MEXICAN DINNER TABLESCAPE WITH BALLOON CACTUS CENTERPIECE

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!  My kids actually have an extra day off of school today so we're enjoying a slow morning before getting back to it. My birthday was last week, and per usual we had a big family dinner at my parents' house to celebrate.  My youngest sister went over the night before to decorate and set the cutest table that I wanted to share with you today.  My mom made Indian Tacos for dinner so Sarah created a Mexican themed tablescape with the most festive balloon cactus centerpiece!

Here's the table all set up.  I love how she layered the Mexican blanket for a base then added colors and patterns on top.  The bandana napkins are a fun touch, I actually have a plan for using those myself in an upcoming tablescape. (Her plates were from TJ Maxx, sorry I don't know anything about them!)

The mirrored gold circles used to be a garland, but she cut them apart to scatter on the table.

She even set a coordinating kids table in another room, so fun!

It's pretty self explanatory by looking at them, but I wanted to give you a few tips she shared for assembling the balloon cactus centerpieces if you'd like to try some yourself.

When taping balloons together to form cactus shape, she found that a good double sided tape worked better to connect the balloons than another kind of tape looped around.  I pulled this apart a bit so you could see the tape and this one happened to be looped, but she discovered on a later balloon that a flat piece of double sided tape held better and was less visible. 

For the flowers on top, just attach a square of tape to the top and scrunch up a small piece of tissue paper until it resembles a blossom, pressing the base firmly onto the tape.

She used mostly 9" balloons, blowing them up to the desired size to fit the shape of the cactus she was making.  The skinny "clown" balloons are perfect for the straight, upright cactus and she had a few tiny balloons that she mixed in as well.

Another tip when you're attaching a smaller balloon to a larger one, snip off the tied excess at the mouth of the balloon as close to the knot as possible to reduce the bulk, and then attach the knotted section to the larger balloon.

Finish off with a black sharpie marks to resemble needles!

She gathered up a collection of mostly metallic containers that my Mom had around the house, but I think these would be so cute in terra cotta pots too, or any containers that you have.  Depending on the sizes, your balloon might fit snugly on it's own in the container.  If not, use more double sided tape inside the container to secure the balloon, and a filler like tissue paper wrapped around the base might help keep it in place as well if you need a little more bulk around the base.

Such a fun evening, my family totally spoiled me!

This sign has been around since I turned 40, with a clever addition it sill works!  I guess I might see it again when I'm 48 and 49 with more clever adaptions...

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