It’s wedding week in our family. My precious niece joins in matrimony with an amazing young man this Saturday, and it was my honor to host a bridal shower for her at our home.

Approximately 40 -45 women were in attendance, and as you can see, Bekah (my niece), is a joy to celebrate. So many people shy away from hospitality due to budget issues or worse, the fear that their house can’t be the picture perfect look you see on pinterest.

Here are a few ways that you can create an elegant, yet simple, look without breaking the bank. Some of the college girls walked in and said, “Oh, it looks just like Pinterest.” I’ll take that as a compliment, even though I wasn’t going off of any design inspiration. I was working with what I already owned, and I planned the decor in the same way.

Unfortunately, the craziness of hosting got in the way of finished pictures, and since I was scrambling the last few hours, I never stopped to snap some photos  of the whole look AND I missed pictures of a bunch of the fun foods displayed on their stands.

The exciting thing that I can share about this shower is that the entire bridal shower consists of thrifted items, except for one cloche, and the balloons. 😉 Everything else has been picked up at yard sales and thrift stores. I am continuing looking for beautiful linens, candles, candle holders, dishes, and serving accessories. So as you look at the details, know that everything was purchased for literally $1-3. The ingredients for the food is what I invested in for my purchases.

One of the easiest ways to decorate for any party is by bringing a dramatic statement to the center of the room. Since I still have my very ugly, builder brass lighting fixture in our great room (chandelier will be coming one of these days), I decided to make that a focal piece.

I blew up balloons and made some “partial” DIY pompom balls with varying colors. Then I just started stringing and taping them together until I achieved the eye popping look I desired. I first posted about these years ago, and you can find the detailed instructions here of my homemade pom poms balls.

Martha pom poms 500x374 Creative party decorations on a budget

Initially, I was going to go all white from the inspiration picture, but then decided to mix and match colors.

Tulle is a frugal decorators delight.

Years ago, I picked up an entire bolt at a yard sale, both in white and gold, and I have used that for so many celebrations of all kinds.

Over our kitchen table lighting fixture, I decided to dress that up as well with balloons and crystals. All just simple ideas, but they make a dramatic difference in the overall festive look.

The girls bridesmaid dresses are green, so I used some fabric that I had to drape the table. A wonderful way to add detail to tablescapes is by using boxes under the table cloths to add depth on the table.

I just loved decorating tables and have posted many ideas in the past like  Simple Centerpieces using lemons, and then for more ideas read my, “What in the World is a Tablescape?

decorating with lemons Simple DIY Centerpieces (using Lemons)

Adding fun pops of color with candy makes kids from 1 – 101 happy.

Fabrics, beads, candles and crystals dress up drab areas. It was so pretty once the sun set.

My sweet daughters were wonderful helpers.

In my opinion, the joy of a celebration is about the wonderful guests, and then the food.

Both the punch and fruit water that I made were topped with fruit ice cubes that I easily made by layering fruit in muffin tins and then adding punch and/or water to the muffin tins.

This is just a sampling of what I served. The cream puffs (both chicken and whipped cream ones) were gone in seconds. Before I could even get a picture of them nicely displayed on the cake plate.

I’m bringing this post to a quick  close because I am literally running right now to go decorate for the reception, but I just had to share the wonder of the sweet bride.

Bekah, just like my children, have been raised on loving our yard sale finds. It’s not often that she had brand new things, and as the oldest daughter of eleven, yes eleven children, her heart is a pure hearted servant.

One of the benefits of raising your children with an attitude of gratitude, is that when they cross the threshold into major adult life moments, appreciation just oozes. I have been at showers were there was barely a thanks, and the bride almost had an entitlement mentality.

Can you see her heart shining through on every “ohhhh and ahhhhh?”

This is not an act. EVERY single gift, she was overwhelmed. I asked during the shower when she held up the white toothbrush holder, ” Have you ever  seen anyone more grateful for a toothbrush holder?” It was SO precious. It’s a moment when you just wanted to shower her with gifts because her heart was so thankful.

I can’t wait to show you more snapshots of the wedding, and some of the fun ideas from the shower that I didn’t share.

What a glorious celebration when the Lord is the center.