DIY Party Centerpieces

You can throw a party for just about any occasion. Maybe it's your best friend's birthday or your husband just got a promotion. It's Christmas, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving, or just plain old Friday. It's time to celebrate an engagement or a new baby. Whatever the reason for celebrating, make the event special by creating a unique centerpiece.

Traditional

Floral arrangements are time-honored centerpieces. There is a flower for every occasion. White roses for a wedding, lilies for Easter, mums at Thanksgiving and poinsettias for Christmas are just a few examples.

Flowers and greenery are easily purchased from a florist or at your local grocery or big-box store. They can also be cut fresh from your garden or gathered in fields, on country roadsides and in wooded areas.

Arrange flowers in a container that reflects the partys theme. For example, a cornucopia or horn of plenty basket can form the basis for a Thanksgiving display, while a crystal vase shows off the elegance of a dozen roses.

Flowers can be arranged as formally or a casually as the theme calls for. Display six sunflowers in a Mason jar for a spur-of-the-moment girls luncheon. Surround a pillar candle with red roses and babys breath on Valentines Day or float single blue hydrangea blossoms in brandy snifters to celebrate Fathers Day. There is a flower for every month; feature carnations for a January birthday or daisies in April

Accessorize your centerpiece with ribbon, glitter, dried or fake fruit, berries, raffia, grape vines, balloons, grasses, bamboo; the list is limited only by your imagination.

Non-Traditional

Think outside the box when putting together an eye-popping, one-of-a-kind centerpiece. Flowers and candles are great, but with a little imagination you can create a unique focal point for any get-together.

For a wine-and-cheese party, make the vino, bread and cheese work for their supper when you arrange them into a pleasing centerpiece that does double duty. Line a rustic basket with raffia and arrange a loaf of French bread, assorted crackers, a variety of cheeses, a bottle of cabernet and a couple of red wine glasses inside. When the tasting begins, deconstruct the centerpiece and enjoy.

For a party with an Asian or Zen theme, arrange Chinese pottery in the center of the table a teapot and traditional cups works well here, as do sushi dishes. Surround the pottery by alternating chopsticks and fortune cookies with red tea light candles.

Centerpieces can be green in a non-floral fashion when you use sustainable items like fresh fruit, potted herbs, rocks and driftwood.

Centerpieces aren't always confined to the middle of the table. Hang a bunch of balloons in the party theme from a light fixture or arrange a row of baskets down the middle of the table and fill them with cookies, candy, polished stones, dried herbs, Christmas tree bulbs or anything you can think of. A colorful umbrella suspended from the ceiling and filled with brightly wrapped gift boxes is a hit at wedding showers.

Everyday items can also be artfully arranged. Make a bouquet of sharpened No. 2 pencils to celebrate a writers first sale or frame pictures of the birthday girl or anniversary couple and arrange them in a row on a white table runner scattered with colorful candies like Reeses Pieces or M&Ms.