I would also love to make wooden figures to stand up on the ground, but I am not sure how. I like the one from the picture, but I don't want to use a flower pot. Please help!
By Apryl from Miami, FL
If you don't want to use a flower pot, since they look kind of "girlie", you could use galvanized buckets or beach pails, both of which you could get from the dollar store. You could also take a rubber ball, such as a small soccer or football (again, from the dollar store), cut off the top, and use that as a base. To stabilize the arrangement, use marbles or river stones for a dollar a bag from dollar store. I love the idea of using Diego that way!
I have done this before with metal pails, but really any container that would hide the styrofoam would work. I have even used little felt Easter baskets found in the dollar aisle at Target before.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I will be having a birthday party for my son who will be turning 2 and I would like ideas for centerpieces. The theme will be Nemo and I just can't think of anything. Please help. Thanks.
One idea would be to get some small bowls- you can find them in the floral dept at walmart, or at dollar stores, yard sales, or wherever, and put goldfish in them. I don't know if your son would try to grab the bowls or not, but I know my 2 year old loves watching the fish swim around. I know they aren't exactly Nemo, but they are orange, and that might be enough for a 2 year old. Hope that helps some!!
Emily
What about enlarging a picture of Nemo, then coloring two of them with bright markers, cutting along the edges, then gluing or stapling the two together back to back with a little stuffing in between the layers to make it 3-D. Then insert a stick into the bottom edge and add a little more glue. Stand the stick and Nemo up in a jar with sand in it or something like that. You could make it as big as you wanted.
Well of course you are going to have little bowls with goldfish on the tables for each kid to take home! The only way to go..
Bonnie
I like the idea of using a real aquarium like a 10 gallon, fill with water and put Nemo fish and turtles in the water. You can paint plastic ones to be the right colors of the movie theme and weight them down with a small weight and fishing line.
I recommend a big Tiki faced thing, like in the initiation scene in the dentist's aquarium scene. Oriental Trading Company sells them, I believe--I think they have big inflatable ones. There are lots of Tiki type things at dollar stores also. Or you could make your own. However, Your son and his peers are not going to care about this centerpiece the way you do and so don't stress too much. I threw a Nemo birthday party for my daughter last year on her third birthday (she demanded that we call her Nemo for about 7 mos last year) and the Nemo Cake I made was awesome. That was the centerpiece on the table. I made a very large round carrot cake with cream cheese frosting colored that lovely Nemo coral-colored orange (matched it to her Nemo doll and the Nemo party favors I had)--to do this, look at the back of a regular multi-colored food coloring set for help, usually it means using lots of red and yellow. With a disposable cake decorating kit, I made black and white stripes just like on Nemo across the entire top. The black was made with black Wilton food coloring paste (bought from Walmart's sewing/crafting area) and white frosting. Be sure to mix in a little bit at a time with a toothpick since you won't need much. That was piped on in straight lines. The white was done in little scrunched star tipped dots until it all filled in. It was gorgeous. If only I had taken the photos with a digital camera I'd share. An alternative to the black icing is thin black licorice string or finding black sugar crystals if you're lucky.
we used 3-d fish boxes for our nemo party center pieces....they were weights for the nemo mylar balloons. little fish bowls with gold fish in it would be cute.
I'm doing a nemo party for my 2 year old and i came up with the idea to use small fishbowls (like those you can find in the floral dept in wal mart.. I'm going to write each childs name on a bowl so they can be used as place cards but i will also fill them with blue jello so they are a snack i've decided to put nerds candy in the bottom for rocks and gummie sharks suspended in the middle of the jello
I am planning my son's first birthday party. The theme is jungle/barnyard. I am looking for help on ideas for centerpiece since I am not very creative. Thanks.
By sb from Westborough, MA
Just use a bouquet of balloons on the table. At his age he isn't going to know what a theme party is. As far as that goes, I would just serve the cake, ice cream and drink or whatever you plan to serve.
Cheap dollar store animals bunched together in the center of the table. You could buy some Play Doh (or make some) (green or brown for dirt or grass) and stick them in it to hold them "down". Kids don't know what things cost, keep that in mind. I used to decorate my kids cakes this way also. I made (usually) a plain chocolate or vanilla cake and then added cheap "toy" animals in a package for the decorations. I also saved these from year to year and I had a mass of "trees" rocks, etc. to re-use.
That reminds me :) Whole Foods carries (in the bins by the pound) "rock" chocolates. They are not cheap, but you don't have to have many. You could add to cake. (They are delicious and look very much like real rocks) One other thing: DON'T overdo it on a first BD party, either with the amount of children you invite OR you decor, games, etc. It will just be a source of frustration trying to manage it all, and at that age, they don't even know what is going on!
Copy/paste/save/print/cut pics from the 'net of barnyard animals and they can be sized prior to printing. Tack them onto the tablecloth where each child will sit enjoying cake and ice cream. Could be turned into a cheap place mat and use colored paper to print the pic. A copier business can enlarge/laminate the printout for you if you desire. Add a small stuffed animal near each guest's seat and they can take them home with them after the party ends.
My sister in law did the cutest cupcake centerpiece. She had made 50 cupcakes and decorated 1/4 like monkeys, 1/4 like leopards, 1/4 like cats and 1/4 like zebras using necco wafers, licorice, candy hearts, and various other candies. In fact, 3 sister in laws came early to the party to help decorate them and it was so fun and quick as each one of us did our own interpretation of what each animal should look like! We stacked the cupcakes on pieces of cardboard and small cans (wrapped in animal print wrapping paper) in a pyramid. So it went cardboard, 4 small cans, smaller cardboard, 4 more cans, then smaller cardboard, then we filled in the area with all the cupcakes. It turned out great and the kids loved it and picking out their own cupcake. That way, they had their own individual cake and the birthday boy could have his own cake to stick his fingers in!
You could use tree branches spray paint them or leave them natural and buy some kind of hardening clay and flat little dishes for stand and the clay is the dirt were you will place plastic animals and birds hanging from branches. You could even make leaves from paper, crush them a little so they look real or cut branches with leave already on them. Or even cheaper go to Home Depo buy a bunch of small bushes for center pieces keep you receipt, and return them afterwards, they return plant living or not. As long as you have your receipt.
I am having a 13th birthday and confirmation party for my daughters and need table centerpieces.
Brenda from Amityville, NY
I always use potted plants with pretty flowers for centerpieces. Nothing gets wasted, nothing gets thrown away.
Additionally, a blooming flower is a perfect representation of a new teenager and one who has confirmed their faith.
We will be celebrating my son's 1st birthday and it will be a dinosaur theme. I bought some 6 inch rubber dinosaurs to use for centerpieces, but don't know what to do. Any ideas on centerpieces I could make with dinosaurs. The party is in one week. Thanks.
By carmina from Downey, CA
For a second birthday party in October, I need to make about 6 centerpieces, but I don't have any ideas. Also, any other ideas would be helpful. Thanks!
