A few weeks ago, my nephew was confirmed in the Catholic Church; and because my house was the closest to the church, I was nominated to host the pre-Mass dinner and post-Mass dessert! At the time, I had about a million different things going on and was not planning on doing much for this “party.” A tablecloth and clean dishes were the most I promised my sister for her son’s Confirmation Celebration. 
Alas, about 24 hours before we were set to sit down to dinner, I decided I could do more than just throw a plain tablecloth down. Without hesitation, I set off to the fabric store…and 24-hours later, I had a gorgeous tablescape to celebrate my nephew! 
Let me show you what I did!

The Sacrament of Confirmation is about receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and since red is the color of the Holy Spirit, I knew a red color scheme was just the way to go! The first thing I did was make this simple No-Sew Lace Table Runner!

In the fashion fabrics section of the fabric store, I picked up about 2 1/2 yards of this 60″ wide red lace fabric (Because it’s prom season, I got it 50% off!…so I think I paid all of $5 for two table runners and had lots left over!). Here’s what I did to make the runners!
  1. Fold the lace in half length-wise and cut down the middle of the entire length of fabric. This left me with two 2 1/2 yard X 30″ strips.
  2. Take one strip, and fold it in half again, and cut it down the middle again…this left me with two 2 1/2 yard by 15″ strips.
  3. Using fabric glue, I glued red grosgrain ribbon down the entire length of the lace runner (on both sides) to give a nice edge and conceal any jagged edges.

These were so quick, cheap, and easy….and were the perfect base to my monochromatic red table!

Next, I set to work on flower arrangements. I thought a strong monochromatic flower-scape down the center of both my tables would be a dramatic effect!
The only hitch was that I didn’t have any red vases, and I was not about to go out and buy a bunch for this one party (even though they could be used for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc etc!). I didn’t want to paint my vases (like I did here…although I was tempted to!). 
Then I thought of just the trick! To unify all my various sized and shaped vases, I could cut cardstock to   and roll it up inside! The effect was stunning….here is how I did it (pssst – there was no measuring required!)

  1. Roll up your card stock with your hand, narrow enough to slide it into whatever vase you want to line.
  2. Slide the paper into the vase (there is no need to tape or glue it!).
  3. Using the vase as your guide, simply snip down to the lip of the vase. This will be your marker for trimming the entire length of paper.
  4. Here is my single slit down to the top of my vase.
  5. Remove the paper from your vase. Using a paper cutter, cut perpendicular to your slit to remove all the excess paper.
  6. Re-roll your paper and slide it back into your vase! A perfect fit without measuring!
{Note – this trick can only be used in arrangements with fake flowers! If you need to add water, you’ll end up with soggy and sad looking card stock in your vases!}

I then scoured all my holiday decorations and dried-flower boxes for any and all red flowers I had! I stuffed each vase with an assortment, and was relieved excited to see that they didn’t look too Christmas-y!

To finish them off, I made some quick little flower inserts on my Cricut. (A little more Catholic trivia here: the gifts of the Holy Spirit are symbolized with fire)…so as strange as it may seem, I made little flames and coordinating crosses to stick in my flowers. These cardstock inserts were just the thing to tie everything together!

To add a little more festivity to the table, I made some quick napkin rings out of strips of cardstock (white) and red medallions I made (in MDS) and printed on glossy photo paper. Even though we used paper napkins, the napkin rings brought a sense of formality and special-ness to the table!
My mom and sister provided all the dinner food, but I was in charge of dessert. I had seen this idea here, and thought it would be a quick and fun dessert for after Mass! Here’s how I put together these adorable individual treats!

  1. Bake a brownie box mix according to package directions.
  2. Make or buy icing (I made this recipe) and dye using icing coloring. (if you’re going for red, don’t use food coloring…it won’t get it red enough and you can taste all the dye!)
  3. Cut your brownie into 1″ cubes.
  4. Fill your icing into an icing bag with whatever tip you like.
  5. Place 3 small brownie cubes into the bottom of a mason jar, cover with frosting, and repeat until the jar is full (I did two layers of each).
  6. Place flat lid onto jar.
  7. Before securing flat lid with ring, adhere a custom-made label with double-stick tape to the flat lid. Screw ring lid onto mason jar.
  8. Tie individual spoons onto each jar using ribbon or cording.
I had three different medallions with two different phrases for my desserts. I loved personalizing them with my nephew’s name!

These were so perfect for this type of event! The Mass went very late, and by the time we all came back for gifts and dessert, we needed to move things along quickly. These were so simple to set out in the middle of the table and let guests help themselves – no plates, no cutting cake, no passing out utensils!

I will say this about these desserts though – they were BEYOND sweet! In the future, I would use cake and icing (instead of brownies) or brownies and ice cream (and store in the freezer until serving time).
There you have it! In a little less than 24-hours, I went from nothing to a fun and festive dinner party to celebrate my nephew’s Confirmation. The only thing I had to go out and buy was the fabric lace for the runners…everything else I had in my stash! 
So…the next time you have to throw a quick celebration, look around your house, use what you have, get creative, and make just another family dinner or celebration into something a little extra special!
On Friday, I’ll post my red medallions in a printable format! I have both the “Holy Spirit” phrases and blank labels for you to download!
See you then!

I am linking this post to:The 36th AvenuePositively Splendid

See You Soon!
Megan