One of these three table centerpieces can work for almost any occasion

With these three kinds of table centerpieces, you can cover almost every dinner party you give over a year.

Arrangement # 1 - A simple white table arrangement
Choose white flowers and some simple foliage. Often this takes a lot of discipline at the flower store, because there will be other, beautiful flowers in eye-catching colors. But be firm. You can buy those flowers for the house if you want, but remember your agenda – to create a simple, elegant white table centerpiece arrangement for the dinner table.

Arrangement # 2 – A table centerpiece with a touch of drama

Roses always work. They’re also relatively easy to find in the stores, and often red are the easiest to find. So we’ll use red for this arrangement. But you might choose gorgeous purple or brilliant yellow-gold as well.

This is the simplest of arrangements.

Here you simply put roses all around the edge, and then added a few in the middle. There aren't even any added ferns or decorative greens.

Put water in your chosen vase, and then start testing for the right stem length with one or two flowers. Cut them all just one or two at a time. That way if you judge wrong the first time you haven’t cut them all to the wrong length. You also need to remember to reserve a few roses for the middle, and you may need to adjust the length here.

Cut the roses down and strip the foliage where necessary. Position the roses all around the edge of the glass, criss-crossing the stems. Add roses in the middle, look all around the arrangement to make sure it looks good on every side, and make any adjustments.

Add your candles, again keeping the type of candlestick similar to the type of vase. take a picture of this dramatic floral arrangement, and you’re done.

Arrangement # 3 – The “emergency” centerpiece No matter how organized you are, emergencies happen. There will come a day when you just won’t get to the flower store, or you wrecked your arrangement, or it’s the dead of winter so you can’t go out to the garden for a few blossoms.

Here’s where your emergency centerpiece plan saves the day.

Take a look at this example.

Notice there are no flowers at all,just green apples. But combined with the green place mats, it makes a lovely centerpiece.

Don't have green place mats? Maybe you have some candles and a bit of ribbon.

Nothing says special better than flickering candles on the dinner table. You can pick up packages of votive candles very inexpensively, and the pillar candles last forever.

Now dream up your own emergency arrangements idea or two. Gather a few things you love and group them together. Gathering them together on a cloth, a plate or a tray makes them seem to belong together.

When you have one or two arrangements that make you happy, take pictures. Then the next time you need a table centerpiece in a hurry, just pull out your picture and copy it.

Simple, stress-free, and inexpensive, these table centerpieces will do the job for you every time you need a quick solution to the no-flowers table centerpiece problem.

Here’s to beautiful table centerpieces!

P.S. Not sure how to tell if the fresh cut flowers you are buying really are fresh? See this helpful article on buying fresh flowers

Back from Table Centerpieces for most occasions to The Dinner Party Planning Site Home page