‘Tis the season for showers and we’ve got two ways to pretty up your table and a tip for surprising your guests with floral beverages.
Flower Confetti from 3 Porch Farm
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
We love the idea of flower confetti. It’s pretty sprinkled on a tabletop or we can easily imagine it tossed over the bride at a garden shower or wedding. Mandy and Steve O’Shea of 3 Porch Farm grow beautiful flowers at their Certified Naturally Grown farm in the small community of Comer, just northeast of Athens. Their booths at the Saturday morning farmers markets are always filled with beautiful fresh flowers, but they also dry lavender and gomphrena (also called bachelor’s buttons) and mix them into this fun, fragrant confetti. It’s looks pretty enough to eat, but please don’t.
$6 per 1-ounce package. Available at the Saturday Marietta Square, Freedom and Athens farmers markets or online at http://3porchfarm.com.
Chalkboard Contact Paper and Chalk Markers from Kassa
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Kassa makes tools that can bring out the artist in all of us including watercolor sets and contact paper to turn any surface into a whiteboard or a chalkboard. We tried the chalkboard contact paper and erasable chalk markers. The markers come in 10 bright colors or in metallic and can be used to write on the chalkboard paper or on glass, mirror or wood. And there’s no chalk dust! Be creative before your guests arrive, or put out the paper and markers and let them design their own messages for the bride or mom-to-be. The markers need a bit of attention to get started, but once they start flowing, they work beautifully and can even be treated like pastels to blend and smudge colors. Lots of fun.
$10.95 per 6.5 foot roll of contact paper, $14.95 for 10-pack of erasable chalk markers. Available on Amazon or at https://kassausa.com.Use code AJC20 for 20 percent off.
Flower Syrups from Floral Elixir Company
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Flowers on your table? Check. Flowers in your drinks? Yes, you can check that one off, too. Champagne and rose cocktails. Tropical orchid lemonade. Cherry blossom martinis. Lemon verbena soda. You can have one or all of these on your menu with Floral Elixirs from Nora Egger of Cleveland, Ohio. Made from extracts of real flowers and cane sugar, the syrups are produced in 10-gallon batches and are hand bottled and labeled. We played around these with a half dozen friends who enjoyed sampling the flower flavors and then dreaming up flower combinations with sparkling wine, with vodka and with sparkling water. The drinks are pretty, the flavors are fun and whether it’s a mocktail or a cocktail, your guests will love the idea of drinking flowers.
$15 per 8.5-ounce bottle or $29 for a kit of five 2-ounce bottles. Available Greene's Fine Foods in Decatur, Wahoo Wine & Provisions in Decatur and Paper Princess in Dalton, or online at https://drinkyourflowers.com/.
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