That’s right people, I made a glowing potion tree! I’m not going to go as far into in the why’s and how’s this glowing potion tree came to life, I made a whole video showing you step by step on how to make this awesome Halloween ready table decor. But I will say this, which wasn’t really mentioned too in-depth on the video: I’m not a big Halloween fan. I like the idea of fall home decor (even though I live in Florida), so to try to experiment with new decor ideas, I thought, what DO I like, and how can I incorporate more of that?

And you know what my brain told me? It went, you like Harry Potter, and Harry Potter is kinda like Halloween all year-long, so let’s figure out how to make a Harry Potter inspired Halloween table that is part fandom part holiday inspired. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Many trips to the thrift stores, a craft store stop, and a lot of rummaging through my storage piles later, and wouldn’t you know it people, I made a glowing potion tree. Stand by for a TON of pictures.

How fun is this table? I still can’t get over how vibrant all the colors are together, not to mention how much potential it still has. Think about it, it looks great as a tablescape, but what if you were having a Halloween party and had a big buffet table of treats and wanted a focal statement piece that didn’t take up a lot of table top coverage, this glowing potion tree would be perfect! Look at the tree, and try to envision it on a buffet table with black linens:

Awesome right?

What I like about this design, is that it looks spectacular all hours of the day. It’s dark enough on its own to still give off that dark and magical vibe in daytime light, but in the evening when all the candles are illuminated and twinkling, well the pictures just don’t do it justice.

I picked up some new LED fairy string lights that have a remote, check, and are multi-color capable, check, and have different brightness settings, check and CHECK! It’s hard to find those suckers, but I did! I’ve got a link below if you are in the market to the ones I used. I love how vibrant the colors are, it’s amazing what the right color can do for a look.

Can we just take a second to check out how freaking cute this $6 twig cutlery set is? I still can’t get over how cheap it was, but how beautiful it is in person.

If you want to pick up a set cutlery, I’ve linked to where I bought it in the supplies list.

The potion bottles have water gel beads in theme to create cool textures and effects, but also to help make sure if, for some reason, the cork was to fall off, there wasn’t a bunch of loose liquid waiting to be spilled. Water gel beads can be purchased in a lot of different places, and if you have the time to wait, are very reasonably priced if you want to buy them off eBay.

This has to be the most Harry Potter or even Halloween thing I’ve ever made. I can’t think of anything else, so I am just over the moon with how pleased it turned out. Now the video tutorial walks you through how it’s made, but let me tell you where all these elements were found and see how much this glowing potion tree cost me to make.

My supplies:

• Black plates – from the thrift store, but most recently used in my sari inspired tablescape
• Orange cloth napkins – had on hand
• Black beaded napkin ring – shared a few weeks ago in my Jungle for Two tablescape
• Black branch and twig cutlery flatware – $6 on Amazon
• LED candles – I used a few sets from around the house, they are the only ones I recommend because they last so long! You can find them on Amazon, and also shared a few weeks ago in my Jungle for Two tablescape
• Black votive candle holders – from the thrift store, but most recently used in my sari inspired tablescape
• Black napkins (to cover the base of the tree) – originally shared in my gothic Valentine’s Day table decor, but purchased on Amazon
• Glass bottles – mostly from Hobby Lobby. I got 10 assorted vases, some restrung to hang, some with corks that were 50% off and ended up being $1 each
• A few more were found in clearance or at the thrift store for another $4
• Blue gel beads – $2.39 at Michaels
• White gel beads – $1.50 on EBay
• Orange gel beads – $1.50 on EBay
• Potion tree stand (was sanded down and spray painted with left over paint on hand with Rust-Oleum spray paint in oil rubbed bronze from Amazon – the same finish that is on my table legs) – $4 from my local Goodwill
• Black silk stems – originally shared in my gothic Valentine’s Day table decor
• Assorted wire and ribbon accents – had on hand
• Multicolor LED fairy string lights with remote – purchased for $18.95 on Amazon for a set of 2 multicolor LED light strings and remotes, but I only needed 1 strand for this look

A quick tally of actual dollars spent on this tablescape brings us in at about $48, but given that about $20 was used on the LEDs which I have lots of ideas for future use, I am really not that concerned about the price. Plus, given how many elements go into this look and are layered in, it could have easily been much, much more. Thank goodness for thrift stores and clearance racks!

As with all my 2017 tablescape challenge looks, I’m sharing the DIY and tutorials with you on my YouTube channel, here’s what new for this week:

Don’t forget to pin your favorite elements for future reference:

Would you rather have this look as a focal centerpiece, or the highlight of your Halloween or Harry Potter themed buffet table?

I’m partying with: Between Naps on the Porch and Reinvented Collection    !