I came across this idea in a magazine last fall, and decided to give it a go this year. I took 3 glass vases (apothecary jars, or any clear glass would work just fine), and put a flower frog in the bottom of each. Then I simply printed out 3 letters on my computer, and voila – “Boo!”
It works great on my kitchen window sill, and I just added a couple pumpkins votive holders to add a splash of color. I like its simplicity. But you could spook it up a notch with faux spiders, black feathers or whatever else you’d like. It’s a great way to help articulate your holiday display, whether on a mantel, window sill, front porch, or wherever!
I can use this idea for other holidays as well – I just need to think of 3 letter words (unless I want to get more frogs and vases):
Thanksgiving: THX
Christmas: JOY
Valentines: I (heart) U
Easter: HOP
Graduation: YEA (or JOB!)
I could also print photos for a unique display. Other ideas? Any help with more holiday three letter words? It’s tough…looks like I’ll be picking up a couple more flower frogs!
1. Love this idea Susan. So simple!!
I have to say my favorite decorating object by far is the tall glass vase. I have a few in various sizes and I love to fill them with objects at different times in the year. While I am no where near as ambitious as to change it out with each holiday, I do try and change with the seasons. I fill them with candy corn in the fall, cranberries in the winter, (small glass colored ornament balls for Christmas), fresh cut flowers in the spring and lemons in the summer.
by Danielle — 9/29/08 at 9:47 am #
2. Hi Danielle,
Great ideas! I could never use Candy Corn…I would eat them all (I already went through one bag this season!).
Susan
by Susan — 9/29/08 at 10:22 am #
3. Assuming 4 containers would be permissible, Easter could be LOVE.
by DCS — 9/29/08 at 1:30 pm #
4. What a cute idea! I’ve got to dig around and see if I have 3 cylinders to do something similar! Can’t think of any 3 letter words for Thanksgiving, but I wonder if you could do 2 letters to each cylinder for Christmas? Ho, Ho, Ho. You could do it on Red and Green paper - either black or white letters. Thanks for the idea!
by Marla — 9/29/08 at 1:51 pm #
5. Hi DCS - Yes, if I open it up to four letters, lots more possibilities! I like to work w/odd numbers, so I’d probably use 5 and add some expressive punctuation!
Susan
by susan — 9/29/08 at 4:25 pm #
6. Hi Marla…nice twist on the idea! Also, the vases don’t have to match…would be interesting to see a few of similar scale, but different detail. So dig up some cylinders and show us what you come up with!
Susan
by susan — 9/29/08 at 4:27 pm #
7. So, what would you use for a birthday? A little one could be “big” or her initials. However, a bigger child could not be “big” without hurt feelings. You’re right, four vases would be a lot easier.
I wish I had a window sill! Your ideas are great!
by Anne — 9/29/08 at 6:58 pm #
8. Hi Anne,
Great idea for birthdays…but I agree, “big” doesn’t work with every audience. I doubt “old” would be any better. LOL How about back-filling the vases with curled ribbon and using photos of the birthday boy or girl? Of course, when you make it to 100, you would want to use all three vases!
Susan
by Susan — 9/30/08 at 10:37 am #
9. Wow! What a great idea. You could fill the glasses with colored water to jazz it up a bit! Orange for Halloween & Thanksgiving. Red and Green for Christmas.
I have a good friend who will be 50 soon, so the OLD idea is a good one! Could add 6 more glasses and say REALLY OLD. I could accent the glasses with pictures from the days when that person was not so old.
by Meg — 10/1/08 at 6:07 pm #
10. Oh Meg, you’re brave! How about one picture per decade? Bit of a softer touch, don’t ya think!
I like the colored water idea…add white carnations to the arrangement and they’ll pick up the color as well!
Susan
by susan — 10/2/08 at 6:13 pm #
11. My name is LeAnn. I had the idea to create a Starbucks-themed office in our small upstairs room. It is a storage room currently because that is where we throw everything, but we were looking into changing that. I want the room to be a chic place for my daughter and son, 17 and 13, to do homework. Thank you very much!
by LeAnn — 10/6/08 at 9:31 pm #
12. Hi LeAnn,
I love the theme for your office/study! Much more fun than a storage room. Now where do you plan to put the stuff that was in the storage room? LOL
Let me know how it turns out!
Susan
by susan — 10/8/08 at 4:37 pm #
13. Great ideas! What about JOY for Christmas?
by Martie — 10/29/08 at 11:55 am #
14. Hi Martie,
I like “JOY” too! Lots of good ones for Christmas…or, you could do “ho” “ho” “ho” - maybe even with the letters h and o stacked on top of each other!
Susan
by Susan — 10/29/08 at 3:40 pm #