Thursday, March 3, 2011

St. Patrick's Day Table Setting

With March now in full swing, I decided to create a St. Patrick's Day table setting to make our home a little more festive for the holiday.  Because my mom's family is mostly Irish in ancestry, growing up we always celebrated St. Patrick's Day with corned beef, cabbage, and green milk (beer for the adults).  J and I will continue the tradition in our home this year and now we will have a festive table setting to go along with it!

Since it's not a major holiday like Christmas or Halloween, I was also determined not to spend a lot of money decorating for something that will only stay up until March 17th.  Enter my good friend, Dollar Tree.  For under twelve bucks, I not only decorated our dining room table, but also was able to decorate our living room as well.  Here's how I did it.


I started with some multicolored green bamboo place mats and green goblets from Anthropologie we received as an engagement gift a few years ago.


I then brought out our white square plates and placed a shamrock on each plate for place cards (each bag came with 20 shamrocks in two colors--kelly green and a sparkly shamrock green)

Himself
Herself
In the center of the table, I pulled out this green tray I bought at Value Village for 60 cents back in October.  (Does it look familiar?  I also used it to create my Christmas table setting seen here.)  I filled it with six strands of green beads (each pack came with two each) and then nestled three green tea lights I had laying around on top.

My camera did weird things with the coloring of this photo--it does not look that shocking in real life!
Next, I hung two more shamrocks from the hutch using some green ribbon I had left over from our wedding this summer to complete the dining room look.


In the living room, I put away the rose petals that had been out since I created this table setting and got to work.  In two of the glass vases, I used green and white scarves (one for each) to create a platform for the pillar candles to rest on.  In the third, I used the kelly green shamrocks to create another base.  I then slipped a bright green shamrock into each one for a little splash of color and interest.


In the library area of our living room, I reused the milk glass vase and candle from Valentine's Day, stuffed it with some green tissue paper (also leftover from our wedding) and placed three shamrocks around the base.


Since this area of our living is more of a library type space that we use to read books and magazines, I also grabbed a green and white journal and a small green and white candle that had previously lived on our bookshelves to stack with the milk glass vase.


So there you have it.  A festive and fun space just in time for St. Patrick's Day all for 11 dollars!

Tell me, do you celebrate St. Patty's Day with gusto or do you just wear a bit of green so as not to get pinched?  Are you planning to decorate for it or do you reserve that for the big holidays? 

14 comments:

  1. Very clever ideas - I love St. Patrick's Day! Thanks for sharing. I'm now following so I don't miss anything!
    Susan

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  2. Love your decor! I'm Irish too, on my dad's side, and I love St. Patrick's Day. We don't do much decorating but I do sport some green and hit up the local St. Patrick's Day parades, and usually make some yummy food.

    Happy St. Patrick's Day! :)

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  3. I love all your decor soooo cute!!! Especially the table settings :-)

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  4. So festive and cute!

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  5. So festive! Do you have a recipe for corned beef? I always thought corned beef and cabbage sounded horrible until I had a chance to try it a couple years ago. YUM! :)

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  6. Very cool decor!!

    Happy Thursday! I am blog hopping today and I am so happy I got to stop by your blog!!

    Please come by and visit either or both of my blogs and become a follower (if you aren't one already):

    So Stylilized is where I am currently offering FREE Custom Blog Designs at http://sostylilized.blogspot.com

    Jessicas Lil Corner is my family blog at http://jessicaslilcorner.blogspot.com

    Have a very blessed Thursday!! :0)

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  7. It's great to see the Irish spirit as I'm Irish myself. I really enjoy reading your post and look forward to following your site. It's always great to have a little green beer as well!!

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  8. ummm... if you ever get bored of those placemats and don't want them anymore, you can re-gift one to madison ;) just sayin...


    bahahaha! great job girly! this is one of my fav holidays b/c its the day after my birfday buuut I haven't decorated yet! help!!! I dont want to spend cash monies! shall I cut shamrocks out of green paper all weekend? i just may!

    xoXOxo
    Jenn @ Peas & Crayons

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  9. I'm a new follower from Thirsty Thursday!

    Your decor is so cute, I love the candles.

    Happy Thursday,
    Jessi
    http://thejuicilife.blogspot.com

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  10. These are really cute and cool! I love St. Patrick's day! We never really went all out when I was in high school, but at college we go ALL OUT. I'm sure it's because we're in college and any holiday that it is acceptable to drink all day is a winner in my book :)

    Second, thank you for being encouraging :)
    I hadn't thought about Americorps instead. I'll do some research and see if it's something I would like to do! Thanks for suggesting it!

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  11. @ Mollie: Scandalous :)

    @ Susan: Thanks and welcome! Isn't St. Patty's a fun holiday?!

    @ Mrs. W: That sounds delicious and like my kind of holiday :) Thanks for stopping by!

    @ Lauren and Ashly: Thanks girlies!

    @ Jenn: I have one at home that you make in the oven that is just delicious. I'll email it you later today :)

    @ Jessica: Thanks for stopping by. I'll be sure to check out your links!

    @ Ross: Beer of all colors (but especially green) is good :) Thanks for stopping by and welcome!

    @ Jenn: I highly recommend Dollar Tree or the dollar section of Target--always safe and cheap bets :) We need to get the damn teleport working so I can share placemats with you too!

    @ Jessi: Thanks and welcome, welcome, welcome! I can't take credit for the candles as they were a gift but I love them :)

    @ Mallori: Oh yes, drinking holidays in college like St. Pat's and Mardi Gras are always fun! Good luck girlie, let me know if you need anything!!

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  12. WOW!! I love it all! I'm a 100% Irish, & have been looking to do something beside drink green beer, this year. Thanks for sharing:) Visiting via FTLOB & now following...have a happy Friday!
    mamasherri.blogspot.com

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  13. @ Sherri: Welcome or as they say in Gaelic, Fáilte! 100% Irish, huh? I wish I were that lucky :)

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