We recently had a fundraiser for Arizona State Chi Alpha (an awesome nation wide campus ministry that is doing super cool things for Jesus & impacting the campus, the marketplace & the world!!).

Venue: Quantum Helicopter Hangar (how cool is that!?)

In planning all the deets – of course decor was a factor and a question. What should we use? Should we have theme? What do we need to purchase?

A few important factors in mind:

– Needs to be cost effective

–  Needs to look good

– Needs to not take too much time

So the the brainstorming and pinterest-ing began!

and since an effective brainstorming sesh is more helpful with people- I reached out for some help & inspiration from my uber creative and talented friend Paige from The Creative Paige

With the help of what other creatives have posted online the following were some great ideas worth considering.

I particularly LOVED the cinderblock idea from Yes, Please  (and hope to use this idea at some point!)

But since I decided I didn’t want to have to go out & purchase cinderblocks, I started to  think about what I already had and what I could repurpose and reuse.

So here’s some of our process…

I host a lot of events at my house and I obviously drink a lot of tea and had saved these great glass bottles (because who knows when you might need them, eh?)

Soaked them in hot soapy water and took all the labels off and removed all the sticky stuff from labels. Asked my creative friend/ graphic designer Paige  to designs some new labels that would go with our theme of the evening.

Next realization of something I had on hand.. Wood!! We make wood signs- we repurpose pallets and we had lots of blocks of wood from the ends of the pallets.

So after a good sanding – drilled the top to fit a tea light candle – spray painted them a metallic silver & gold – then stenciled on the front and back a XA (the letters for Chi Alpha)

 

 

Next we wanted something to go under the candle & glass bottle centerpiece – something to  “ground” it and help it look a little more cohesive… So, what do we have on hand??  You guessed it…more wood!

We cut plywood squares, painted them white and prepped to spray paint!

Personally, I love stripes-  they are classic, modern & attractive. Here are the boards in process with the blue painters tape. Painted half of the squares silver and the other half gold.

Next, we wanted to have some larger decor pieces for the stage area. So… if you haven’t already gotten a theme of what we have on hand — more wood!!

Decided to build large cubes that resembled the candles on table with the metallic colors and had the XA painted on. (picture to follow)

Next idea: Build some 4ft wooden marque style letters!! Painted them silver and bought some bulb lights from Target.

So, here are some beautiful pictures from the evening. Photographed by another super creative & talented friend Andria May Photography  (helps to have creative friends & how awesome when we can share our gifts & talents.. but that’s for another blog post. Another day!

The night was lovely! Great food, great turnout, great venue, great testimonies, great decor & a great cause!! Check out this two great videos!

video clip from the evening – from another creative friend Jenny McJunkin, from Bloom Now Ministries.

And this video from a very creative ASU student & XA Leader, Chandler Nick.

So, next time you have a party or en event to plan for – think about what you may already have sitting in your closet or in your garage and use what you have!