Homemade Table Centerpieces
Nothing beats a stylish centerpiece for impressing guests at a party, but let’s face itit’s hardly practical to spend upwards of $100 for something that’s purely ornamental. If you’re working on a budget, you may want to go for homemade centerpieces instead. These days, “homemade” doesn’t necessarily mean tacky or cheap; in fact, many hosts have chosen the DIY route and met with great success. And some of them didn’t even have to cough up a dollar!
There’s really just one rule to making a homemade centerpiece, and that is to go with your party theme. Centerpieces are meant to unite all the elements of your dcor and draw attention to your table. Once you know what look you’re going for, it’s just a matter of gathering materials and choosing a design. Here are some of the most common party themes and how you can make the perfect centerpiece for each one.
Tropical fruits
If you like to experiment with color, a tropical centerpiece will help unleash your creative powers. Tropical themes allow you to work with as big or small a color palette as you want, and use any shade available. For an outdoor day event, try making a tropical fruit centerpiece: just get a large, stylish fruit bowl, fill it with a variety of fruits, and garnish with fresh, dark green leaves to set off the colors. Your guests can help themselves to the fruit afterwards!
You can also use tropical centerpieces to make garden venues look richer than they really are. If you lack flowers or vegetation, for example, you can use a tall tropical centerpiece to veer attention away from the garden. If it’s an evening event, use base lights or candles around the centerpiece to illuminate your setup.
Elegant flowers
Flowers are a surefire way to give your table a touch of elegance. Some of the most common centerpiece flowers are roses, peonies, and carnationsall of them look great in a glass vase with natural rocks or sand holding them in place. You can also use colored marbles or pebbles if you want a bit of variety. Try to minimize greenery (such as leaves and tendrils), as they tend to direct the eye away from the flowers.
Winter parties are a great time for floral table settings. A flower centerpiece instantly warms up a winter venue and adds that much-needed splash of color. Just make sure to choose your flowers wiselythey tend to be more expensive in the winter as they have to be well-preserved. Consider drying your flowers and spraying them with metallic paint to set off a dark theme or an elegant black tablecloth.
Edible centerpieces
The beauty of an edible centerpiece is that it puts your guests at ease. People are usually more relaxed and talkative when they’re around food, so a food centerpiece works great for both formal and casual events. For small daytime parties, you can arrange some homemade cookies, cupcakes, or pastries on a large platter and have your guests help themselves. Guests with small children will certainly appreciate it!
For more formal events, try a truffle platter or a wine bucket. A bit of packaging can go a long way in giving simple foods a touch of class. If wine and truffles are too steep for you, use cheese and crackers insteadjust find a nice big platter and you’ve got one of the best cheap table centerpieces for your party!
Fall designs
Hosting a Thanksgiving or Halloween bash? Veer off the black-and-orange style and use fall elements instead. Autumn colors make a great color palette suitable for any occasion. For a vibrant natural theme, use deep reds, yellows, and oranges to channel the color of autumn leaves. Look for fresh flowers in these colors and set them against a neutral color to better bring out their shades. You can even use actual autumn leaves as place cards or table chargers.
If subtle, earthy tones are more your thing, or if you can’t find flowers in the season, you can use dried flowers instead. Ask your friends for their old flower arrangements or, if you’re well in advance of the party, start collecting them months ahead so they’ll have time dry naturally. Your last recourse is to buy dried flowers from craft stores, although these tend to be brittle and break easily. Put your dried flower table arrangement on a clear bowl or glass vase, and finish off with some herbs, stones, or pebbles.
Beach weddings
A beach-themed centerpiece works well not only for beach parties, but also for any outdoor event. It takes a bit of creativity to put one together, but the results are well worth it! Look for a round fish bowl or a flat container, and fill it with clean sand. Natural-looking sand works best, but you can buy colored sand from craft stores if that’s what you feel like. Then simply scatter some shells, sea glass, and maybe a sand dollar on top.
For nighttime events, simply add a tea light candle to the setup. Star-shaped candles are ideal for beach centerpieces because they look like starfish, and simply because they add a casual, quirky touch to the piece. Consider getting them in different colors for some variety.
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