DIY Monday: Budget event decorations

A couple years ago a friend of mine had a fund raising banquet she was trying to dress up, but her budget was pretty minuscule. She had something like 30 tables to decorate for around $100, which meant we had a little over $3.00 to decorate an 8 foot table.

If you've been to my house, you know the most difficult thing I have to store - and the thing I have in profusion - is vases. As I've said before, I use the term "vases" loosely because I view anything that can hold flowers as a vase. That would include old pitchers, little silver and glass toothpick holders, tiny teacups as well as your standard glass, silver or porcelain vase. If it can hold water and I can stick flowers in it, it's a vase.

Reading the blog, you'll also know of my love for estate sales, flea markets and yard sales. I may love vases, but I really love inexpensive vases. I'll spend an hour polishing up a silver container to get it to vase status. Likewise, I'll spend 20 minutes soaking and scrubbing glass to bring it back to former luster if it'll hold flowers. I'm always looking for new containers to use in decorating.

So the day my friend called me and asked for help with decorating, I had an answer in my back room "stored" in an old suitcase. You see, several years ago I happened by a yard sale in Spring Valley (DC). It was a brother-sister duo that I think were probably ~this close~ to being hoarders given the stuff they'd hauled out to their front yard. And to me, this was the BEST kind of yard sale - one with little treasures that have been stored for years that have finally been brought to light. Digging through several boxes, I found a stash of old bottles. Hundreds of old bottles. Bottles in all shapes and sizes.

When I asked why they would have a stash of old bottles, the pair replied that they had been digging in the side yard and found what had been an old trash pile full of these bottles. An interesting result of these bottles being buried is that they all had an iridescent sheen on them. They were lovely! And I was able to pick up a box of them for something like $10 knowing I'd found a wonderful new way to arrange flowers.

You see, some of these bottles are so small that only one stem will fit in the top. Others are big enough to do actual arrangements. When you group several of them together, you can make a statement on, say, an 8 foot table. Because our budget was so tight, I used one stem of Alstroemeria (also called Peruvian Lilies) in each of the bottles and then arranged them in lines or little groups depending on the shape of the table. Alstroemeria has several flowers on each stem and you can usually get a stem for under $1 if you shop around places like Overstock, Costco, Sam's Club or even 1800Flowers.com.

So the next time you're entertaining and need an inexpensive decoration, take a look around you and find the inner beauty of things you might otherwise throw away. Look at your bottles, tea tins or cans from canned veggies or soups. Even simple things can make a statement with a little creativity!