[Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.]

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Lately, all my craftiness goes to Instagram since it’s a quick way to share my creativity without all the work that goes into a blog. Life is just BUSY at the moment! But, I haven’t forgotten about my avid blog readers who have supported me from the beginning. I’ve actually had this post in mind for almost a year and decided today was finally the day to share it.

Last summer I was in the thick of it so didn’t really post much about it, but in August, we celebrated my son’s Bar Mitzvah! It was a wonderful day from start to finish and we loved every minute of it. But, what I really want to share today, is one very simple craft I did for the big day.

First of all, I want to preface this with the fact that here in the PNW, Bnai Mitzvah celebrations are far more casual than many East coast affairs and particularly so in our reform community. At our synagogue, we have a standard luncheon menu to choose from for a congregational kiddush following the service. Folks tend not to do much in the way of decorating for this because it is a community affair. For our evening party, which we hosted together with my son’s bestie, who also became Bar Mitzvah with him, we went with a casual and fun summer soiree with taco bar, margaritas, a video game truck, and yard games in the synagogue courtyard. So, with that backdrop, we wanted simple centerpieces that were not wasteful, or overly expensive but still fun and festive.

I took a lesson from another friend who recommended planting marigolds in terra cotta pots with saucers for the kiddush lunch. The great thing about these is they scream summer with their colorful blooms. And, they are cost effective too – the combo of a small terra cotta pot with a couple of marigolds is far less than an arranged centerpiece. And, bonus, they apparently deter mosquitoes too! Plus, they can be planted later or folks can keep them growing in the pots – I just planted another batch for my patio in last year’s leftover pots.

So, after settling on this simple pop of color for kiddush centerpieces, we wanted to make these be multipurpose and transform into party mode for the evening. To do this, I created mini tissue paper fringe banners. First, I found a great tutorial at Frog Prince Paperie and then miniaturized it. I can’t remember my exact measurements but I think it was roughly 2″ x 3″ so folded, each flag was about 1.5″ but the size will depend on the size of your pot. To go with our blue colorway, I got a mixed pack of blue tissue paper. I also went through quite a bit of trial and error finding the right dowel size and the perfect fit ended up being 3/16″ x 12″. I also had a spool of navy blue baker’s twine (here’s a similar one) in my craft stash. And then I just simply followed the directions from the tutorial using glue stick, hot glue, and scissors. Given the style of these and how the tissue paper looks, these are forgiving – i.e. don’t worry if your edges aren’t perfect. And viola – mini party garlands!

When it was time to set up for the party, we just simply added these to all of the centerpieces and they went from day to night just like your fave LBD. Simple, chic, festive, and totally reasonable!