This is the time of year when frugal means success. I have a client that wants me to decorate their cocktail party for under $100. Every year, someone wants me to pull off a Christmas Miracle by decorating something LARGE with a budget that is small. Now, I realize a cocktail party for 80 can be pricey and decorations is absolutely the best place to cut your costs, so I decided to go shopping today and see if I could get any amazing ideas.
After grabbing my peppermint mocha (one must be in the proper mood) I went in search of……… well, I really wasn’t sure what I was searching for, but I knew it was going to have to be inexpensive. My first stop was at Big Lots. This past weekend, my husband put up the Christmas lights and because we’ve not really done what we said we would do (shop all the after Christmas sales for new lights), our lights were lookin a bit scrawny. Big Lots had an amazing selection of LED lights for prices that even the Scrooge would approve. However, I’m not going to do a cocktail party in LED lights, so I had to pass on all the interesting Christmas items there.
Next, I went to Michaels. Row after row after row of Christmas flowers, sprays, wreaths, boxes, paper – you name it – they got it. I did pick up a few little odds and ends to see if I could make anything come together, and low and behold they are beginning to take shape – I was thinking of cranberries in vases filled with water and a floating candle, however, I watched the end of a program on food waste, which made me think – let’s face it you can only eat so much cranberry bread. So, I went diving into the Christmas decorations boxes and came up with a ton (well maybe not a ton) of red ball ornaments – small ones actually, and then things started coming together.
I am placing black table cloths on all the tables, and I wanted to decorate with something understated and also with a pop. While the cranberries are cheap and easy, I’m taking the tall vases and putting the red balls in them, and then while Michaels is having a great Christmas decoration sale going, I was able to pick up some silver sparkle curly branches that just give the vases a bit of a pop. Around the vases, some fake snow (Big Lots – cheap for a lot) and then I can set up some tea lights amongst the snow. Make it a fire and ice look without the expense. I can’t do much on the tables – we want people to be able to balance their food and drinks without walking away with a bunch of white flakes all over their clothing, but just a couple will add a bit of ambiance, a bit of height and a bit of pop. All under the $100 budget and once again, the client is happy.
Debbi