Easy Memorial Day Table Toppers
Table toppers here at the assisted living are oddly more important than I was expecting. I think table toppers are important because a lot of residents at this age lose a sense of time and space if you think about it. A lot of them can no longer drive, and in some cases, family can’t necessarily visit and take them out any more. So in a lot of ways, the easiest way to create a new “space” (without breaking your budget and also without overhauling the kitchen and conversely OVERWHELMING them with new stimuli which is equally bad) is tiny cues like a table topper!
In this case, for Memorial Day, the table topper was easily made from some supplies we found at Dollar Tree and some glassware that we’ve had saved through the years -- it’s amazing what you’ll find with a little extra digging around here.
I originally wanted Mason Jars because after 5 years of trending they’re still all the rage. These glass vases ended up far better though because of how tall the ornamental pieces are inside.
Anyways, here’s the supply list I ended up with:
Glass vase -- Found around the building, but here’s a set of 12 on Amazon
Patriotic paperweight -- Dollar Tree for $1
Silk Flowers -- Dollar Tree for $1
Small Flags -- Already had some, but Party City has these for cheap
Burlap Ribbon -- One Roll at Walmart for $3.47ish
Blue Ribbon -- One Roll at Walmart for $3.47ish
I cut the burlap into strips that wrapped around the vase twice. I tried two different methods -- in one method I wrapped the burlap around the vase twice and taped it down. In the second method I staple the end of two strips of burlap and wrapped them around and taped. In the end, the second method won out.
Walmart sold patriotic ribbons, a blue rustic ribbon, and a red rustic ribbon. At the end of the day, I went with the blue ribbon because the patriotic ribbon felt too campy. I think it’s possible to patriotic and elegant without getting too campy about it. I also went with blue instead of red because the blue has a sort of softness to it. I think blue is a much more de-stimulating color which I think is important for the residents (although in some ways, it might be interesting to play with a more energizing color for a different event or activity).
I’m so pleased with how these ended up. I discussed with one of my colleagues if the mason jars would be better but they ended up looking too small. One of our residents asked if we could keep these up through to July 4th. I don’t think we will because again, I want them to feel like they’ve had a change of location -- so even if we do use them again on July 4th (which we likely will) I want them to feel like it was a special time or week when it happened. Because what are table toppers for other than to make us feel like something special is happening -- which is exactly the case for our patriotic holidays.
Memorial Day Table Toppers