Every year (except shoulder surgery year!) for I don't know how long I've headed up the teacher break room at our Vacation Bible School each summer. They work so hard and love on the kids well, and we try our hardest to spoil them and give them a nice spot to catch their breath each day! There's always a theme for VBS that we try to keep in mind when decorating the room. Decorations through the building in all of the halls and classrooms can get pretty elaborate and impressive, but I tend to keep things pretty simple and concentrate on a serving table focal point and something to add a bit of color on the other tables in the room.
This year's theme was "Magnified", so all of the decorations were nature related and BIG (think "Honey I Shrunk the Kids"). When planning with my friends that help me, we thought we'd go with a garden party theme. One of my friends mentioned that we should use a table rod on the serving tables and we went from there! I bought this table rod knowing that I would use it for lots of other things in the future as well. It is long enough to work on an 8 foot table and as a side note my friend said this one was much sturdier and easier to attach than another she had used in the past. Here's how it turned out!
I'm planning to use my table rod again on my Thanksgiving table, but it would also be so fun for birthday parties!
We all brought some decorations from around our house that we thought might work, then just did some trial and error decorating the bar. My friend cut some branches from her willow tree and we used zip ties to attach those as a base (it was fine for the week and didn't shed leaves everywhere like I was afraid it might!). Then, we attached the giant spider, tissue paper flowers, fans, and string lights. I thought of the little glasses that I use on my front porch lions to make the spider more cute than creepy, and it was definitely the star of the show! (Mine were from Hobby Lobby a few years ago, but found some similar glasses here or here.)
Side note: We got so many questions about the cute spider! He belongs to my friend and she got him at Ross years ago, so I can't link. I've searched for something similar though and found a few possibilities, I linked them under this photo.
My fabulous team that helps me! So grateful for these ladies and their servant hearts!
My very affordable gingham tablecloths here or here || Table Rod || Similar Spiders here, here, or here || Similar Party Fans Pink and Green || String Lights here or similar here || My Top (size L)
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Here's a peek at what I did for centerpieces too. These tissue paper flowers have lived some life... we originally made them for an event almost 10 years ago, and they've been used many other times since then! I just pile them in a tub or trash bag and they are super easy to fluff back out to use again. Granted, they're a little more wrinkly than when they were fresh and new, but it doesn't really matter! I pulled them out of the attic once again to see what I could do with them this time. Again, since the theme was Magnified, I wanted an oversized centerpiece with some height. So, I bought dowel rods at Home Depot, painted them green and trimmed them to 3 different sizes (I think the longes one was about 2 feet tall, then 18"ish and 12" ish). Then I used a variety of flower sizes and hot glued them to the end of each dowel rod to create a stem. I cut some large leaves out of green paper and hot glued one or two of those on each stem as well.
I used all of my milk glass glasses and a few glass large votive holders and vases and filled them with heavy marble/glass rock filler to weight them down, then just stuck a flower stem in each one. Easy and I liked the simple impact they made!
Other tissue paper decoration related posts:
A few weeks later, one of my VBS helpers had a daughter getting married! She recruited us to help with the reception decor which was also a garden type theme. She wanted to use the table rod again, so we put it on the beverage table.
I snapped a photo while setting it up. It comes in small sections and is adjustable for different table widths. As I mentioned, it fits an 8 foot table which is nice, the one my friend had used in the past did not extend this far. You can also vary the height to several different options. It clamps on the edge of the table and is adjustable for different table thicknesses. I've been super pleased with it!
She cut more willow branches from her tree that we once again used as the base, then used ribbon to suspend some decorative balls that she brought. She made the cute gingham ties that we used on the corners. The ferns are from my front porch- ha! She was happy with how it all turned out and it was such a sweet wedding!
She set up this darling photo booth spot. She has a couple of these old bikes that she uses in her yard for decor. She painted them pink for the wedding (they used to be our favorite green) and her husband built the planter box and stand behind it. They attached sconces with rechargeable light bulbs. So cute!
Darling Custom Door Hanger from this Facebook Shop
One other table rod idea- Friends of the family hosted a small luncheon for close friends of the bride. They also used a table rod to decorate the serving table. LOVE their idea to suspend clear orb ornaments. Before the event they asked each attendee to send in a prayer and scripture for the couple. Then they printed those off and rolled them up to put inside each ball. The couple can open them up in the future for wise words of advice and encouragment, hang them on their Christmas tree... whatever! Such a sweet idea.
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I'd not seen a table rod before -- great idea for decorating. Everything looked so pretty and festive. The spider wearing glasses is too cute. I remember the days of VBS -- my mother was head of the Sunday school department at our church and I helped her with the planning and getting supplies together. It's a lot of work but enjoyable. You and your husband are a handsome couple!!
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