Our Easter Celebration

Easter is one of my favorite times of the year.  It signals the beginning of spring, ushers in warmer weather and celebrates the central story of my faith.  What is there not to love?  So when I found out less than two weeks ago that we would have the honor of hosting our family’s celebration I started dreaming about what little things I could do to make the celebration special.  As a mom of two young children I have very limited time for shopping.  During this season of life my shopping trips resemble more of a timed track event than the browse and dream scenario I would prefer.  And because I’m short on time I don’t have the luxury of shopping several stores, so I have to work with what’s available where I happen to be.  Does anyone else shop for home decor at the hardware store?

So with that in mind…

I love styling dinner tables.  Here was our Easter table this year.

What inspired it all?  Those lovely grass green buffet napkins (love that color!) I bought at World Market.  But seriously, green is always on my mind.  I think about our landscaping, our budget, our diet…hourly.  All green.

The next green element?  Personalized place cards.  I stenciled our guests’ monograms on individual canvases.  (I will detail how to make these in tomorrow’s post.)

I was really happy with how they turned out.  I haven’t stenciled since I was a kid but now I’m hooked.  It was so fun, so simple and a great way to include a very personal touch.

Place cards on the plate.  Anyone else ready to eat?  Now that I think about it I am pretty much always ready to eat.  Yup.

  

With my napkins bought and place cards crafted, I focused my attention on the center of the table.  I wanted to keep the green theme rolling so I headed to the closest garden center at my local Home Depot.  I knew I wanted green (surprise! surprise!) live plants that were short enough so guests could chat during dinner.  These beautiful jade plants fit the bill.

And of course these beauties needed a serious container upgrade.  I found these silver numbers at Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft.

And these too.  I added some simple moss to the little ones.

Green live things meet green not-so-alive things.

If you are at all interested in conversation, you shouldn’t really put height in the center of the table.  Or maybe you’d prefer to eat in silence and without making eye contact.  That actually may end up being a really great design trick for some of you and your less-than-awesome guests.

But no one says you can’t add a little height at the ends of the table.  I placed these paper mache eggs (Michaels) on a simple wood pedestal.  Tall, dark and handsome.

And now with the main table complete…

…it was time to pull the kids’ table together.

I didn’t think the little party guests would be thrilled with personalized canvases.  But personalized boxes…

…filled with Easter candy?  Now that is something I figured they could get on board with.

I bought white jewelry boxes, painted them inside and out, stenciled their initial, filled them with candy and tied them up with sisal.

Each child also had their own spring-inspired plate.  Notice the nod to green in each one.

I found these sweet craft projects at Jo-Ann too.  I placed one at each chair and it helped keep little hands busy while dinner was being made.

My beauties helped me put the entire kids table together and they loved being my right and left hands.

An Easter wreath in the dining room.

Me capturing it all.  Wow!  Those are some blue pants.

Enough prep.  Let’s get on with the celebration already!  Grandma brought these darling Easter baskets for the kids.  (If you want to see the Easter baskets I made for our beauties go here.)

And organized an amazing Easter egg hunt!

Auntie hiding some of the goods.

An egg waiting for a little one to snatch it!  Or a bird to eat it…whatever.

An egg hung with care.

A tree full of treats.  Me and my serious sweet tooth love it!

The hunters ready for the hunt.

And success!

Craft time with the cousins!

Fruit cups.

And a spring dinner full of deliciousness.

The dinner guests ready to embark on the time of their life.  O.K.  That may be a stretch but it was close.  Did you see that plate of food?

I hope you and yours had a blessed Easter!  And I would love to hear all about it.

Stacey