My daughter-in-law, Jessica, had mentioned having an interest in making a wreath a little while ago. I was thankful for the suggestion and decided to "just go with it"! The party was going to be an intimate affair, just the women in my immediate family, my sister-in-law and a close friend who had helped me with one of my weddings. Unfortunately, my young friend, Nicole, was going away for the weekend and couldn't come so, my granddaughter joined us instead! I'll make sure we do something else that Nicole can come to soon.
I did some research and determined that eucalyptus greens, seeded and otherwise, would be a good choice for the wreaths because, supposedly, it dries "beautifully". I made the wreath below as a prototype and played around with decoration using ribbon and Christmas ornaments.
On Friday, I went to the flower market to pick up the seeded eucalyptus I had ordered a week before. On my visit I decided to buy a few bunches of silver dollar eucalyptus to give the wreaths more dimension. I also found some silver, poufy foliage and thought it would look nice against the gray/green tint of the "euch", as people in the floral biz call it :). Going to the flower market is always fun because you never know what you might find! It's been the greatest perk to owning a floral business.
I purchased different colored ribbon and Christmas ornaments to offer the girls as decoration for their wreaths.
My daughter, Brittany, went to Michael's and bought some of these embellishments for the wreaths also. The funny thing was that I had bought some of the exact same glittery stems a few days earlier. Only I as going to use them for decorating my house for Christmas. You might see these same things later in another post!
On Sunday afternoon I prepared the shed for the wreath making workshop. (The ladies were coming at 3:30) My grandfather's old table was perfect for three of the ladies to use. The long counter and the work island on the other side of the shed fit the rest of us very well.
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I had purchased a cute bulletin-type board at Homegoods and wanted to decorate it for the party. So, I quickly made up this checklist for the party on my computer and placed it on the board. Next time it will be more professional looking but, it looked festive anyway :).
Of course, I had to have some food and beverages!
Brittany decided she HAD to draw a bee on my cheese board next to the jar of honey. Sorry, it looks like the bee got a little cut off in the photo. It really did look like a bee. Very cute!
After we had filled our plates and glasses, it was on to the wreath making. Here is my granddaughter, Julia, starting to make her wreath.
Doesn't Brittany look festive in her red plaid shirt? I think she's about to kill me for taking this photo
though ;).
My daughter, Amanda, and my daughter-in-law, Jessica,... digging right into the task!
Amanda and Brittany holding up there finished wreaths. I think Amanda was giving Brittany a hard time here :).
Here comes Amanda again joking around with Julia! I think this is called a photo bomb!
My sister-in-law, Judy, kept hiding from the camera but she let me take a picture of her finished wreath. She was the first one to make a bow and when Julia saw it she asked Judy if she would make a bow for her as well. This was a pretty easy workshop for me to host because all my guests are soooo very capable and talented. I didn't have to do much at all. Even with all that extra time, I still didn't manage to finish my own wreath, however!
Mother and daugher holding Julia's wreath
Here is Jessica's wreath. She liked the simple gold ribbon on it. I like it too!
This one was Amanda's. She chose to use a burlap ribbon tied at the top. It's hard to see it in the photo. Everyone had used the seeded and silver dollar eucalyptus, as well as, the silvery gray foliage to make their wreaths. The contrast of the silver foliage turned out to be very nice against the gray/green of the eucalyptus I thought.
Brittany chose to cover about three quarters of her grapevine wreath with the greens and then embellished it with sparkly things. She and Julia were seated next to each other and theirs were the most sparkly of all! Everyone had their own style.
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I finished my wreath the next morning. I was too interested in seeing what everyone else was doing to finish mine on time :). I ended up using the frosted and shiny Christmas balls. I also added a sparkling silver bow. I have to say, I really think all the wreaths turned out very well and were so unique, just like their creators. I had a great time watching everyone "do their thing" and see each one's personality and taste come through in each wreath.
In the end, Judy and I succumbed to the camera and had our picture taken. Even my little grand daughter, Kylie, made her way into this picture. She missed Mommy by this time. The guys had been in my house babysitting for about two hours at this point and sadly, it was time for our ladies get-away to end. The natives were getting restless!
I think everyone had a good time and it was a great test for my shed. It worked out wonderfully! Even the little heater kept us warm. Perhaps, I will be able to host more parties in the future. The weather will have to dictate that but, in the end, this wreath making party was all I had hoped for...great times with great people! AND, we all got pretty wreaths in the bargain!
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What a delightful wreath party. They turned out so pretty. Love the concept. The food and drinks looks so appetizing as well. Thanks for sharing such a fun party at DI&DI.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda. It really was a ton of fun!
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