Setting an Easter Table on a Budget

Hi my friends! I know I have been a little absent lately, but it has been crazy behind the scenes at home. My littlest and I have been sick (and the pollen is NOT helping!). Also, the new website design has been giving me a TON of trouble. It is still not complete and the support I have been getting has been far from stellar even though the reviews I read on the company I bought my theme from were “raving” reviews (which is why I went with them in the first place!). I’m not even going to call out any names in hopes that things come around and I get what I want out of it. All I ask is a little patience from you all while I get everything straightened out. So if you run into anything a little cray-cray on my site, just know, it will EVENTUALLY be fixed. UGH.

In addition I have started a new blog. YES, I know, it’s crazy, another blog! But I won’t have this one up for a few more weeks. I can’t spill any details just yet, but I hope to share more with you all once we get a little closer to the launch. The new website will be totally different from this, but it’s time I step out of my comfort zone and see what I am really made of. And if it comes together like I hope, it will……

Okay, so now to what you really came here for. As we all know Easter is right around the corner which means going to church, wearing pretty flower dresses, Easter egg hunting and sitting around a table having a wonderful meal with family and friends. I will be honest, the only holiday I really decorate my dining table for is Christmas. I am not one of those peeps who has to have a setting for every occasion. Mostly, because I don’t have the time. Second, it costs money. And third, where the heck am I going to store so much stuff?!

So if you are anything like me you’re probably thinking the same thing. But this year, I did decide to do a little “something” to my table and share with you a few tips on how to keep costs down, make an elegant “theme” and use items that can be re-purposed so you don’t have a TON of different decorations stored around your house that you only use once a year!

So here is my setting for Easter this year.

Simple, clean and look ma’ NO EGGS! Okay, so here’s the deal. I don’t care to decorate with Easter eggs. I am NOT going to go out and buy napkins or place mats or plates with bunnies and eggs on them (at least I haven’t seen any yet that don’t look cheesy).

And the only cheese I like goes with my wine…..Just sayin’!

So here is what I like to do on these occasions that will help with cutting down costs and give you the opportunity to reuse some of this stuff!

First off, don’t EVA underestimate the power of the Dollar Tree! If you have never been to that store, get your butt up, in the car, and drive yourself right on over there. It is the best place to find awesome chargers, glassware, seasonal decor, dishware and my favorite… storage. We will focus on the first 2 for this one.

Those awesome glasses I got for $1.00 each at Dollar Tree! And those chargers too! Why do I like buying glassware at Dollar Tree and why should you? Cause 1. it’s cheap 2. it’s actually good quality 3. they bring new stuff in all the time and 4. you won’t cry whenever your kids (or occasionally, you) break one. It will just cost a dolla’ to replace. Those glasses I have had since last Thanksgiving.

The white napkins cost me zero. My mom had them stored away and never really used them so she offered them up and I was happy to take them home with me. They are an awesome soft linen that I just love. I use them over and over again. One tip, if you prefer cloth napkins, I always suggest white, cause if anything nasty gets on them you can just bleach the heck out of them and get the stains out. Something you can’t do with color napkins. Just sayin’!

The burlap ribbon was also from Dollar Tree. I had a roll left over from another project. If you want to add a little extra detail to your napkins like I did, just cut some ribbon and glue the ends together to create a ribbon “napkin ring”. You can slide the napkins right out of them. Easy peasy!

The chargers usually come in around Thanksgiving for the holidays. I bought those last December for my Christmas setting, which leads me to talk about re-purposing. When choosing something like chargers that you won’t use that often and will most likely be stored somewhere for some time, taking up valuable storage space, use neutral colors like golds or silvers. They are so versatile and can be paired with so many color combinations. Look how awesome they look with those new place mats I got from At Home.

Does anyone else miss the name Garden Ridge? I still refer to it as that cause I find it weird saying, “I’m going shopping at At Home.” Okay moving on!

I wasn’t even in the market for the ikat place mats when I was there over the weekend, but I found them in the clearance aisle for 50% off. Since I have a table set for 8, I got 2 four packs for $7.49 each. By the way, I have a rule of not purchasing place mats that cost more than $2.00 each. It is my absolute rule and I can really find some good ones at that price. There ain’t no need to pay extra.

So as you may have noticed they are not “Easter” theme, but I prefer them that way. The colors are fresh and soft and work well in Spring. And the ikat design is trendy right now, but has a timeless feel so you can use them again and again.

One thing I don’t like about At Home is that they don’t do regular sales like Hobby Lobby or Michael’s do which is a bummer, BUT if you wait a week before ANY holiday (at least in my neck of the woods) they always have their seasonal stuff for sale. So, naturally when I was there I ran across these cute little bunnies which were 50% off – actually all Easter was 50%. And look at that little frame! So adorable.

The bunnies ended up costing $3 each and the frame was $2.50. So, okay yes, I have bunnies. But in my defense they aren’t pink or blue or have bows on them. You can easily place these bunnies on a shelf or on top of some books on an entry table and you can easily re-purpose them to NOT look “Eastery” which is the only reason I got them. And the frame, well it was too cute to pass up and it went with my gold theme anyways!

My point here is that if you can wait until the week before to decorate for your Easter setting then I would encourage you to do so, this way you can get some awesome deals from stores trying to push their last merchandise out.

You can see how I broke everything out above. I mean you just can’t beat those prices and the fact that you can use them separately for different occasions makes me do the happy dance!

Put a red ribbon on that bunny with some mistletoe and you got yourself a Christmas bunny. C’mon guys! Let’s use those imaginations!

Another thing I suggest is to have a set of white dishes reserved for your more “formal” occasions. Again, the purpose here is to save money. This way you can work around their neutral white color and pair them with any setting for any occasion. Having colored plates or patterns limits what you can do with them and more likely than not, they will end up being stored somewhere most of the time.

And lastly, I suggest to keep it simple. You don’t need any large arrangements or a ton of stuff on your table. Cause, let’s be real, you will mostly have food on your table on Easter so you don’t need to cramp your space with fru fru. And also, it would totally suck if you spilled something on or knocked something over and broke it. Less is more here peeps!

I hope you liked what I came up with for my tablescape and the tips I shared on keeping it extremely affordable. So if you thought you couldn’t have a nice setting on a budget, well, you’re out of excuses now.

Oh and if you thought it was weird that we don’t have name assignments, we don’t do that in our culture. As long as you don’t sit in the “head of the house’s” seat and the “wife’s seat” you’re good to go. How do you know which ones they are? Well, you ask OR you wait till they are seated. That’s just how we do when we have a formal sit down.

As always, I hope you enjoyed and I always look forward to hearing your thoughts!