

Yes. Public liability insurance is essential and most outside venues will ask for proof of it. Employers' liability cover is a legal requirement if anyone helps you run the session, with fines up to £2,500 a day for going without. Tell your insurer when you start running workshops, as it can change your policy terms.

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

Christmas (late October to mid-December) is the busiest, with November the peak booking month. Autumn, Easter and Mother's Day all work well, and dried flower wreaths sell year-round. A full seasonal programme of 18-20 workshops can bring in £9,000-12,000 a year.

If you are pricing your wreath workshops, the Arrangement Calculator helps you cost materials per attendee and set ticket prices that protect your margins. And if you are naming a workshop brand, the Florist Shop Name Generator can help with that too.