Thanksgiving Decorations- Pumpkin Vase

My favorite place to go for cheap decorations for every holiday is the dollar store. You can always find something that can be made to look elegant or fun with minimal effort. This week as I was browsing I stumbled upon some foam pumpkins and decided to see what I could do with them. I have seen larger carvable craft pumpkins before, and have seen them used as vases and as outdoor decoration, but these little ones seemed to be a perfect size for the table. My first thought was to set them with fresh flowers, and since I usually just go with the first thing that pops in my head nowadays, I picked up a simple bouquet of fall colored flowers.

Supplies:

-Foam craft pumpkin

-White acrylic paint and brush

-Flowers, fresh or fake

-Short glass vase, optional

-Floral foam brick, optional

I cut the top off of the pumpkin and was very surprised to find out that it was hollow. I'm not sure why I thought it would be solid, but I'm glad it wasn't because it makes the rest of the project easier. At this point, there were two ways that I knew I could proceed. First, I had a short vase which I could use to hold the flowers that would fit inside the pumpkin. This was what I ultimately went with since I wanted my flowers to stay hydrated. If you're using fake flowers, or only need them to last the day and you want them to stay in place, a small piece of a floral foam brick is probably the way to go, as they do tend to look better when the flowers are securely in place. Just cut the brick down to the proper size and set it inside the pumpkin.

The bright orange of the pumpkins were just a bit much for me, so I decided to tone it down with some white acrylic paint. I used a very thin coat so that the orange is slightly visible, but I did still want it to be mostly white. While it dried, I cut my flowers, and arranged them. I really like this guide to help arrange your flowers. I feel like my arrangements always look better when I follow a pattern.

Once I finished my arrangement, I placed the vase inside the pumpkin, and that was it. I told you that I was doing quick and easy decorations this week, and I meant it. You can use this as a centerpiece, or anywhere you want fresh flowers. My only complaint about the foam pumpkin was the texture almost made it look more like a basketball than a pumpkin, and not even the paint seemed to help with that, but that's really more the pumpkins fault than mine. Despite that small issue, the arrangement looked beautiful while not taking up too much space.