FIRE & WATER HOLIDAY CENTERPIECE

Bring the magic of water gardening indoors this holiday season. Change a traditional candle and evergreen centerpiece into a stunning water garden centerpiece that reflects your passion for water gardening. All it takes is a little imagination and WATER!. An original, festive water garden centerpiece will not only be eye-catching, but will also catch many compliments from your guests.

Water garden centerpieces are easy to create and elegant to display. They need not be complicated, time-consuming or expensive. Below are a few simple and easy starter ideas, but let your own creativity flow to create the design that expresses your own personality and passion.

• Fill a shallow glass or crystal bowl halfway with cranberries, which are easy to find in the grocery this time of year. Add water to 1 inch from the rim of the bowl. Set a single, festive holiday candle in the center. To complete the look, add some tea lights or votive candles and greenery around the base of the bowl.

• For a different look to the centerpiece above, set votive candles in the shallow bowl or use floating candles instead. Surround the centerpiece with a garland of artificial fall leaves for a Thanksgiving theme or evergreen boughs for Christmas. At Christmas add twinkling rice lights entwined in the evergreen boughs and add a red bow or two. The traditional reds and greens along with the twinkling lights will attract the ooohhhs and aaahhhs of your holiday guests.

• A similar look yet different centerpiece can be created by floating a large football mum or spider mum in a shallow glass bowl filled with water and colored gemstones. Set the bowl on a pedestal on a mirror square. Surround the pedestal base with evergreen springs or a ring of cranberries. Colored votive candles that match your color scheme, scattered around the mirror base, will add to the coziness of the centerpiece as the mirror catches the light and reflects it up toward the flower petals. A single, large poinsettia bloom works well for Christmas with matching red votives to accent the centerpiece.

• A single hurricane vase filled with a single pillar candle, water and colored gemstones or other holiday baubles can be an elegant centerpiece. Flank the hurricane vase with additional pillar candles of varying heights. Scatter additional gemstones and holiday baubles on the table around the candle display to continue the theme. Other items to scatter on the table might include greenery, cinnamon sticks, holiday berries springs and pinecones.

Get creative this holiday season and design your own original water garden holiday centerpiece. Who said “fire and water don’t mix!”?