Coastal Garland with Sand Dollars

Bring the beach home with you! Add to your coastal decor with this adorable coastal garland with sand dollars.

If you are looking for a super easy beachy craft, this coastal garland with sand dollars will be right up your alley! You may have seen it last week on my coastal mantel decor. This garland was so easy to make, it literally took me 5 minutes to throw together. However I still felt like it deserved a post all of it’s own! 🙂

What is a sand dollar?

Unlike what you see here hanging on my mantel, sand dollars are actually live creatures. They are flat burrowing marine invertebrates that are related to sea urchins and sea stars in a class called echinoderms, or spiny-skinned creatures. When they are living, they range in color from purple to brown. After a sand dollar dies, the sun bleaches the color to the white you see here and you are left with essentially the skeleton of the creature.

Sand dollars typically live for six to ten years. They have rings similar to the way trees do, as they age they get more rings and grow bigger. Sand dollars get their name from their appearance resembling silver dollars when they were washed ashore. Although they are also referred to as “sand cakes” and “cake urchins”.

Where to find sand dollars

Sand dollars can be found along beaches in the northern hemisphere of temperate and tropical waters. You are most apt to find sand dollars in the morning at low tide, especially after a storm. It is illegal in most states to take live sand dollars so make sure they are not alive when you take them. If they are brown in color and are covered in furry spines, they are still alive.

If you do not have access to a beach, you can also buy sand dollars from Esty or Amazon. I will link to some below.

Supplies needed for a coastal garland

*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use. If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase. I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself.

How to make a sand dollar garland

The first step is actually to make a wood bead garland. I made this wood bead garland a long time ago and do not have pictures of the process but I will explain it. 🙂 The nice thing about wood bead garlands is that they are so versatile. I have used mine on lots of mantels in several different ways. Like in this flip banner or just as decoration sitting on the mantel like on my spring farmhouse mantel.

First you will need to cut a long string of jute rope. I cut mine the length to drape along the front of my mantel with some leftover on each end. Next string on some wood beads in different sizes. You can do this in a pattern or randomly. I did mine randomly as I thought it looked better that way, although I never put two of the biggest beads next to each other. Lastly tie the ends into a knot with loops so you can hang it from the ends. I hang mine using command hooks on the end of the mantel.

Add the sand dollars

To add the sand dollars, I cut some hemp twine into about 4-5 inch strips.

Insert the string through one of the holes on the sand dollar and make sure it is even on both ends. Using an overhand knot, tie the string onto the wood bead garland in between two beads. You can see this in action in this Instagram reel. I started right in the center of the wood bead garland with the first sand dollar and worked my way out from there spacing them out every five beads.

Since I had a variety of sizes of sand dollars to work with, I tried to make sure that two of the same sized sand dollars were not next to each other. Also I used the smallest sizes on the very edges of the garland.

I really love the vibe of this coastal garland! It has such a natural and organic feel to it and fits in so well with my summer nautical theme. What do you think?