creative jewish mom

Giant Origami Fruit Centerpiece IKEA Hack

What do you get when origami meets IKEA? You get a giant origami fruit centerpiece that is very budget friendly and great for large parties with lots of tables. You know like Bar Mitzvahs, and Bat Mitzvahs and budget weddings, or sheva brachas, or a community event or a large birthday party, or just about any occasion that warrants a creative touch without breaking the bank. Not every creative touch centerpiece I've created over the years (and believe me, there have been many) has been as sweet as this one, and best of all when the festive occasion is over you can give away the origami fruit and just keep the stands, or make a fun mobile with them, or save them for a bit to re-use. I think I'm going to add some gold polka dots to the origami apples that survived the second occasion, (a brit milah with a ton of kids) and use them to decorate the house for Purim! Actually I have a bunch of small origami apples that never made it to the phase where they actually become fruit, so those might be nice string light covers, or look great hanging from the ceiling somewhere........Purim is a festive holiday and a great excuse for someone like me to go a little crazier than usual, right? Okay, back to the Ikea Hack centerpieces, lets get started.......

DIY Cupcake Pedestal From A Recycled Can

There is no better way to display cupcakes than on a pedestal, and now you can whip one up yourself like this quick DIY Cupcake pedestal. I made this cupcake pedestal for the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat coming up on Sunday night, (and using my printable fruit slices crafting pages) though I'm quite sure we'll be using this idea for many more special occasions to come.

 And yes, I do realize that the proportions of my cupcake pedestal aren't exactly right, but I think that is what makes it such a great partner with the hand colored paper and cupcake toppers. I'm on a new campaign to run in the opposite direction from perfection, especially when there are kids around, and encourage creativity and imperfection! Of course there is a time and a place for a perfect looking dessert table, but most of the time the best idea is to let the kids get involved and make things that they will be proud of! Are you with me on that?

DIY Super Simple Cupcake Stand

When you find plastic bowls and plates in retro modern colors at IKEA that are totally cheap and can be used to make the most adorable little cupcake stands, well who can resist? Certainly not me! And the only reason that these bowls and plates remained way up high in my kitchen cabinet for a few months was that I just didn't have the right little dessert that would work with them. (My daughter made these mini cupcakes in her new multi use cupcake cakepop waffle iron that is working really well.) Of course these DIY cupcake stands would look great as catchalls on a desk or sideboard too, if you can get away with it! I just love the colors and they remind me of one of those color mixing educational tools I might have played with in kindergarten, though I can't quite put my finger on it.

These cupcake stands can be assembled for a party, or even given to kids to use in their play kitchens, right? For a party I'd set them on an all white table with silver accents and maybe a bunch of DIY glitter or tissue paper decorations. Whatever you do, let the colors of the cupcake stands pop against a neutral background without too much other competition and the look will be amazing.