Party Decorations (Eagle Court of Honor) on the Cheap

These will be centerpieces on the tables at my Son's Eagle Court of Honor

*Update:  See how I re-used these same cans for a patriotic luncheon.  

The other night I was surfing around on the t.v. and ended up watching "Extreme Cheapskates."  I found myself thinking, "Ohhh... what amateurs!"  But, I couldn't tell anyone.  I mean I didn't want anyone to know how "cheap" I actually am.

I really think they set some people up on that show.  I mean seriously?!?  You share a toothbrush to save money?  Buy 2 toothbrushes and each will last twice as long, same with the deodorant.  Yuck!

Anyway, there was this lady only wanting to spend $50 on her 10 year old son's birthday.  Since I'm always looking for inexpensive ways to celebrate, I kept watching.  What?!?!  She had his birthday party at a retirement home for $30?!?!  What about having it at your house or the park for free, hello people?  Instead of the Elvis entertainer (who I'm sure the 10 year olds had no idea who he was) you can play games like tag, relay races, etc.  By the way, games are FREE!  And then, she went to the bakery and bought all the end pieces of cake that were trash and had them ice it into a cake for $16.  You know a box of cake mix at the store cost about $1.25.

Anyway, watching that show gave me inspiration to show my current project.  My oldest son has earned his Eagle Scout rank with the Boy Scouts (very proud Mama here) and we are having a ceremony and reception.  The tables need centerpieces so I am planning to put about 3 signs on 4 different tables.  The signs are the 12 parts to the Scout Law.  This could easily be adapted for different occasions (wedding, birthday, holidays) by changing what the signs say.  You could also use just one per table. 

Notice Scout, the dog, photo bombing

First you need a tin can; reduce, reuse, recycle.  I personally liked the slightly larger than regular size (about 32 oz.) the best.  But, I also like having a variety of sizes.  You will have to plan in advance or eat a lot of food that comes out of cans or recruit your friends for this.  (Thanks Connie & Jennifer.)  Oh, by the way, that makes the can FREE!

Second, I took a piece of burlap ribbon and hot glued it around the can.  I bought the ribbon with my 40% off coupon at the craft store.  I cut out the fleur de lis on my cutter using paper already in my stock.

For the signs, I had a bunch of leftover pieces of dowel rods from making "God Rods" for my students.  ("God Rods" are a really cool way to illustrate a song using pantomime.  I'll have to blog about that later.)  I cut the rods to size.  (For me the rods were FREE!)  I bought a package of shims from the home improvement store for about $1.50.  I looked on Pinterest and discovered that you can make your own stain using vinegar and old metal.  Here's the link.  So, I made my own stain for FREE and stained the shims and dowel rods.  I cut the words on the signs out of vinyl that my local sign shop gave me for FREE!  (Just ask for their end pieces that are too small for their big machines.)  Then I hot glued it all together.

I put the signs in the cans and filled the cans with rocks to hold it up.  Now, I could have dug the rocks out of my yard but I was feeling lazy and bought them at my home improvement store for about $3.75 for a very large and heavy bag.

For just a few dollars, I made 12 very classy looking centerpieces for my son's Eagle Court of Honor.  I have a feeling my Scout Mom Friends will be asking to borrow them when it's time for their sons to get their Eagles.  By the way, the ceremony is this coming Saturday.  I'll add more pictures of them on the tables afterwards.