Birthday Centerpiece ideas?

[dhano923]

Background: We are making preparations for DD's 1st birthday party. Traditionally in our culture, we have a big party for the 1st birthday, so we'll be doing it in a restaurant's banquet hall -- they supply tablecloths and napkins but no centerpieces.

We recently went to a friend's 1st birthday party whre she had the most amazing centerpieces, and she made them herself! She did a circus/carnival theme party, and the centerpieces were awesome: she did a clear vase and crumpled colored tissue paper in the bottom 1/3 of the vase. The rest was filled with assorted candy. Sitting on the mouth of the vase, she had a styrofoam clown head with a clown nose, eyes, yarn mouth and raffia hair and a paper birthday hat (so the vase was the clown's body). She tied assorted colored balloons to the neck of the vase and used paper tickets (like the kind for amusement park rides) drooping out of the vase and also lying on the table wrapped around the vase a bit. Then she had small boxes of popcorn and small bags of cotton candy, like 3 of each at each table. It looked amazing and professionally done but her mom said she found a picture and copied it and made them at home the week before the party.

I asked my friend if she could tell me where she found the picture but she won't tell me -- I think she thinks I'll copy the idea. I don't want to do a circus theme, but I was hoping to find other amazing centerpiece ideas that I could use for a girl's party - we're considering doing a princess theme or something similar.

Can anyone help??? I tried to do a search online but I keep coming up with Disney centerpieces or ideas that aren't as "cute" and unique. I would appreciate any links or ideas you can give me.

[dhano923]

bump!

Does anyone have any unique centerpiece suggestions?

[ribbit1019]

O.k. I've got a couple of ideas, but I am not sure how expensive you would want to go. Pfaltzgraff has a silicon cake mold that is in the shape of a castle. You could make a cake for each table. If you sifted Powdered sugar over it and used candies you could even avoid having to frost it. ;) Very time consuming but I bet it would be a HUGE hit. With the cost of the mold negated you could feasibly do each table for under $5.
Here is the link:
http://www.pfaltzgraff.com/ecomm/Ite...06100702263415

Also there are these fairies that are super cute that you could use as favors.
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?p...&craftid=11049
The hostess of my bridal shower made these with pastel colors and they were a huge hit for young and old. You could put trails of glitter on the table, fairy dust trails. ;)

You could make a candy stick vase and put egg carton flowers into them. Vase:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and...&craftid=11325
Flowers:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and...&craftid=11407

Um if I find anything else I'll add it. :)

Christy
My Waterbabies
http://lilypie.com/pic/060928/Yw0w.jpg http://b3.lilypie.com/0vphm4.png
http://lilypie.com/pic/060928/iBmU.jpg http://bf.lilypie.com/uy3Mm4.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Other/jump.gif

[dhano923]

I really appreciate your suggestions, but they won't work for this particular party. I'm indian, and we generally have a big "fancy" party for the 1st birthday party. So we're having it in a fancy indian restaurant, and everyone gets all dressed up, etc. At previous parties we've gone to, people do floral centerpieces, balloons with confetti on the table, tea candles, floating candles, etc. Some people hire party planners and florists but we're already spending so much money that we thought we'd do the centerpieces ourselves.

What does everyone think of a vase stuffed with glittery tulle, with a few pearlized (I think thats the word) balloons tied to it? Maybe some confetti strewn around the table? Any suggestions on how to incorporate a princess tiara or a princess wand into the mix? We don't generally do party favors so I can't use them for those but I thought it might be cute to use them in the centerpieces somehow.

My friend is looking for ideas for her daughter's 3rd birthday so I passed on the vase/flower idea to her -- she had mentioned a Candyland theme, so the vases might be really cute for that!

[ribbit1019]

I'm taking a break from the Doodlebops cake I am making for a party tomorrow. I'm determined to help you. ;)

Somethings I need to know:
How many tables will you have?
How much time are you willing to spend on this project?
How many days (weeks/months) do you have to prepare for the party?
Around what cost would you like each centerpiece?
Do you have access to a wholesale place where you could purchase glass vases/candle holders in bulk?

Answer those ?'s when you have a chance; I am thinking. :)

ETA: Tell your friend to look at familyfun.com there is a cute candy house that she might consider also.

Christy
My Waterbabies
http://lilypie.com/pic/060928/Yw0w.jpg http://b3.lilypie.com/0vphm4.png
http://lilypie.com/pic/060928/iBmU.jpg http://bf.lilypie.com/uy3Mm4.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Other/jump.gif

[dhano923]

We are going to have 8-10 tables, depending on the final headcount and whether we have 8 or 10 chairs at each table.

I'm willing to spend a couple hundred on the centerpieces. The party isn't until November 18, so my SIL and I decided we will make them ahead of time and just keep them in my parent's garage. If we use balloons, we'll get those the day of the party obviously. We have about 20 yards of white glittery tulle, which is why we were hoping to incorporate that into the centerpieces somehow. I also saw a picture of some mini battery operated lights that can be used at parties, etc so I wanted to see how those work and how much they cost -- those might be cool with the tulle in the vases!

I can get glass vases in bulk, but not candle holders.

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me -- I really want some unique but elegant centerpieces! :)

[Maria K]

Maybe go to the dollar store and buy some "barbies" and have them coming out of the vase so the vase is like the skirt of their dress? Or nix the vase and use the tulling as their skirt.

I'm going to keep thinking about this. :)

- Maria

[scout123]

What does your Doodlebops cake look like?! My DDis crazy about the Doodlebops! Can you take a pics of it when you are done?
Scout

[ribbit1019]

Oh I wish I had! I basically used the coloring pages on their website as a guide and used fondant to cut and mold their faces. It turned out so well and the birthday boy was pleased! I cheated on the cake part though I bought it from Costco. Shhhh!!! I asked her to take a picture of it for me, I will try to remember to post it for you once I get a photo from her. We are going to see the Doodlebops on Oct. 29th it should be fun!

Christy
My Waterbabies
http://lilypie.com/pic/060928/Yw0w.jpg http://b3.lilypie.com/0vphm4.png
http://lilypie.com/pic/060928/iBmU.jpg http://bf.lilypie.com/uy3Mm4.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Other/jump.gif

[JTsMom]

Ok, I have a couple of ideas.

What if you used the tulle and the lights to make a "cloud" in the center of the table- you'd have to put some sort of a base to puff it up- then put a castle on top

http://item.express.ebay.com/Party-S...mdZExpressItem
or
http://www.favorsbyserendipity.com/b...sp-903-mr.html

Those are just quicky examples, but I'm sure you could find a lot of different ones, or even paint one to match your colors. Alternatively, they sell cardboard ones. You could copy one of those in silver paper or glitter.

You could also do an ice sculpture castle, but I don't know if that's something you can make with a mold or not- you'd have to do some research. If you did ice, you could also make those little ice votive holders, and the whole area would have a really pretty glow. Those are easy to make- maybe even put some flower petals in them.

One last option- you could do a little still life type of centerpiece and just keep it simple. Maybe put a tiara, a wand, aqnd a pillow in the center and surround with tealights.

HTH, sounds like a heck of a party!