For my upcoming dinner party, I drew inspiration from a neighbor who had hung some witches’ hats on their porch last year. It was so clever and the effect was darling. I decided to start with that and build on it. I ordered an 8-pack of inexpensive witches hats on Amazon and, using some fishing line hung them above the outside dining table to anchor the theme.
mood and theme of the night!
Since I was going all in on the witches theme, one must complete the picture with her cauldron and broom. I found medium-sized (approximately 8 ½”) black plastic cauldrons to use as a vase for flowers. I filled them with mums plants I found reasonably priced at Trader Joe’s—and I love how hearty they are. With just a little TLC they’ll likely last for me to use as we transition into the Thanksgiving holiday.
Now for the brooms. I stumbled upon these miniature 4” wooden brooms and thought they would be perfect. Now I just needed to figure out how to use them. After giving it some thought, I decided on using them for napkin rings. I found a 12-pack of shower curtain rings at the Dollar Tree and then used Rust-oleum American Accents 2X Paint + Primer Semi-Gloss spray paint as they did not come in black. (Because they are plastic, I didn’t want the paint to chip off easily so I made sure to purchase spray paint designed specifically with plastic in mind.) I also think the paint helped to change the texture of the rings so they no longer felt like shower curtain rings.
My original thought was to just attach the miniature brooms and be done. BUT…the small broom did not cover up the snap closure on the shower ring and it looked pretty cheesy. So, I decided to add some ⅝” black grosgrain ribbon I had on hand to tie a bow. For some additional visual interest, I made small black pom poms made from black yarn I also found at the Dollar Tree. Truthfully, the Dollar Tree yarn didn’t make the pom poms as fluffy as I would normally like. But for this project, it was fine and, key word here…it was cheap!
[Check out my How-to Tutorial on making the Napkins Rings here.]
the mini pumpkins added some whimsy.
black bow brought another shot of color & FUN.
My Floral Arrangements were made from Trader Joe’s “whatever-they-had-fresh-that-day” mix. I pulled the flowers that were in the orange, red and yellow hues: Dahlias, Pin cushion, St. John’s wort, Chamomile and Calla Lilies. Lining my recycled clear bubble vases with my go-to waterproof leaf ribbon, I used my flower purchases to make two small bouquets for the table. (Check out my simple maverick way of making floral arrangements here.) While at Trader Joe’s, I also picked up some mini pumpkins for less than a dollar for some additional splashes of color on the table.
Now it was time to put it all together. A white cotton tablecloth was my blank canvas for putting together the tablecape. I added black woven placemats I had purchased at Michael’s on sale months ago as I thought they looked like spider webs. (I found something similar on Amazon.) I used my everyday flatware, glasses and white dishes. My newly crafted napkins rings adorned orange cotton napkins I used for both my 60’s-themed birthday party and book club. (I love when I have several ways to style and use something in my arsenal!)
Each place setting had their candy corn favor. You could easily print a place card with thick cardstock and use some cute black and white bakers twine to attach to the favor—both a place card and a treat! For the final touches, one of the cauldron of mums and two floral arrangements were added. Votive candles were scattered about along with the mini pumpkins.
I was going for whimsical but stylish and I feel like I nailed it. But feel free to let me know your thoughts! Have a BOO-tiful Halloween! And for more holiday-themed ideas to easily land in your in-box, subscribe to Funwithfunsize.com AND Follow me on Instagram @FunwithFun_Size and Pinterest!
