Three Simple Fall Centerpieces for Under $10

On Sunday morning our pastor started talking about the “yard sale sub-culture” and everyone in my family started looking at me and giggling. I am not ashamed to admit that I love a bargain! If I can find great toys, books and games for the kids at a tiny fraction of the original cost, I am a happy camper. When Target comes out with Pottery Barn-like home decor I am all over it (although even Target is a little pricey for me sometimes). I have even picked things up off the side of the road (waiting for trash day). YES – I have and I am totally fine with it as long as I know it is something that can be thoroughly cleaned and isn’t broken.  So with that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a big shock that I love dollar stores :). I was at the Dollar Tree store a few days ago and picked up two little bunches of autumn florals to use in some fall centerpieces around the house. I just added some mini pumpkins, gourds and a few simple white dishes to make these three lovely autumn decorations!

Three Simple Fall Centerpiece Ideas

Supplies:

“Mini Pumpkins” and other small pumpkins (usually 50 – 75 cents each)

Gourds (I bought a bag of 5 at Walmart for a little over $2)

Fabric flowers/leaves/berries etc (I bought two bunches for a dollar each)

Dishes, bowls or baskets you already have on hand. You can use fall-themed, but I think simple containers display the colors and textures of autumn beautifully.

How to Make Autumn Centerpieces:

Step 1: Wash your pumpkins and gourds, pat dry and set aside.

Step 2: Remove the fabric flowers, leaves and berries from their plastic stems and choose a few nice pieces to use in your decorations.

Step 3: For the first centerpiece, arrange three similar pumpkins or gourds in a row on a dish or flat basket, then add a few small berries, leaves and/or flowers in between and at the ends of the row. TIP: Less is more! Try not to over-embellish :).  See the photo at the top of this page for an example – this one works well for a rectangular table.

Step 4: The second centerpiece is super simple: just place several gourds and/or mini pumpkins in a bowl and add fall leaves or flowers here and there. TIP: groups of odd numbers tend to look best together – I used 5 pieces in my bowl, plus one flower (see photo below).

Step 5: Lastly, you can make a cute little pumpkin tower using mini pumpkins and fabric leaves :). This one is pretty small, but it looks great on a small round table or a narrow side table. Choose three mini pumpkins that will stack nicely without easily falling over. Remove all plastic connection pieces from the fabric leaves, and lay the first set of leaves in the center of a flat dish or basket. Place the largest of the three mini pumpkins on top of the leaves, then alternate leaves and pumpkins until you have your sweet little pumpkin tower completed. I also added a few tiny sunflowers to the top and sides.

There you have it! Three quick, simple and best of all – cheap fall decorations you can make yourself :). By-the-way, when I lived in New England it was easy to find REAL Bittersweet berries for free all over the place, plus plenty of colorful fall leaves, but the plus side of using artificial ones is that I can get them back out again next year!

Oh, and one more tip for working with inexpensive fabric flowers: the most tacky looking thing about them is always the plastic stems, so make sure you minimize those as much as possible. Remove any unnecessary plastic parts and tuck the rest under things to keep them hidden :).

For more autumn decorating ideas, check out these old blog posts I wrote in 2006:

~Fall Decorating Part 1~

~Fall Decorating Part 2~

UPDATE: Also check out this fall decorating post by my friend, Emily :)!

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