Maybe it was the long, cold winter . . . but this year we here at The River Club are really having fun decorating for Easter. Nothing says spring and Easter to us like fresh flowers (well, we like those chocolate bunnies too but the calories add up pretty quickly and we want to fit into our new Easter dresses next weekend). So we’ve combed the web to find our favorite Easter flower arrangements/decorating ideas. Here they are, in no particular order:
1. Flowers in an egg lined vase- This is our new obsession! It’s not that difficult- you can color the eggs yourself (or get your kids/grandkids to do it) and just buy a bouquet of flowers from the supermarket. The trick is the vase- try and find one with a whole in the middle for the flowers and water, and space on the sides for the eggs. Alternatively, place a small vase inside a larger vase. Put the flowers and water in the small one and line the space between it and the big vase with the eggs.
2. Flowers in a candy lined vase– This is the same idea as above, but you use colorful Easter candy instead of the eggs. This photo shows Peeps (finally a good use for those things- don’t know anyone that actually likes them), but you can also use jelly beans, gum drops, pastel colored M&Ms, chocolate eggs wrapped in pastel colored foil, jordan almonds or even colored Easter basket grass.
3. Flowers and eggs in an Easter basket- This is beautiful with the wooden basket. You can also use kids’ Easter baskets for shorter flowers. We love pink, purple and white hyacinths. They’re the right height and smell divine.
4. Easter egg vases- We made these here at The River Club! Take an egg (uncooked) and carefully crack open the top of the shell. Pour out the contents and carefully wash the inside of the shell. Put in a little water and add small sprigs of spring flowers.You can also color the egg before you crack the top off to create multi-colored vases.
5. Peep flowers- another excellent use for those cute but disgusting Peeps.
6. Easter trees– In Germany, Austria and Holland, it’s customary to hang eggs from tree branches to make an “Easter tree.” We like this beautiful version using pussy willow branches that we found on Martha Stewart’s website (of course). You can also use some branches from a flowering tree such as a red bud or dogwood, or a forsythia plant.
7. Easter eggs- Sometimes Easter eggs end up so beautifully made you can use them as centerpieces instead of flowers. Here’s a perfect example incorporating our earlier idea of using baskets as vases:
8. Bunny fruit platter- lately we’ve seen a trend towards substituting fruit for flower arrangements. We love this bunny platter as a centerpiece! The caption on the photo includes a link to a website which teaches you how to do it.
