One Charming Party | Birthday Party Ideas » Flowers

county fair: flowers

Brittany — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:30:52 +0000

Vegetables give these flower arrangements a subtle twist. Here are the instructions for making our garden harvest centerpieces for the County Fair Party.

We’re so excited about our latest party plan that for a limited time we are offering you a chance to see the whole thing for free. Just fill out the form in the sidebar so we can email you the link (or see a mini-preview in our shop).

Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat. Flowers by Megan Dunford of Persimmon Floral.

mother’s day flowers for HGTV

Brittany — Tue, 03 May 2011 09:30:40 +0000

Planning a Mother’s Day lunch for the moms in your life? After you’ve arranged your flowers, give them some extra zest by adding some fresh cut fruit. Include oranges, lemons or limes in your arrangement by simply cutting the fruit in half, sticking the uncut end into a floral pick, then gently poking the floral pick into the oasis inside the vase. Make sure to add any fruit on the day of the party so that they will stay fresh.

We were so honored to be asked by HGTV.com to create this Mother’s Day Alfresco Lunch for their site–click over to see more of this party. And we’d like to thank Robin Mathis from Twigg Botanical for creating our floral arrangements. Her awesome talent doesn’t end here, she’s amazing at creating wedding arrangements too.

Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat.

bunny party: flowers and food

Brittany — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:30:24 +0000

Serve a simple salad at your Bunny Party with these tasty Petits Palmiers tucked into the mixed greens to look like bunny ears. A crispy puff pastry cookie, these are available at Trader Joe’s and other grocery stores. Perfect for Easter, food can look cute and taste yummy too.

And if you’re including a floral arrangement at your party, don’t forget some ornamental cabbage with your springtime flowers.

Flowers by The Vine’s Leaf. ©One Charming Party.

thanksgiving flower arrangement

Brittany — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:00:13 +0000

Here is a last minute idea for a Thanksgiving Day table centerpiece. Easier than carving a pumpkin, just add some flowers and you’ll have a festive flower arrangement in minutes.

1. Cut off the top of the pumpkin.
2. Scrape out the seeds and other gooey insides of the pumpkin.
3. Carefully put a glass container into the pumpkin and fill with water.
4. Arrange your flowers inside the glass container.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Photo by Sara Westbrook.

art gallery party: flower arrangement tutorial

Brittany — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:00:31 +0000

Ever wonder how to arrange flowers? I am in love with this flower arrangement. If you would like to re-create this bouquet that we used for the Art Party yourself, here are the easy steps to follow.

Tools: serrated floral knife, pruners/garden clippers, 20-24 gauge floral wire, paper scissors

Flowers: pink gerbera daisies, dark pink roses, red pixie carnations, orange tulips, yellow ranunculus, yellow mums, kermit poms, bear grass, blue hydrangeas, purple liatris

A few tips from Megan: Keep the flowers in cold water until you are ready to use them. Strip the stems of excess foliage. Secure smaller bundles of flowers with a rubber band or floral wire. Trim the ends at an angle. You can tweak the flowers as you go until you get the right look. Have fun learning how to arrange flowers for yourself.

This party is for sale in our shop.

Art Party photos by Nicole Gerulat. Flowers by Megan Dunford of Persimmon Floral. All images ©One Charming Party.

back to school: flower bouquet

Brittany — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:00:38 +0000

Kids going back to school? I think this flower bouquet is a perfect back to school idea or teacher gift.

To make: find a big jar and a glass cup that fits inside. Carefully slide plastic alphabet letters (the kind that are magnets that stick to the fridge) between the jar and the glass cup. Fill the inside cup with water and flowers. Enjoy!

For more back to school ideas, click on the tag below. Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat. ©One Charming Party.

raggedy ann party: flowers

Brittany — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:00:03 +0000

The flowers for this party also match the color scheme. The beautiful and talented Megan Dunford of Persimmon Floral made the two arrangements that I used. She had the genius idea of wrapping the vases in scrapbooking paper and using paper flowers as well. If you look closely at both pictures, you can see all of the different paper flowers that she crafted.

I’m not a florist, but I think the flowers in the arrangements are: white tulips, red spray roses, red carnations, and white stock. And I think Megan painted some china berries white and put them in there too. The paper flowers have a button in the center with floral wire fed through and twisted to make a wire stem.

When adding flowers to a party think outside the box and try adding a touch of whimsy, just for fun.

You won’t want to miss a single photo from this party, so click on the Raggedy Ann Party tag below to see all of the party posts.

valentine party: vases with button bouquets

Brittany — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:00:59 +0000

I found these cute white milkglass vases at the thriftstore. They are super cheap and perfect for these little button bouquets that I bought on Etsy from KadyHope. I knew that real flowers would cost way too much during the Valentine’s holiday, so button bouquets were the perfect solution.

Feeling the love? Click on the Valentine’s Party tag below to get all the deets.

what i’m doing: two floral arranging classes in one month

Brittany — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:00:22 +0000

Do you ever see those cute flower bunches at Costco or at an outside market? What do you do with them once you get home? I usually take my bouquet and cut off the ends and put them in a vase. I fool myself into believing that they are “wild” and “naturally” arranged. That they look good like that. Um, no. They don’t. I recently took two different floral arranging classes from two completely opposite teachers. One from an extension program through a local university and one at the Art Weekend that I recently attended. The first teacher was an old school, east coast professor type and the other was a hip, self taught wedding florist. I liked them both. And I will admit that with taking just two basic classes, I feel confident that I can now turn a simple bunch of flowers into a decent arrangement. Don’t get me wrong, flower arranging is a total skill that takes time to master. And I’d always prefer to have a pro do it for me. But in the comfort of my own home, surrounded by my four adoring kids who basically think everything I do is genius (they’re still young, okay?) I definitely have enough confidence to make some centerpieces for us. This is a fun and relatively inexpensive hobby and I would recommend a class like these to anyone. Did you see that Jane Packer has classes in NYC? Good thing I know a cool brother with an apartment there… And sometimes Eddie Ross will post a floral arranging class taught by him. I love Eddie Ross. Oh, and p.s. telling a professional florist that you buy flowers at Costco and just trim the ends and then throw the whole thing into a random vase is like telling your photography teacher that you always shoot on auto. They look at you horror stricken. Horror stricken, like you just admitted to a horrible crime. So if you find yourself in a similar situation, keep that little bit of info to yourself.

Three things that I learned:

1. Don’t make your arrangements too tall or else people will move them off of the table. Both instructors mentioned this.
2. Choose your vase and THEN find flowers that will look good in it. Interesting, since I always do the opposite.
3. Put your greens in first in a nice even distribution. No, put your greens in last to fill in the holes. Some contradiction between the two teachers, so either way is fine, I say.

Okay, I totally arranged both of these centerpieces. (Keep in mind that I didn’t get to choose the flowers, they were provided at the classes, so don’t judge.) And my photography is improving too, right?

tea party: teapots for vases

Brittany — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:00:27 +0000

Girly girl tea parties are the perfect occasion to use fresh flowers. So think outside of the box on this one and use some cute teapots to hold your bouquets. And for simplicity I like to put just one kind of flower in each pot.