I've been longing to add decor to our front entry for autumn. One of my daughters hit it when she said, "this is your way of making up for summer coming to an end". That is a good part of why I like to decorate seasonally.
In Michael's, I could feel myself wanting to go wild with the spending. I need colored leaves, flower stems, faux squash, corn stalks, bales of hay. . .I need it all!
After much planning, and much mental mathematics, I selected these flower stems. they were on sale at 50% off, so I thought I was getting a great deal. Total spent -- $16.92
Driving on to our next errand, I realized that I should have checked Dollar Tree first. Kicking myself for not doing that only left me with a sore shin while trying to drive. I vowed to compare the floral stems at Dollar Tree, when we stopped in later that afternoon.
And these are the flowers that I found at Dollar Tree. Total spent -- $7.66
Okay, so they're not exact replicas of what Michael's carries, but they give the same autumnal "feel" to my entry decor. And as they'll be outside in the elements, I'm glad to not spend so much money on decorative pieces. When my front entry decor transitions over to Christmas decor, I'll bring these inside to store until next year.
The differences between Michael's floral stems and Dollar Tree's are not significant to my needs. the Michael's stems are longer, and fuller. The length of stems didn't matter for my use. And the fullness was made up by purchasing an extra stem in each flower-type.
My plan was to put the mums into a pot (still to do), and the sunflowers into a basket. While at St Vincent de Paul's on Sunday, I found this great grapevine cornucopia for 99 cents. Doesn't get much better than that -- a great autumn piece, and only 99 cents!
Does anybody here receive the Victoria online newsletter? If you do, then last week you may have seen this photo:
It's gorgeous, isn't it? This is the cover for October's issue (only it's reversed on the magazine cover) While my front entry won't look nearly as lush and full, this is the feel I'm aiming for. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be adding decor details to my entry, but on a budget. I'll share as I go.
I'll swing by Michael's while out this morning, and return those original floral stems. I saved myself $9.26.
