How to Make a Kissing Ball

by Patti @Hearth and Vine

Since mistletoe is somewhat hard to come by and the berries are poisonous many people make boxwood kissing balls instead of hanging mistletoe. Traditionally people used apples or potatoes as the base but today we use floral or foam balls.

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Materials:

3-4 inch floral ball – if you buy a white Styrofoam ball you may want to spray paint it with a dark color so that the white does not show through.

A pretty ribbon with a large pin for use in hanging.

3-5 inch pieces of boxwood. They need a trim anyway. You can use other materials too. Japanese Holly look just like boxwood and would work well. Even rosemary or lavender may work but they wouldn’t hold up as well.

Step 2

Pin the ribbon to the ball. You may want to dip the pin in a little glue to give it extra holding power. Then start placing the sprigs of boxwood all around starting around the ribbon.

Step 3

Once you’ve completed the ball check for any bald spots and fill in with little leftover pieces of the boxwood.

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2 of 6 comments

Sensible Gardening and Living on Nov 23, 2014
Thanks, I like this idea. Will go out and snip off a little boxwood and give it a go:)

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Janerose on Nov 27, 2022

Going to try it with my left over eucalyptus

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