Inexpensive Ideas for Table Centerpieces

You can create inexpensive table centerpieces for a party or for an intimate dinner with objects like mirror tiles, fish bowls and cabochons. Create an elegant centerpiece for a wedding reception with stem glasses and tea lights, or create simple centerpieces with herbs and annuals that you can plant when the party is over. Consider flowers and candles for your next dinner for two. Make your own centerpieces easily and inexpensively with these simple ideas. Does this Spark an idea?

Elegant Centerpieces

Set an elegant table with a 12-by-12-inch mirror tile, stem glasses, glass marbles and tea lights. Glue crystal stem glasses to a mirror tile for stability with craft glue that dries clear. Fill the glasses halfway with glass marbles and top each one with a tea light. Spread a few more glass cabochons, or flat-backed glass stones, on the mirror tile around the glass. You can find a six-pack of mirror tiles for less than $10 at your local home store. Make six centerpieces for less than $6 each if you already have stem glasses in your cupboard. The glasses don't have to match, and you can use one or three in the center of a mirror tile for each centerpiece. You can also find inexpensive stem glasses at the dollar store or at local yard sales. For a few more dollars, drape crystal prisms from the lip of the glasses. You can join one glass to the other with crystal strands if you use three glasses.

Casual Centerpieces

Create casual table centerpieces for a garden party or an outdoor shower with small terra-cotta pots planted with herbs or flowering annuals. Separate the herbs from larger plants, or buy a plat of annuals to make these inexpensive centerpieces even more cost-effective. Tie each pot with a strip of ribbon or glue cabochons around the outside. If the potting soil in the top of the pots is visible, spread cabochons or pebbles as a cover. These cute and casual centerpieces will cost less than $5 dollars each, and you can plant them in larger containers or in your garden when the party is over.

Intimate Centerpieces

Flowers and candles accentuate an intimate dinner table. You can make an intimate centerpiece that looks like you picked it up from the florist. Purchase a small round fish bowl from your local discount store and a bouquet of silk or live flowers. Crop the flowers so that the blossoms are close to the rim of the bowl. Fill the fish bowl with single-colored stones before you insert the flowers. Flank the flowers with two small candleholders and taper candles from your local dollar store. Select a candle color to complement the stones in the flower arrangement.