Every Tuesday till early September we're going to be featuring a budget themed dessert table or tablescape as part of our Boy Bash on a Budget Challenge. Every participant gets the Spaceships and Laser Beams Collection of their choice + $50 for a dessert table or $20 for a tablescape. They can also use anything they are able beg or borrow or make themselves. We said that from time to time we'd also throw our own hat in the ring and this post features a tablescape I did using Catherine's new lion themed "Wild Child" jungle birthday party collection. I've got all the budget information at the end of the post!

So what did I spend?

Items I purchased: 

$1 - crepe paper streamer
$1 - green paper napkins
$1 - turquoise forks
$1 - green plastic bowls 
$4 - brown sugar
$2 - mini craft balls
$2 - plastic cases for favors
$2 - crayons for favors  

Things that I already owned that you might need to spend money on:

$1 - yarn (I used scraps of yarn that I already had from other projects to cover the balls and stems of serving dishes. But you can pick up a ball of yarn from the dollar store for a $1 since it doesn't need to be high quality by any means.)

$4 - fabric (All sourced from the bargain bins at my local fabric store, these have actually been reused from other projects. For instance, you can see the orange dots here and the turquoise dots here. The key to buying nice fabric this cheap is that you have to go in with a completely open mind. I was able to get them all for $1/meter.) 

Things you will need to have or borrow:

Cake stands or serving dishes - Again, it was a case where I used what I had and made it work. I have used that cake stand with the lion cupcakes on it many times. You can see it here in action. The cupcake stands recently held cookies at my friend Jolene's Woodland themed Sip and See here. Again, the key here is to be completely open with whatever you have or can borrow. I had to buy brown sugar to elevate the cupcakes because the dishes were too deep. (In the end it worked great because the brown sugar echoed the type of environment a lion might live in.) As you're building the design for the table, I would start with this element as it will greatly affect your table composition.