Snow is falling, and all around you the world is blanketed in winter. The deep green branches of the pine trees are laden with fluffy white snow and shimmering icicles. You want your wedding reception to be brighter than the day outside, and you are sick of common poinsettia centerpieces. You want something cheerful, yet wintery to decorate your reception tables. A lemon tree is the perfect solution. It is simple to make, but at the same time a very elegant centerpiece. It combines both the feeling of winter and the promise of spring.
What you need:
A styrofoam cone (no taller than 6 inches)
Approximately 18 lemons
Branches of fresh boxwood (silk could work just as well)
Branches of fresh holly (silk could work just as well)
Holly berries
A box of long toothpicks
A hot glue gun
Take a toothpick and stick it halfway into the side of a lemon. Stick the other half of the toothpick into the styrofoam cone. Repeat this with each lemon. Make sure to work your way up from the bottom of the cone. After you have placed all of the lemons you should still be able to see little patches of styrofoam in the spaces between them. Check the lemon’s stability until you are certain that all of the lemons are securely stuck into the cone.
Take the branches of boxwood and stick them between the lemons, creating a “tree” effect. The branches should enter the cone just as easily as the toothpicks did. Now push the holly branches into the remaining spaces. Trim the branches to a length that you prefer. If you so desire, you can glue a few holly berries to the lemons with your hot glue gun. Now that everything is in place, check your lemon tree for any weak spots. If you find a loose lemon you can give it a little squirt with the hot glue to keep it in place.
This centerpiece keeps very well and can be made three or four days before the wedding. If your wedding has a Christmas theme, you may wish to wrap your wedding favors like Christmas gifts and set them around the tree.
An Orange Option:
If you prefer the color orange to the color yellow, I have seen this tree made with mandarin oranges (those are the smaller oranges, about the same size of a lemon). Oranges can work well and look lovely, however they are much juicer than lemons, and have thinner skin. Working with oranges can be more difficult. Mandarin oranges will sometimes slip off the toothpicks without warning, and drip juice. If you choose to make the tree with oranges, make sure that you secure every orange with hot glue. You may wish to create a sample tree first, just to get a feel for it.
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