Centerpiece and Favors For A Special Birthday Party

Many times over the years, I have received requests from family and friends, to create centerpieces and favors for special event parties. I really enjoy this type of thing, and find it quite challenging to create and color coordinate, while all the time trying to keep the price at a minimum. For the centerpiece of this particular party, I used one of my white ironstone pitchers. I filled it with real looking blue hydrangea stems that I found in the floral section of The Burlington Coat Factory. I would much prefer real hydrangeas, but this just is not the right time of year, especially if one is attempting to keep the cost low. I did consider it a compliment when the Birthday girl asked if I bought the hydrangeas at market that morning? I am amazed at how real looking some of the faux flowers are today. This party was held in a private room of a restaurant. The linen tablecloth was white, the napkins were a soft blue and white, which is why I went with this choice of centerpiece and favors. It was for 10 women. The birthday girl has a somewhat flambuoyant personality, and loves colors and flowers.

In my small bread pans, I baked loaves of chocolate chip, banana bread. I put each on in a clear cellophane bag, and then wrapped it in a white 100% cotten tea towel. I had purchased a pack of 10 tea towels one time at Marshalls, for $7.99. It was a great deal for such nice quality tea towels.

I took one of the hydrangea stems and cut it into small pieces. I wrapped the bread enclosed in cellophane, in a tea towel, wrapped the darker blue ribbon around it, added a small piece of the hydrangea flower, and a wallet sized photo of the birthday girl, that I glued onto a card tag. For this feature I took a flattering photograph of the birthday girl, scanned it into 10 wallet size photos. Sometimes I ask for baby photos and a recent photo and alternate those on the favors. I cut them up and glued them onto the tags, and tied it along with the flowers. The photos always add an indiviual touch to the favors. This was a simple, inexpensive way to add personalization and pizazz to a fun celebration for a special person.