Party Decor on the Cheap

It's been like arts and craft central around here lately. I've been working on a bunch of little projects. Husband's baby sister (who is obviously no longer a baby) is getting married in a few weeks! I have the honour of co-hosting a bridal shower for her! I want it to be super special and of course look fabulous without breaking the bank. You know I'm all about being fancy and cheap at the same time! Here are some of my party decorating ideas:

1. Tissue Paper Pom Poms
It doesn't get any cheaper than tissue paper! You can pick up a pack of 20-30 sheets at the dollar store for a buck!

I find that 8 sheets is the ideal number per pom pom. If you cut the sheets in half than you can make two smaller pom poms! There are lots of good tutorials out there if you wanna learn how to make them. My tips are to secure the middle with tape (easiest and most secure) and to tie and tape the string on before puffing if you intend on hanging them. You can also change the look by either cutting the tips pointy or round.

I was feeling pointy! The trickiest part by far is puffing the paper. You need to be patient and gentle... we all know I am not a gentle or patient being!! You can either hang them or simply set them atop different vases or vessels.

 

2. Tree Branches
My dad had hacked up one of his trees in the Spring and had a bunch of branches that I asked him to save for me!

If you don't happen to have a Dad with tree branches saved for you, there are seriously fallen tree branches everywhere! Just take a little walk through the river valley or park, there are lots to be found. I got Husband to work his magic with the spray paint and ta-da they are now silver.

I made a pretty little arrangement and plopped them into some clear vases. Not too shabby for something that was going to be garbage!!

It looked pretty good on it's own, but I'm fancy and of course had to bling them out. I hung faux crystals (borrowed from a previous wedding) on the branches until they looked like they were seriously dripping with bling!!

3. Labels
Nothing says classy like writing your name with a sharpie on a plastic party cup. But no one wants someone sipping out of their cup by mistake either GROSS! Remember my post about the chalkboard trend? Well I wanted to incorporate that but also keep it simple. So once again I got Husband to whip out the spray paint. He sprayed black chalkboard paint over a sheet of plain ol regular white labels. I adhered my new chalkboard label to the cups and now they look all fancy schmancy!! I'm quite proud of this idea... and it was so easy!

 

4. Flower Balls

I've seen lovely little balls covered in flowers at Michaels and HomeSense but for $20-$50 a pop, I can do without. Luckily for me, I'm a hoarder and saved a giant bag of faux flowers from my sister's wedding... 10 years ago!! Haha I knew they would come in handy eventually!

They are actually super ugly and the most outdated shade of blue ever... but I knew they were still workable. Simply remove from stem and hot glue them to a Styrofoam ball.

Unfortunately, the Dollar store only sells packs of smaller sized Styrofoam balls. I checked Walmart and Michaels and holy guacamole, they are frickin expensive. A grapefruit sized ball costs $5-6 bucks. Forget that! So I went and bought a soft toy ball at the dollar store instead!! Haha it still got the job done!





Once I was done, I was very displeased at all the different shades of blue.

The bride was very specific about the blue being navy blue... I wouldn't want her getting all bridezilla on me!! (haha, this is only funny b/c she is soooo not bridezilla at all...well not yet at least... I'm probably more bridezilla about her wedding then she is) Anyways, spray paint to the rescue again! I sprayed all the flower balls navy blue and am now quite pleased with the end result!

 

I know you're just dying to see how it all comes together but that's all for now!! I'll let you guys take a peek after the party with more deets!!