Baseball themed centerpieces are one of the most popular types of centerpiece requests we receive year round. Several centerpiece bases or variations are available, although a square base is the most popular. A wide assortment of embellishments is available to further decorate the centerpiece and further support the baseball theme.
Most of our baseball centerpieces start with a square Styrofoam® base. The square represents the diamond figure of a normal baseball infield. A lot of times we cover square base with colored metallic paper. You can also add a terrific enhancement by covering the base with a piece of green indoor/outdoor carpeting. It is a little more difficult to work than metallic papers but it is quite striking and almost looks like real grass.
The indoor/outdoor carpeting is readily available in home improvement stores. It can be purchased off rolls and cut to various lengths. It generally comes nine (9') wide but is sometimes available in remnants.
We cut a carpet square somewhat larger than the Styrofoam® base to properly cover it. Low temperature glue is used to secure the carpet to the base. (Note: Do not use high temperature glue since it melts the Styrofoam®.) Trim the excess off with a sharp scissors.
Next we cut out small white cardboard squares for first, second, and third bases, and the traditional home plate design. These are glued onto the carpeting, again with low temperature glue. We might add small baseball figures in two separate colors to represent the baseball players. These are available from toy and hobby stores and occasionally dollar stores. Sports ribbon is available to cover the sides of the base.
Other decorations you can use include small plastic bats and balls, pop cans, pop corn boxes, carmel corn boxes, fake hot dogs, peanut bags, trophies, candy, fake cotton candy etc. We have used real baseball caps, gloves, pennants (both large and small), baseball cards, etc. Even full sized jerseys can be used on larger centerpieces. Beer cans can be added for an adult party.
In addition, there are 12" baseball figures available, or you can cut profiles of caps or gloves from pieces of Styrofoam® and paint or even glitter them. All of these items can be attached to wooden dowels or plastic picks to add height and bring them above the simulated playing field. (Note: If you use the indoor/outdoor carpet since the backing has a rubber base, you will need a sharp, pointed hobby knife to penetrate it.)
Have fun putting your baseball centerpieces together. Use these ideas and your imagination to find other interesting variations on this great theme table decoration. If needed for place card settings, use player or team names or even baseball stadiums.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Decorate Your DIY Baseball Theme Table Centerpieces with Common Items or Easy to Make Enhancements
Monday, December 5, 2011
Baby Showers Decoration - How To Decorate On Low Budget
If you are looking for a way to liven up a baby shower, think about decorations. Every good party needs decorations and baby showers are no different. You don't have to go crazy with decorations. There are decorations available for every budget.
The purpose of the decorations is to add to the festivities. They shouldn't make the party. The decorations shouldn't get more attention than the guest of honor, the expectant mother. There are different things to think about when decorating a baby shower.
PARTY DECORATIONS
The first thing you want to consider is if you want a theme. This could be anything from cartoon characters to having different baby ornaments. You could put up a banner or pictures of baby-related items. You can have a favor at the tables for all of the guests that could be soaps of a baby toys or small plush animals. Anything to go along with the theme.
You don't necessarily need to have a baby-related theme. The theme could be colors or have a more traditional setting. Anyway you choose to decorate the baby shower is up to your imagination.
If you are stuck on ideas for baby shower decorations, do a search on the Internet. You will find loads of ideas from favors to supplies. There are a tremendous amount of themes to choose from and also great ideas on how to incorporate different baby items into the decorations. If you do choose a baby theme, you can create a diaper cake as a cute centerpiece. You can use a wash basin as a place to hold the presents or even a crib. There is no stopping your imagination when it comes to decorations. You are only limited by your mind.
If your baby shower decorations are on a budget, there are many places you can check. Go to a local party store and see if there are any items on sale. If you are buying in bulk, talk to the store employees about getting a discount. Dollar stores are also great places to find decorations of all sorts.
A cheap way to spice up any party is with balloons. Colorful balloons, usually in pastel colors, will add to any party. You can put ribbons on the balloons and tie them onto bottles, toys or plush animals on the table. Themed balloons are also a cute way to add to the party.
Decorations just don't include what goes on the wall. Think about the plates, forks and knives. You can get baby-themed paper plates that say things such as "Congratulations" or if you know the sex of the baby, "It's a boy" or "It's a girl." You can also try to find different color utensils. Perhaps pink for a girl-themed party or blue for a boy-themed party.
If the party is more on the elaborate side, flowers are fantastic way to decorate the baby shower. The different colors and aromas will bring a more elegant theme and a fancier atmosphere. The flowers can be taken home by the guests or you can get a reusable centerpiece such as toys or other decorations that can be used by the parents down the line for birthday parties.
Decorating for a baby shower should be fun. If you and a few friends put together the decorations, this could be a joyful experience as you put an event together for a loved one. There are no decorations that could go wrong for a baby shower. Just make sure they are simple, fun and let the expectant mother have a good time.
Baby Showers Decoration - How To Decorate On Low Budget PARTY DECORATIONSFriday, December 2, 2011
Halloween Party Decorations - 5 Cheap Ways to Decorate Your House
Halloween is less than a month away, the nights are drawing in and out in the fields the pumpkins are growing bigger and bigger... if you've got a Halloween party planned, there's no need to spend your hard-earned money on a lot of tacky orange and black plastic accessories that aren't even going to last until next October. There are several quick, cheap and easy ways to dress your home in a suitably spooky fashion - and the kids might want to give you a hand too.
Scary Bunting
PARTY DECORATIONS
You can make this by hand but it'll be much, much quicker with a sewing machine. Buy yourself some suitably patterned material and a long reel of black cotton tape, cut triangles out with pinking shears (this saves you having to hem the edges to prevent the material from fraying) and sew the triangles onto the tape. It's really that easy. eBay has a great selection of material (all sorts of spooky patterns and fabrics for very little money) and tape, plus any of the sewing equipment that you'd need. If you're being really thrifty, you can cut up old black shirts, lace curtains, perhaps even outgrown Halloween costumes.
Papier Mache Pumpkins
Make up a batch of papier mache (basically ripped up newspaper and glue - search online for more detailed instructions) and assemble some small, round objects that you can use as moulds (vary them in size - try oranges and apples for small pumpkins, footballs for large ones. A spacehopper for a giant pumpkin!). Squeeze the papier mache around the mould until you have covered it (except for a gap at the top where you can extract the mould when the mache is dry). Leave to dry, then paint orange and draw on scary faces with black paint. If you're careful, you could try cutting out eyes and mouths with a sharp knife.
Pom-Pom Spiders
These are a little too cute to be really scary. You'll need thin cardboard, scissors, black wool, black elastic and black pipe cleaners, plus some stick on eyes if you want to get really detailed. Cut two 'doughnuts' of cardboard (circles with a hole cut out of the centre) of about 10cm diameter. Put together and wrap the wool round and round the cardboard until it's thickly covered. Cut through the edges of the cardboard and all the wool and tie a piece of black elastic around the middle, feeding it between the two pieces of cardboard. Tie tightly and remove the cardboard. Fluff up the wool to make your pom pom. Feed the pipe cleaners through the elastic and twist to make legs. You can add eyes and a string to dangle them from if you like.
A 'Real' Ghost
Buy a helium balloon and tie to the top of a thin wire coat-hanger. Drape a thin white sheet over the balloon and coat-hanger and draw on a scary face with a black marker. You might need to fix the sheet in place with a few stitches. If the coat hanger is too heavy for the helium balloon, you could just use the sheet over the balloon. You could also try painting the sheet with luminous fabric paint for extra spookiness. Watch it bob about with admiration (NB. If you have any neighbours with heart conditions, it might be wise to warn them that this is your handiwork before they die of fright when the 'ghost' floats out into the street....)
Make a Halloween Mural
Buy a sheet of brown wrapping paper (cheap as chips and available from pretty much everywhere). Roll out onto a hard surface (use the floor if necessary) and weigh down the corners. Let the kids go wild with paint, crayons and felt tip pens. You could try and draw all sorts of spooky locations: a graveyard, a mad scientist's laboratory, a far-away planet with space monsters... the possibilities are endless. When your masterpiece is finished, you can fix it on the wall and admire your work.
Halloween Party Decorations - 5 Cheap Ways to Decorate Your House PARTY DECORATIONSTuesday, September 27, 2011
How to Decorate For Your St Patrick's Day Party
If you know how to decorate for a St. Patrick's Day party, then the actual decorating can be almost as much fun as the party itself. Shamrocks, Leprechauns, and Pots-O'-Gold are the typical St. Patrick's Day decorations, but it is how you use them that will set the tone for your party. But if you are not sure just how you want your decorations to look, then these tips and ideas will get you started. With all the St. Patrick's Day decorations and party supplies available online, your decorating choices are almost unlimited. And with just a little creativity, you can create a St. Patrick's Day party that everyone will enjoy.
Your St. Patrick's Day party decorations should start at your front door or the entrance to your party room. Everybody is a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day, and this is where you can start to 'show your Irish'. Nothing says 'party' like balloons, so that is the place to start:
PARTY DECORATIONS
Balloons
- Using the traditional St. Patrick's Day colors of green and white, (gold too), put a bouquet of 3 - 5 balloons at your party entrance. Or tie them to a porch railing or walkway lamp post.
- Balloons can also be used as attention-getters, so you can use them on your snack or beverage tables to draw your guest's attention to them.
- If you have a sit-down party table you can use a grouping of balloons as your table centerpiece.
- Room corners, and bare spots that don't really fit for other decorating pieces can be filled with balloons too! For corners, just make a balloon bouquet anchored to a floor weight, with ribbons that let the balloons float at eye-level. Use the same technique for other bare spots in the room, just adjust the balloon height to match the space you want to fill.
*Note: Small party-size helium tanks are available at most party supply stores, and stores with party supply departments.
Next you should consider where you might use St. Patrick's Day banners, flags, and streamers. Just like balloons, using a sign or banner at the entrance is a good way to announce the party.
Banners, Flags, and Streamers
- There are a lot of St, Patrick's Day flags you can use outside your home to announce "your party spot", they can also be used as wall-hanging decor' at the party room entrance, or on the walls of the party room.
- Banners can be used to 'anchor' a St. Patrick's Day decorations grouping on a wall. Use them over or under a grouping of decorations cut-outs of shamrocks or other St. Patrick's Day theme items.
- Streamers can be used as 'swags' on a wall or across the header of an entrance, around the edges of a snack or beverage table, or even from corner to corner of a wall in the room.
- Garland-type streamers can even be used on your table tops. Weave them around large items on the table, or down the center-line of a sit-down table.
Shamrock, Leprechaun, and Pot-O'-Gold flat cut-outs are a standard part of almost all St. Patrick's Day decorations and party supplies packages. You can use these to accent a party theme, or to create groupings of decoration pieces.
St. Patrick's Day Cut-outs
- Shamrock cut-outs can be used on your walls, individually, or as part of a group of cut-outs to create a collage' of different St. Patrick's Day theme items.
- Large flat cut-outs can be used like placemats under service pieces on the party side-tables, or main table centerpiece.
- Smaller cut-outs can be put on larger service pieces, (like ice bowls and beverage coolers), to add a touch of St. Patrick's Day color.
Decorating Tips:
- Try to use your St. Patrick's Day decorations and party supplies to maintain a design theme, not just a conglomeration of St. Patrick's Day symbols plastered everywhere.
- Don't let your tables become flat and one-dimensional. Use elevations and vertical decoration items to give your tables some depth. For instance: a small shamrock or pot-o'-gold cut-out can be attached to a tissue box or basket to give a vertical look instead of just lying flat on the table.
- Expanding accordion-type decoration items can be set on up-side down baskets to give them some elevation.
These are just some basic ideas to get you started. When you check out some of the St. Patrick's Day decorations and party supplies available online, with these ideas in mind, you will discover many more items to use to decorate for your St. Patrick's Day party.
How to Decorate For Your St Patrick's Day Party PARTY DECORATIONSMonday, August 8, 2011
How To Make "Poofs" (Flowers) To Decorate Your Table Centerpiece Decorations
Most of our centerpieces start with a Styrofoam® base either square or round. This makes an ideal platform to add sticks, picks, columns, etc., to support your theme pieces. However, if you present the product as such, it would be unappealing and not look professional. You should camouflage your work which will add color and excitement to the finished product as well. The best way we have found to do that is by adding "Poofs" or "Tufts".
This is a variation of the paper flowers we made in high school to cover the wire mesh used to make homecoming floats. However, instead of using mesh attached to wood as a base, Styrofoam® is used to give it more rigidity and help support additional weight. Plus it is much lighter than wood and mesh.
PARTY DECORATIONS
Poofs/Tufts are generally made from squares of metallic paper or tissue paper. I prefer metallic paper since it reflects light and comes in deeper tones that tissue paper. However, tissue paper has some applications, especially when particular colors are not available in metallic.
I usually use two pieces of metallic paper (each around eight inches, square) for each poof/tuft, although you can work with three or more. The sheets can be purchased ready cut, in nine inch squares, or you can buy sheets of metallic paper and cut to approximate size. You really do not have to be precisely in your size, although your cutting edges should be straight.
When using two sheets, place the first one down on a flat work surface or table with the straight edge of the paper horizontal. The second sheet is placed on top of the first with the corner of the paper pointing up, thus making an eight pointed star figure. (When working with three sheets, the third sheet's corner would go between the corners of the other two papers.)
Have your method of attachment ready before you take the next step. These can be pins, paper clips, wood picks or metal picks. With the later, you will need a professional type machine, readily used to attach flowers to a centerpiece. These come in hand held or table top models.
1. Put the stacked papers in one hand, find the middle of the papers with your pointing finger. 2. Fold the papers up to circle the pointing finger. 3. Remove your finger and grasp the point made with your finger. 4. Attach your chosen device to the end.
Open the layers of paper to form an attractive enhancement to your work and attach to the support base. You can add items, if you wish, such as onion grass, ting, or sprays to the poof to make it more dramatic.
How To Make "Poofs" (Flowers) To Decorate Your Table Centerpiece Decorations PARTY DECORATIONSSaturday, August 6, 2011
How to Decorate a Wedding Tent - Tips For a Perfect Wedding Party
Decorating a wedding tent is always a matter of combining elements such as shapes, textures and colors in order to create an environment that is visually pleasing and that incorporates the functionality that the event demands. When decorating a weeding tent the basic visual rules still remain. There is much more to it than just the eye appeal, you will have to make the tent space really work for you and you have to consider that your tent will be used for the dinner and entertainment.
Decorating the Interior
PARTY DECORATIONS
When decorating the interior you will have to create a balance and harmony that you can be proud to call your own. This usually takes some practice and these days interior decorators are more in demand than ever before. But with some pointers you can pull it off yourself and be proud of your work. When decorating the wedding you have to keep in mind that the interior design tends to be more integrated with the architecture than when decorating a traditional room. Of course you also need to take the room layout an window placement into consideration when making you decorative efforts.
Decorating the Cake
Cake decorating usually takes lots of practice, so you have to be prepared to take the time to learn it before the wedding. For most people cake decorating is an art form that takes years to learn. In case you don't feel comfortable with this, it might be better leaving it to someone else. Most of us actually do not have those kind of cake-making talents that is required for a wedding ceremony.
The Reception Colors
Colors can work magic in a reception tent by taking flowers into consideration. Some colors and patterns also work well to create that wedding style look many people want in their wedding tent. The colors you choose are an important elements in the theme you choose for the wedding ceremony in the tent and I guess you want warm colors for the tones in your tent decor.
How to Decorate a Wedding Tent - Tips For a Perfect Wedding Party PARTY DECORATIONS