Tissue Paper Puffs

I was determined NOT to spend a lot of money on table decorations. Because, let's be real, no one really cares. They'll enjoy themselves equally, regardless of how awesome or not-awesome the centerpiece. NEVERTHLESS....I still compelled to have something.

I saw these lovely puffs in the Martha Stewart Wedding magazine....so I thought I'd give it a try.

I think Martha lied. I actually think they give you bad instructions so that you always feel a little inferior to Martha, herself.

The directions say to stack 8 pieces of 20x30" tissue and fold it like an accordion (See steps below). Then you puff it out. When I did this, they were INCREDIBLY droopy and sparse. I think you need more than 8 sheets. But they were WAY too big for what I wanted anyways. So naturally, I came up with my own scheme.

For 10" diam poms:

6 sheets, 10x25, 0.5" folds

For 8" diam poms:

6 sheets, 8x20, 0.5" folds

For 6" diam poms:

6 sheets, 6x18, 0.5" folds

6 sheets is ok when they are small. The bigger they get, the more sheets you need.

Start out with your sheets of tissue, all stacked up. Then fold them like an accordion.

Tie it off in the middle and snip the ends. I found points to look better than the rounded edges. But that's a personal preference.

Then, this is the slightly tricky part, start separating the sheets. Alternate as much as you can to help make it even.

With the help of some friends, we pre-folded all the poms before heading to Cabo. They all fit inside a 1 gallon ziplock bag. Not too shabby! We tied satin ribbon around the middle and puffed them when we got to Cabo. Nick was thrilled :-)

Here's the finished product. We used them as centerpieces and on the chairs.

Kinda festive. And SUPER cheap.