Birthday Centerpiece

Today October 13 is the birthday of an awesome man Ray Jefferson. Ray was my boss for many years. I went to work for him when I was 21 years old and he was there through the birth of my daughter, my divorce, crazy life, my remarriage, my divorce, crazy life and  my final marriage. I know there were times when I disappointed him and for that I am sorry. No matter what I was going through he stood beside me. He was like a second dad to me. Today I am thinking about how lucky I was to have him in my life. That is why I want to share a birthday centerpiece blog today.

This birthday party centerpiece is a little over two feet tall and makes the tables look very festive. This is especially good if you have a huge room to decorate. First thing is to determine how many centerpieces you might need. Purchase that many birthday sacks. The sacks do not all have to be alike. Next purchase foam board. It is poster board on each side with foam in the middle. I used foam board to make the number sturdy. You can make a pattern of any number for the birthday year you are celebrating. I made one cut out and then used it for a pattern to cut the rest.

Since foam board was difficult for me to get the edges smooth, my husband and I took a bright lime green ribbon and "stitched" the edges. We were doing it to cover up the not so perfect edges, and then decided it was a great idea, because it added so much to the 75. Next I took several bright colored sharpie markers and wrote happy birthday all over both sides of the foam board number.

When we were ready to assembly the centerpieces we put crumpled newspaper in the sack to make it full enough to stand up. We stuck a wooden skewer up in the bottom of the 75 and then put the skewer down in the newpaper. We used bright colored Easter grass, purchased at the end of the season sale, to cover up the newpaper and make the centerpiece brighter. 

Making the number of the birthday year you are celebrating is time consuming, so make them plenty ahead of time! And then fold everything up and save it until the next person turns that age. We used these centerpieces at three different parties for three different families so it was great! Again, my daughter said what are you going to keep those for...again, I reused them! LOL