The list is available at the bottom of this post. But first, I want to share with you where some of my inspiration came from. Last Thursday, I attended a class at one of my local tearooms on “How to Prepare for Your Holiday Tea”. I continue my education so I can continue yours and stay inspired. Amy Lawrence, Afternoon to Remember’s owner led our class of around fifteen ladies. I never counted, I was too busy taking notes!

This post is part of Lazy Organizer’s Talk about Tuesday Blog Carnival.

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Amy set up a table filled with holiday decorations (see pictures below) and shared with us many of her secrets on prepping the food, tea, and table with some simple ideas I’ll pass on to you. Some of them regarding the food I mentioned yesterday. Today I want to show and tell you what I learned about some simple decorating ideas.

Pumpkins are one of the most perfect decorating items available right now. They’re inexpensive, versatile, and biodegradable when you’re finished with them! In the picture above you can see mini-pumpkins with black pipe-cleaner legs sticking out of them. They’re homemade spiders, hollowed out mini-pumpkins with a tea-light added to shine through two small eyes.

In the middle of the picture, you can (barely, so sorry) make out a gold pumpkin. It’s an ordinary grocery store pumpkin Amy spray-painted with gold. So simple. She also spray-painted some maple leaves gold and hot-glued them around the stem of the pumpkin. Oh wait, here’s a much better picture of the gold pumpkin sans gold leaves.

I appreciated Amy sharing her cost-effective ideas. For example, she admitted using shower curtains for tablecloths (we all got a kick out of that) and showed us how to cover less-than-attractive chairs with large squares of fabric or tablecloth. Having always admired chair covers without spending money for them, I loved learning how to use what I already have. With a large spool of holiday ribbon and some pine greenery from the backyard, I can add a large bow and ornament to the chair’s back.

Amy also reinforced much of what I’ve mentioned here. Everything doesn’t have to match. And it’s so important to give attention to the details (like fresh flowers and name cards)!

As promised, here’s a list of Tea Party Girl’s favorite cost-effective holiday decorating items:

  • pumpkins and unusual gourds
  • spools of wide-wired ribbon
  • lots of unscented candles
  • evergreen boughs
  • specialty papers for name-cards, menus, or favors with a special saying, poem, etc.

What are yours? Share them with us in the comments. And if you’re ever in the Sacramento neighborhood, be sure to schedule time for tea at Afternoon to Remember. At the very least, enjoy a visit their on-line store!

Other places you can spot Tea Party Girl this week: