Budget Bird's Nests.

In my never ending quest to reduce the budget of our wedding I'm constantly searching DIY blogs and sites to find ways to create looks that I love for less.

Most recently, I've been enamored with bird's nests. I'm not totally sure where it came from. It could be because we have a cute pair of birds on our STDs and RSVPs or it could be because birds live in trees and we have a heavy tree theme going on or it could be because of the freedom a bird implies and I've always been a wandering soul. Whatever the reason, I'd like to have bird's nests as part of our centerpiece decor with little, pretty eggs in them. To do this would cost about $40, not a ton of money, but money none-the-less. I'm not so excited about spending money on "stuff" that I am going to either throw out or try to sell to other brides after the wedding. Enter the DIY.

I found a cute little project this week for DIY bird's nests made out of burlap. Well, we're already going to have a ton of burlap to make our table runners and other miscellany from. It would be completely practical to use the scraps to make bird's nests for our table too! But then there are the eggs. I still didn't want to buy fake eggs that were just going to get tossed so I shared this with the brides on a wedding forum and they suggested I check out the post-Easter sales. Well, duh! Why didn't I think of that? I could buy Easter colored jelly beans, put them in my scrap, burlap bird's nests and they would be tasty little treats and not be wasted!

So, I did just that. I bought some chocolate eggs that are wrapped in tinfoil that looks like robin's eggs and some pastel colored jelly beans today for a grand total of $9! I'm halfway to some fantastic bird's nests for our tables. Here are some photos of the DIY bird's nest project. I think when I make mine, I will use a different shaped mold so they're a little deeper than hers.