Cheap Easy Fish Center Pieces

These center pieces are really simple and neat.

I helped my sister make these for her engagement party last year.

[Note: If using fish: PLEASE make sure the fish have a home when the day ends, put them in a bigger tank and if you're leaving them in their container take out some of the water beads , they need oxygen otherwise they will die, if you see the fish at the top kinda gasping for air please change some of the water, that is at the same temperature of water the fish is currently in]

{Side note: When we used the fish we only had about 6 tables, two people took one home and I gave them instructions on how to make sure they don't die within 24hours, and I took the other 4. Gold fish don't tend to have a long lifespan but might last longer if taken care of, one of my 4 is still kicking :D}

Okay now that the formalities are through, materials can mostly be found at a dollar store or a craft store if you want something cheap and simple

Materials:

- Glass vases

- Hot glue gun/sticks

- Battery lit candles

- Artificial flowers

- Craft water beads (in this case they're blue)

- Appropriate amount of small fish

Materials for this step:

- Glass jars or a sealable jug. We used a plastic juice jug that we washed out.

- Water beads (fig 1)

- Water

Step 1: Fill the jar/jug about 3/4 full

Step 2: Place a bunch of bubbles in the water, they are tiny at first but will expand in water. expansion might take a couple hours to about a day or two depending on the desired size. (the bigger the size the longer amount of time)

Note: if your jar/jug is big enough you could probably grow all the beads you need for the centrepieces in just one container.

See figure 2

Materials for this step:

- Glass Jars

- Artificial Flowers

- Battery lit candles

- Grown water beads

- Hot glue

- Small fish/ net

Step 1: Arrange the flowers:

Depending on how simple or elegant you want, get an arrangement of flowers that suits you, but has a relatively thin stock.

We used very simple purple flowers because of their big petals and middle that could fit the candle.

Place 1 or 2 flowers in the jar and place them in the middle of the jar (fig 1)

Step 2: Glue the flowers down

Take some hot glue and glue the base/stem of the flower to the middle of the glass jar bottom (fig 2-3).

{Note: you may need to have a bigger bas at the end, because our fish essentially uprooted the plants, they stayed in the water so we didn't find it a problem but if you don't want the stems to move you may have to improvise}

Step 3: Attach the candles.

The candles tend to have a switch on the bottom, so if you glue them on, you have to turn the candle on before you glue.

you could just place them on top if you don't want to glue them, although the candles will probably shift if the fish swim about.

Step 4: Place the beads and water

Pour some of the beads into the glass jars, about 1/4- 1/2 full, no more than 1/2 because the fish won't have room to swim, fill the rest of the jar with water (fig 4).

Step 5: Place the fish inside

Gently place the fish inside the jar, using a fish net and you're done(fig 5).