Sarah Plain and Tall Celebration

In the third grade at our school, the students don’t do the typical Thanksgiving Feast. Their unit on the book Sarah, Plain and Tall has just ended and projects for the unit are due.  After the presentations, the teachers have asked the parents to help do a simple muffin bar with table decorations.  The treats will be enjoyed by the students and the parents who come to see the projects.

I signed up to help with this party, so I’m in charge of doing table decorations, making some muffins and ordering some biscuits.  (Thank You, Chick Fil-A!)

I wanted to share my table decorations and recipes with you today.  They are very simple.  Very.  Like, super duper simple.

I needed decorations that would suit for a round table that seats 8.  That is a decently large space.  What I decided to do was frame some Thanksgiving printables (for some height on the table) and colorful leaves.  Then to accent, I’d fill in around the frames with fruits, gourds, decorative acorns and whatnot.

Decorative acorns?

Just go with me.  I’m NOT a decorator.

Here’s what I came up with -

In my mind, I was having wonderful large Ball jelly jars filled with sunflowers.  Lovely, simple.  No one told me that sunflowers are like GOLD around here and buying just one costs about as much as it would to send my oldest to college.

Plus, it got to be 8 o’clock at night and I was really ready to go to bed. (Yes, I go to bed very early.)

So I’m in my kitchen, shears in hand, hacking away at the stems of the bouquets I bought at the grocery store on special.  Hack, hack, hack. (COME ON! FIT IN MY LITTLE JARS, PITCHERS AND WATERING CANS!)  By this point, I really wasn’t caring about the stems or if the flowers even had petals left on them.  If I was a professional flower arranger, I’m sure I’d care about how the stems looked IN the jars, but NOW was not that time.

Hack, stuff in a jar, hack, stuf in a pitcher, hack some more because, darn it, the flower stems are still too long for the container, and on and on and on.  In the end, they ended up looking pretty okay.  Not great, but hey, the teachers said they wanted “simple table decorations”.  I’d say that shoving some flowers in a container and calling it a day meets anyone’s idea of “simple”.

I’m also making 3 kinds of muffins because I have a huge guilt complex that is intertwined with the need to be in control of all situations.  That and I’m also a glutton for punishment.  (On a side note, I do love to bake, so there is that….)  Hopefully I’ll make at least one kind that everyone will enjoy.

Blueberry Muffins

White Trash Muffins

Pumpkin Cranberry  Muffins

Since I didn’t make these recipes up myself, I’ve linked up to the sites that provided the yumminess.  Please jump on over and visit.  They are all wonderful!

So that’s it!  Simple, sweet and to the point.  If you’ve got any celebrations coming up soon that involve muffins, please make these. They are just what you need in the morning!

And if you have any celebrations coming up that involve flowers, consult a professional.