party ideas! - Memorial Day or 4th of July.

R20 - day 55

I have a soft spot for all things Armed Forces. I guess it comes from growing up in a military family and community. I take great pride in celebrating those who have served our country so that our freedoms stay that way, free. I especially heart the Navy. ☺

Our church is having a Memorial Day picnic this weekend and I offered to help make it festive. One of the ideas I came up with were some fun centerpieces for the tables. I needed something inexpensive and that was easy to make a lot of.

I crafted two different types.

A floral arrangement and a balloon-weight-flag-thing. I need to come up with a cool name for that one... Sprays of Glory? Star Spangled America? Red White & Blue? I am not good at these things. Do any of you have a suggestion? ☺

 If you want to make one of these festive centerpieces you will need these supplies:

*balloon weight - scored them at a store that sells $ items!

*mini flags

*yellow ribbon - for Memorial Day remembrance

*mini metal pails - found them in the $ spot. Saa-weet!

*plastic water bottle

*rocks - only if you are using your centerpieces outside. It is breezy where we live, so I thought I would weigh them down, just in case.

*flowers of any type - fresh or fake.

To assemble the floral arrangements - Take your mini pail and place a cut water bottle inside. Put a few rocks in to make it weighted.

Fill the pail with your flowers. I had to arrange them several different times to cover up the bottle sticking out over the edge of my pail. If you are going to use fresh flowers, you won't need to weigh down your pail. You would just use the bottom portion of your water bottle. It makes a perfect vase for holding the water.

Add in your flags and tie a yellow ribbon {for Memorial Day} to the top of one. Ta-daa! You are finished, so festive!

To make the balloon-weight-flag-thing - Grab your weight and carefully stick your flags inside of the opening. You have to be patient when sticking it in there. I accidentally tore the packaging jabbing it in a little too hard. If you can't get it to stick securely, wrap it with one of the wired star sprays. It holds it in really nicely. Add your yellow ribbon {for Memorial Day} and you have a fun, festive centerpiece. You can use this idea for several different types of parties. I used this same idea for our Awana Grand Prix, I just used a black and white checkered flag instead. They were a hit! Someone also thought they would make a great trophy. The possibilities are endless!

Have a great weekend and don't forget to remember those who have served and sacrificed for our country!