Holiday Table Centerpieces

If you were to buy holiday table centerpieces, most likely you would find them to be very expensive especially if you order and have them delivered.

Most are made with the same type of items including foliage of some sort (fresh, silk or dried), candles, ribbons and other craft items. Why buy centerpieces when you can easily make them yourself?

Whether you are making holiday decorations, theme centerpieces for a particular party or you just want to make inexpensive, tall wedding centerpieces for that special day, use the ideas below to help you get started:

Fresh Flowers

I use these at every get together, but for a buffet I do something a little differently. Place a decorative runner down the middle of the table. Then create 3 vases of matching flowers; one large and two small.

For the smaller bouquets, cut the stems really short so that all you can see are the blooms and no stems above the rim. It looks best when you use small, wide mouth vases.

At one of my parties, I filled the bottom of all 3 vases with beautiful red glass beads to match the flowers, then placed them down the center of the main party table (big bouquet in the middle with a small one on each side).

What's nice about creating these smaller, matching bouquets, is that you can put them on the side tables also to really tie everything together. As centerpieces go, these are so simple to make yet really beautiful.

If you want to see how I used 2 of the small vases for a recent party I hosted, check out my Fondue Party webpage.

Fruited Pine Garland

I saw this on The Food Network and really loved the idea. Take fresh greens, like pine garland, and run them down the middle of the table. Then among the greens place fresh fruit (pomegranates, limes, lemons, apples and grapes work well) and votives with white candles. Use unscented candles so that they don't compete with your food.

Floating Candle Centerpiece

You can do so many things with this idea. Use what you have around the house, like hurricane vases or crystal bowls. Fill them three quarters of the way full with color items, like fresh cranberries, glass beads or colored stones. Even fresh flowers as shown here. Top off with water then float lighted candles in the middle.

For more formal occasions, consider buying LED Light Bases to really fancy things up.

Beaded Garland Centerpiece

All kinds of decorative garland, like this beaded one, can be found at craft stores, like Michael's or Hobby Lobby. They come in every shade of the rainbow so you can easily match them to your party theme. Weave them down the middle of your dinner table or around your food items on your banquet tables, then distribute white votive candles throughout the garland. Sparkley and beautiful!

Chocolate and Punch Fountains

Another centerpiece idea is to use a chocolate fountain or a punch fountain on your main party table and then surround the bowl will fresh fruit and dippers for the chocolate. Find Punch Fountains here and a good selection of and accessories at Ebay.

Other Do It Yourself Centerpiece Ideas

Watch a video of Ina Garten, one of my favorite Food Network Stars, creating three Holiday Table Centerpieces using greenery, Christmas lights and fruit.

And this video shows some very basic do it yourself centerpieces using greenery, candles and ribbon. A nice demo on how to make a bow too.