I’m super excited to share a brand new HWTM theme with you today: PETALS & POPCORN! It’s tailored for a bridal shower here, but you could also utilize this theme for a girlie milestone birthday or baby shower.

This one comes with free printables AND a few fun twists… it’s actually my entry for the $100 Designer Tablescape Challenge from Sparkling Events & Designs that I participated in recently, along with 11 other {super talented!} party designers that came up with some seriously fabulous, imaginative designs! The theme was “Go Green“, but we were told we could interpret it however we wanted, so I went with the “eco” angle instead of the literal color, with a focus on re-purpose / recycle / reuse. The “re-purpose” aspect really helped with the budget as well…since the “tablecloth” you see here is actually my $25 extra bedroom duvet. =) More on this below.

You can check out all 12 of the challenge entries right here and vote for your favorite {up to once daily} until next Monday, October 17th.

For the Challenge, we had to design a tablescape for 4-6 and incorporate desserts and an activity idea into the theme while spending less than $100 total, but we were allowed to use a few items that we already owned – plates, glassware, household accessories, etc. I was able to stretch the budget pretty far (even the hutch behind our dining room table got a “makeover”!) by using every single scrap of the fabric, lace, and silk flowers/petals that I purchased, utilizing microwave popcorn for vase fillers, and being diligent about shopping for sale items! See the detailed breakdown of what I spent right here.

I had a ton of fun working on this theme, but my very favorite elements were probably the 2 embellished wooden cutouts. I made a “Bride” for the table centerpiece and a matching “Mr. Right” (who is holding an engagement ring & tiny felt flower bunch) for a separate arrangement displayed on the hutch. More on him later…or you can check him our right now in the full Petals & Popcorn party album. In the meantime, here comes the bride… *wink*

There are tons of images & creative details to share, so I’m going to break this feature up into a few posts. Here we go with the tablescape: 

FREE DOWNLOADS:

• Leaf Place Cards – “Love” Version
Use this version if you don’t want to assign specific seats, or if you aren’t comfortable personalizing the blank ones yourself.

• Leaf Place Cards – Blank Version
These can be personalized on the computer or by hand. The font that I used on this table is called Nelly Script.

• Double-sided “Cheers” Drink Flags

• Centerpiece Label: BRIDE (also available in Birthday Queen)

CREATIVE DETAILS

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Tabletop

The “tablecloth” is actually a re-purposed duvet cover from our extra bedroom that was originally purchased at Target (along with 2 pillow shams) for only $24.99! Inexpensive acrylic silver chargers coordinated well with up the gray accents in the “tablecloth” and the DIY lace napkin rings.

I purchased quarter-yard swatches of 4 different styles of fabric for $1.99 each and created “napkins” from half of each swatch (1/8 yard) – which left me with two 1/8 yard pieces of patterned fabric to use elsewhere in the party since there were only 6 place settings. The napkins were embellished with a wide band of lace and DIY flower accent made from silk hydrangea petals + rhinestones.

Place Cards

“Flower Pot Placecards” were created from tiny terra cotta pots that I painted white with “patio paint” + a DIY fabric & felt flower. I stuffed a little square of floral foam into the bottom of each pot to insert the flower into and covered the foam with popcorn. The names of the guests were displayed on the flower’s paper “leaves”, which also featured a very subtle lacy pattern similar to the one on the centerpiece’s label.
Mason jars (that I’ve had for years) were repurposed as the water/drinking glasses and embellished with white felt and lace. (Side note – you’ll need to provide a straw for guest to sip these with if you embellish the jars this way, since the lacy embellishment hits the rim of the jars… something like these adorable purple & white stripey straws would be perfect!) DIY drink stirrers made from bamboo skewers and double-sided paper drink flags added another touch of whimsy to the place settings.

Centerpiece

The idea for the table centerpiece started with the wooden girl cut-out, which was purchased at Michaels for $1.29. I traced her silhouette onto fabric to figure out the shape of the dress, then “dolled her up” with a ruffled lace overlay and some rhinestone “jewelry”. For the finishing fashionista touch, an “oversize” felt flower was placed on the shoulder of the dress (Carrie Bradshaw style!). Small wooden dowels were hot glued to the back of her legs so that she could be inserted into floral foam that lined the inside of the wood box and was covered with popcorn.

DIY flowers made from silk petals, fabric, and rhinestones were hot glued to bamboo skewers and inserted into the foam as well, all around the girl. The rectangular wooden container is repurposed packaging that I saved from an edible produce gift shipped to me a while back. I dressed up the box with rick rack ribbon and a custom label. (You can find a similar wooden container at JamaliGarden.com for about $7.)

Hanging Petal Chandelier & Chair Garlands

Directly above the table hung a DIY “petal chandelier”, made by threading silk petals (purchased in box sets found in the bridal aisle at Michaels) onto fishing wire then hot gluing them in place. I used transparent tape to hang 6 strands of them from the ceiling in a random cluster above the centerpiece and trimmed the ends to different lengths. This was one of my favorite details of all because it’s SO pretty and striking in person (it was really hard to capture the full effect on camera though) AND was sooo budget-friendly when you compare the decorative impact vs. the cost. I only used a small amount of the boxed silk petals to create 6 strands, so you could really make enough to cover the entire ceiling if you wanted too! How pretty would that be?!

Shorter “petal and popcorn garlands” were used to add a pop of color and playful vibe to the back of each dining room chair.

“Going Green”

You might have noticed that my color palette for this party doesn’t exactly fall within the green-hued family. I took a different approach to the “Go Green” theme by focusing on being more “eco-aware” with the decor and recycling, repurposing, and reusing wherever possible… which are all things you can do in any color palette! Almost all of the decorative elements seen here can be used over & over again for future celebrations.

Less obvious details were also taken into consideration too… for example: utilizing Eco-Fi Felt (made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles), swapping out my usual fast & convenient spray paint method with less toxic (but much more time consuming) bottle-and-brush paint, repurposing empty Frappucino bottles and saved gift packaging as favor containers and dessert stands, and being extra-mindful about the amount of paper elements I printed (which is typically a lot more than what you see here!).