Flying Flowers!

Looking forward to showing off your hard-earned garden with your friends?  Here’s how to throw the unforgettable garden party.  Fear the weather?  No way.  Bring the garden inside!  With flowers flying over head, plants walking into other gardens, and shield wielding berries, you can make this indoor-from-the-outdoor garden party the most praised party ever.

Decorations!

Fly your flowers overhead and delight your friends with this lovely and light-hearted show of your garden’s pride.

Here’s all you need:

• pushpins
   

• fishing line (your darling’s fishing hobby comes in handy after all!)
   

• paper clips (try the colored ones to coordinate with your table cloth and napkins)
   

• paper towels cut into 1in x 4in strips
   

• several of your choice flowers from your garden cut with 1 inch stems

1. Fold the paper towel strips into a W form, place the flower stem in the center of the bottom of the W, then secure in place with a paperclip.
    

2. Tie a length of fishing line below the paper clip on the stem of the flower and ease the rest of the line under one of the sides of the paperclip (this holds the flower straight).

3. Write on each set of squares matching numbers in chronological order. 

Ex: If you have 7 guests bringing plants to share you have two sets of numbered squares marked 1-7.

4. Hole punch one set of squares on one of the corners.
    

5. For every plant that walks into your house use the ribbon to loosely tie one of the numbered squares on it then fold the matching numbered square and place it in the empty flower pot.
    

6. When its time to make the exchange, shake the flower pot to make sure the folded squares are mixed up then one guest at a time have them (and don’t forget about you!) draw a number from the pot and find the corresponding number on their new plant.  If someone happens to get the same number of the plant they brought, simply have them draw a different number then return the first drawn number to the pot.

After wards set everyone to talk to the person that got the plant they shared about the plant and the things they do to help it grow and what they do with it.  At the end of the party, everyone will get to take home a new plant and maybe gotten closer to a new friend.

Drinks!

Throw a delightful pizzazz to your table when you freeze berries in your ice cubes!  This fresh new look enhances the table with a fantasmic new angle that everyone will be talking about.

-Heidi Gaines

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