Our women’s group at church hosted a dinner recently for all the beautiful women of our church where one person from each table designed their table’s theme. All of the tables were so pretty! My daughter, Emily, and I designed our table’s theme. We had one problem though, we came up with so many ideas, it was really difficult to narrow it down.
Our ideas were:
- Marvel/Avengers
- Movie Theme
- High Cotton Southern
- Aladdin
- The Greatest Showman
- Wizard of Oz
- Alice in Wonderland
- Jurassic Park/Pretty Dinosaurs
- Grease
- and many more!
I think I see a theme in that list! It was such a hard decision, we wound up drawing from a hat, literally! I finally decided on The Greatest Showman and once we got started on it, it came together so much better than I anticipated. We honestly only had three days to pull it together because of several other projects we were working on, but we did it!
After rewatching the movie, for research, of course, and lots of searching on Pinterest looking at tons of inspiring parties and weddings, I decided on trying to represent the main characters as much as possible. I also wanted you to have the feeling of being at the circus. Each part of our table tells the story. The centerpiece is stacked boxes that I covered in scrapbook paper. The red and white stripes are for the tent, the fur trim is the bearded lady, the next one represents the music, the blue tier has silhouettes of Tom Thumb, The Strongman, The Siamese Twins, and the Bearded Lady. I found a top hat in our costumes and of course Dumbo (I know he’s technically his own movie, but I couldn’t resist!) because he’s just so darn cute!
We took small clay pots and painted them to look like the stands for the animals and hot glued metal rings from the craft store to them. We made three to represent each ring of the circus. Inside each ring is a silhouette they are a trapeze artist, a tight rope walker and of course Hugh Jackman. We also went to the Dollar Store and found an elephant, a giraffe and a lion that Emily painted gold. Can’t have a circus without the animals!
The gorgeous plates came from Marshalls (the large dinner plates) and Party City (the salad/dessert plates). Buying China plates was out of the question and I didn’t want to tote my nice plates to the church, so believe it or not, these are plastic! The napkins and silverware also came from Party City. The crystal glasses are mine and very real and super heavy but I love how they added more sparkle to the table. I fell in love with the napkins and they reminded me of the details on Hugh Jackman’s Ring Master coat sleeves. Believe it or not, the placemats are this gorgeous paper that we found at Hobby Lobby, it has embossed roses and swirls and has the look and feel of fabric. I chose it because it reminded me of Jenny Lind’s white dress. They just pulled the place setting together.
You can’t go to the circus without getting cotton candy, popcorn, and peanuts, so we made sure to include that for fun! I made purple paper cones and added the same white embossed paper for added detail to represent Zendaya’s trapeze costume and pink cotton candy for her pretty pink hair. I happened to have lots of popcorn bags at home and literally popped the popcorn and filled the bags at the last minute so the popcorn was fresh. I also had some gold punch cups that I used for another event that was perfect for the peanuts. The treats gave you that feeling of being at the circus!
I decided at the last minute that my centerpiece just looked too flat on the table. I felt like it needed more height, so I used this gorgeous crystal cake stand that I just inherited from my mom. I think it may have been my grandmothers and it was perfect! I also had this black shimmery fabric that I just puddled under it. When the candles were lit, it just sparkled, which was perfect to represent Charity Barnum and their girls. I love this fabric! I wish I could have captured the sparkle.
I just love how this table came together and I still can’t believe we pulled it together in just a few days. To finish tying it all together we printed out some of our favorite lines from the songs. All of the tables were simply beautiful and reflected each one’s personality. We had so much fun and fellowship and great food. If you haven’t done this for a women’s event yet, you need to! I can’t wait for next year’s theme!
Leave a Reply