Happy Tablescapes from the Daughter with a little help from the Mom

In the past month or so The Daughter and her husband have been fulfilling what they believe to be a "calling" to have their home constantly open for family and friends. I have learned much from my daughter in this regard. Sometimes the guest bathroom isn't spic-and-span, but when you have seventy people in your house, who notices? The invitations are often sent via email (you probably already know all about Paperless Post and Evite) which helps tremendously to cut down on costs and keep the occasion in a budget-friendly mode. Friends and family might even be assigned food to bring. Sometimes The Daughter drags out a combination of her three sets of china (you remember that we are Southern women here), her Waterford crystal, and flat silver, but she is not tied and bound to this limited concept of entertaining. Her beautiful tables often boast a mix-and-match approach of cute paper goods, sterling serving pieces, silver trays, and heavy-duty plastic dinnerware. My own Momma might croak, but it not only works, it looks charming, and serves to make clean-up a breeze. My hat goes off to The Daughter and her hubby who also equally share the party prep. Their style is a combination of careful preparation and thoughtful organization coupled with a laid-back easy-going approach that makes all of their parties so FUN. And my job: to come early and do whatever I am told. And then, to relax and enjoy what always promises to be a delightful evening or afternoon, if I am lucky enough to make the guest list!
 

The tablescape to the left was what The Daughter used for Little One's Baptism Celebration (a longer post with pics to follow on this special event!)  I picked up the paper flower kit a while back (Martha Stewart's craft line) on sale for the unbelievable price of $2.00 at Big Lots, no less. I had kept these tucked away for a special occasion such as this! A few little Marguerite daisies tucked into tiny vases and more filling a modern lime green holder made for a fresh and delightful look.

And next, who doesn't love wheat grass? It is cheap and oh so easy to use! Since the lights would be dim and the house full of seventy plus people, The Daughter and I kept the grass in the wax coated box top that the Turnip Truck provided her to transport it home. We put some plastic underneath, removed one of the small containers from the center (you can see it still sitting on the table in the pic at the top) and inserted white flowering Quince branches that were just emerging into a makeshift vase fashioned out of a coffee cup. Then we divided the smaller container of wheat grass (using scissors and a sharp knife) into smaller sections to fill in the center so that the coffee cup-vase was completely camouflaged. Voila....a very lovely table that garnered tons of compliments!  Special note: you can readily purchase the kits to grow your own wheat grass but we did not make the final decision about the tablescape until Monday of the week before, which did NOT give us enough time (even with prayer!) to sufficiently grow the wheatgrass to the desired height! Thankfully, we called around and located a reasonable source not far from The Daughter's home!