We Have A BALL With Dad....or Tie One On!!

The tablescape I had planned for this week I never got around to finishing parts of.  So at the last minute (like Wednesday afternoon in the blazing sun!!!!) I decided to get a jump on Father's Day. I had nothing planned for it, but came up with several ideas at the last minute.

I gathered up a bunch of ties.  When there have been four males in the house, there tend to be a lot of ties.  This is just part of them. I tried to pull out any tie that had sports, hunting, or a 'manly' theme to them.  The ties were going to become my tablecloth/placemats. 

 I simply spread the tie across the table I was using. Any kind/size/shape would work. If you look closely in this picture you can tell that one I crossed the middle I put the 'slim' end of the tie under the 'fat' end on each side.  But actually, it really doesn't matter. I think it would be fine to just drape the ties across and not hide the slim end. But I did and then it began to fill up.

 That's when I decided this tablescape should be called "Tie One On".  I tried to separate the different sports so that they were not beside each other and not put the same color next to each other, but I about drove myself crazy.  I decided that who would even think about that besides me? So then I began to try and figure out the rest of the tablescape. And not to mention I was sweating out in the afternoon sun!

I went to the den and tried to get some ideas (and cool off). I saw some of our ball stuff and trophies and decided to mix and match some of it. I knew I needed something big for the middle that would sit level on the 'hump' of ties that criss-cross there.

So I got one of my galvanized trays. That seemed manly enough.  Then I began shopping the den.

I gathered up things that have been important to our family as the children grew up. I got baseballs, game pieces, medals, trophies, golf balls and tees, pool balls, score cards and we absolutely could not forget the TV remotes!

And I ended up with this. 

I know, I know, a little bit busy and a lot chaotic! But it was very representative of our life raising five kids (that are only seven years apart from oldest to youngest!!!! gulp!!!!) and all the ballgames and events we went to. 


Notice I put some of the different balls,game pieces and remotes in different size glass containers and sat them in the galvanized tray. This kept those things together as well as staggered the height of the centerpiece. Then I just filled in around them with other objects.

Then I had to decide what dishes to use. (I told you I was doing this all at the last second). Oh by the way, by now I was dripping in sweat and beginning to worry about my camera: 1. the heat and 2. my sweat all over it!


I knew I needed to absolutely use solid dishes, since it was already so over the top busy.  Since I had not used anything football in the centerpiece I decided to drag out football dishes. (Drag being the key word because they were put way up!) Since I was using football dishes I decided to go with the brown plates.  Then I told myself that too much brown was dull (ha! on this table?) and I put a little pop of red in there with it.

I used big football platters for the chargers.  I also used big football shaped bowls and football glasses.  The football bowls are big enough to hold anything! 

By this time I had changed into my swimsuit to finish up this tablescape. I mean if I am going to be drenching wet, I might as well have my swimsuit on!  
I saw all the stuff sitting there that I had dragged out. Among it was lots of golf things. I saw the golf towels and thought, "Why not"? So the golf towels became the napkins. None of them were alike, but, hey what's a few more patterns at this point?

At this point my tablescape had become "We Have a BALL with our Dad". So then I figured since I was already into the cheesy, corny, creative tablescape that I would use golf head covers to hold the silverware. Then I saw all the golf gloves and I threw some of them in too!

At this point I realized I had to haul all this stuff back inside and I decided to quit. I shot a few (well a lot) more pictures and called it a tablescape.

 Not to mention I wanted to go cool (and dry!) off.

 Taken from under the table because I had fainted from the heat by then, I just thought it would be cool.

I was thinking, (I know, you are probably tired of me thinking!) that there are SO many clever ways to honor Dad even if he is not a sports nut like at our house:
If the dad at your house is more of the artsy type, you could use "Our Dad Is A Star" and do more of a Hollywood type. If he is into tools and a handy-man, you could do "Our Dad Hits the Nail on the Head"and use tools. If he an executive you could still use the ties and other executive type decor and say "Our Dad Suits Us Just Fine".  A cook-out master Dad you could use that idea and say "Hot Dog We love Dad". And two generic ones for any dad you could use red/white/blue and all the flag things that are out right now and use "All-American Dad"....or maybe my favorite idea...get lots of play money, wallets, old credit cards, etc. and use
"We Can Bank On Dad"...for all that money that Dad's have to fork over for years and years! 
Well I've given you almost three weeks to think about it.  Let me know (link back) or write me to make sure I look at your Father's Day ideas. It is fun to run with (and sweat to).  Let me know, or should I say "Game On!!"

As always, I have linked this to Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.  The ideas over there are endless.
I have also linked to The Style Sisters who show all kinds of cute (and maybe not so busy) centerpieces.  Go and check both of these out.  Thanks so much for putting up with this weeks tablescape!