Weekly Pinterest Challenge: A Menagerie of Metallic Placeholders

Although John and I like the idea of entertaining, we tend to get a little high strung when it comes to actually planning said party. He’s pretty low key leading up to the event, whereas I’m scrambling – And he’s a little out of sorts during the actual festivities, whereas I cool off and let loose. Suffice it to say, we haven’t planning too many soirees simply because of our need to learn a little balance in this area of homemaking.

One way I’ve found to calm my pre-party jitters before the invitations even go out is to prepare a little horde of go-to party props and treats. One cabinet in our kitchen is now home to all sorts of fun plastic cups, trays, linens, indoor/outdoor placesettings and decorations. This way, I don’t feel like I need to plan something from scratch – I’ve got all of the fixin’s, I just need to put it all together come “game day.” The latest thing to get added to the collection? A handful of metallic placeholders inspired by none other than Pinterest.

Source: The Glitter Guide

I caught site of the little beauties above via Glitter Guide following our founder’s wedding last year. Taylor put together so many gorgeous details, but I was particularly smitten with her gold animal favors. The idea is simple – Grab some plastic toy animals, spray paint them gold and add embellishments to give them a festive flair. I had been aching to try this project out for months, and finally found a spare hour over the weekend to turn it into a check mark on my list of things to do.

My mini pack of animals came from our local Michael’s craft store and cost just $7, hardly a drop in the bucket for party props that can be used over and over again. Back home fifteen minutes later and armed with my favorite can of high gloss metallic gold spray paint, I transformed these fit-for-the-playground toys into sophisticated (yet playful) tabletop decor.

Although Taylor added strips of paper tied with gold ribbon to her animals, I went a different route – Not because I didn’t love the look she achieved (I do) but because I couldn’t find my hole punch. Funny how a missing supply can so drastically alter the course of a project, but that’s exactly what happened! Instead, I pulled out the set of clearance toothpick flags seen below.

You may be able to vaguely see it, but my plan was to drill teeny tiny holes in the backs of my gold animals to sink the toothpicks into. I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t so sure this would work out, but the crafting gods were with me on this one…It worked like an absolute charm, and I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I played around with and arranged my menagerie of gold, flag-topped animals.

Although I decided to leave my particular flags blank to allow the colors and patterns to really steal the show, I could have easily added little white sticker labels so that each animal could sport a guest’s name. I like to think of this collection as placeholders rather than actual named placecards though, that way I can reuse them over and over again. Speaking of how you could use them…

Check back Wednesday for the full reveal!

P.S. Have you entered to win my 3M giveaway yet? Details here…