Centerpiece

A centerpiece on the dining room table is the main attraction at a tea party, a large dinner party, or even just tea for two.

I enjoy creating my centerpieces from things I have on hand. I seldom ever use just a vase of fresh flowers as a centerpiece. To me that is too easy! I enjoy the challenge of shopping around the house for just the right things to put together for a unique centerpiece. These centerpieces become a conversational piece as my guests always want to hear about how the idea for each centerpiece came about. I usually like to have a theme for my tea parties and whatever the theme is becomes the subject for a centerpiece to be the highlight of the theme.

This centerpiece evolved from using my Old Country Roses china at a recent tea party. I didn't have a theme for the party. It was a reunion party for some long-time friends I have known for 35 years. Since I couldn't come up with an appropriate theme, I started looking around for what to use. I had just purchased two OCR hatboxes at an outlet mall. These boxes are what the plates are shipped in, they sell them for $7 and $5 each! The rim on the lid has the words Old Country Roses around it, but I covered the rim with a ribbon. The ribbon was about 1/8 of an inch too short and I remedied that with using a clip-on vintage earring in that spot! Perfect!

A ribbon runner was used under the hatbox. Mostly vintage items were used in and around the hatbox: scarf, pearls, crocheted gloves, a small perfume bottle, small beaded purse, a figurine from my childhood, a yellow rose hankie, a pair of tiny crocheted baby shoes, a small oval frame with a photo of my grandmother when she was 16 years old. A small crystal dish held two pairs of 1928 vintage-look earrings that I used to tell an interesting story about. Two candles in the shape of vintage shoes filled with pink and yellow roses completed the vignette.
My friends loved the centerpiece, as well as everything else! I will use this centerpiece for a few more weeks. I always dislike removing a favorite centerpiece, but it's just another opportunity to create another one!