Flowers are special. They sincerely say “I’m sorry”. They uniquely say “I love you”. And they add that extra little bit of “You are someone special!” to a celebration or event. I love sending them home with guests at the end of a meal so I keep plenty of affordable round and square vases on hand. AND if your guests opt not to take them home – the next day you have a colorful reminder of all the fun you had the night before.
I really love hosting people in our home. It used to cause me severe stress until one day I realized that with good music and many bottles of wine – guests rarely notice the finer details or small catastrophes that happen along the way. I kid you not when I say that I forgot to make the pie for this year’s Christmas dinner! No one stressed about it, and I can tell you it tasted divine hot out of the oven at 10pm.
I think hosting in the home is an incredibly personal way to spend time with friends and family. Our home is cozy (READ: small) and our dining room table is designed to seat 4. That being said, we regularly cram 6 people around the table. I am a big fan of the “more the merrier” mentality. Chaos is my family’s normal.
Over the years I have come up with unique ways to set the table for a birthday dinner – and the trick is to add a few things to the decor that speak specifically to the guest being honored. I recently made dinner for my mom’s birthday. If you know Blanche, you know she is quite a firecracker. She does not go quietly into that good night… She goes with more of a loud yippee and a carefree shimmying dance. A big bold bouquet of red flowers and silver starburst napkin rings were just what I needed to make the table her style.
The Raw Materials – Wild Roses, Hypericum Berries, Trachelium, and Ruscus
1) Once removed from the wrappers – cluster the flowers to see how the shapes and colors compliment each other
2) Re-sort flowers by type
3) Pull excess leaves from stems and trim ends
4) When bunching flowers – take 2-3 stalks of each type of flower/green and slowly add them in order
5) Hold the bouquet tightly between thumb and pointer finger as you stack flowers to build a round bunch
The final round bouquet – before stems have been trimmed and tied
This twist tie dispenser is incredibly useful to have on hand
6) For best results bundle flowers tightly and secure twist-tie just below leaves
7) Cut stems short enough so that flowers rest on edge of vase or bowl
The Final Bouquet
An added bonus? Leftover flowers and greens can be used to make small bouquets for bathrooms and kitchen counters
The Happy Honoree
The End
Expression of love and affection or apology All lovely emotions should express through beautiful fresh flowers .