Our family recently moved to a new home which we are renting, completely furnished. Fabulous, considering we’re only here a year and didn’t want to bring all our stuff with us. What’s not so fabulous is not having all my fun decorations for each season! So lately I’ve been looking for inexpensive ways to decorate that I won’t feel badly about leaving behind when we move again next year. Enter this quick and easy centerpiece for fall!
Last week my 5-year-old brought home a handful of acorns for me each day as a little gift. We started collecting them in a glass jar, which is when I realized how gorgeous they would be in an autumn centerpiece!
Easy Fall Centerpiece Idea
Supplies for an Acorn Centerpiece:
- Acorns collected from the yard (or from a park if you don’t have oak trees in your yard)
- Glass vase or jar (I chose a tall vase)
- Craft jute
- Scissors
- Candle, decorative sticks, fall leaf picks from the craft store, etc.
Instructions:
1. Fill your vase or glass jar about 3/4 full with acorns. The tops often pop off, but include them anyway! Start wrapping jute or twine around the center of the jar, overlapping the end to keep it in place. 
2. Continue wrapping until the end is covered. 
3. Cut off other end and tuck under first few strands to keep it in place. If you are unable to keep it tight, you could try a piece of tape to hold it to the vase. 
4. Now you can add something to the vase to make it more interesting. For one look I grouped a bunch of taper candles together and stuck them down in the acorns. Then I positioned the vase on a fall-ish plate and added some oak leaves and more acorns. 
I also tried centering the vase in a basket of fall harvest items (leaves, pumpkins, squash, etc.). This was something my landlord left for me to use, so it was free!
For a look that could last all year, try putting dried reeds, sticks, or dried flowers in the acorns. This is a great look for a mantle.
If you can’t find acorns in your area, try mini pine cones or nuts!
Love this decor idea! Love it!
I think it is really funny that you were stealing the chipmunks food. One year we collected a wagon full of black walnuts from a park several blocks away, and left it in the garage to dry the husks. One month later, all the nuts were gone – the neighborhood squirrels had found them and taken them away! I guess they were trying to add variety to their winter storage.
I just picked up some acorns to decorate with. They just scream fall!
You can also put them into your freezer to kill the bugs. We do this with pinecones we want to use for decoration. Just thought I would share. We freeze them for a week.
A few years ago I bought a fragrance kit at BB&B. It had glass rocks, fragrance oil, and an assortment of shells. I separated out the shells and put them in a lidded glass container on display for the warmer months. The container kept out the dust; the last thing I needed was to clean these things before storage. Just a thought.
I’m happy to hear about the baking idea. I tried this a few years back and the acorns got extremely moldy extremely fast.
ah… troubles in craft paradise… I live in Australia; so the acorn-education has been an eye-opener… I still love the centrepiece; although mine would probably be filled with beach sand, sea shells and driftwood (and our problem is making sure everything is pre-washed so it doesn’t start to smell all seaweedy!).
Do a little bit of Internet research- you can bake the acorns to kill off the worms that are hiding out. Then cool them down and put them back in your fabulous centerpiece. Off the top of my head I can’t remember the oven temperature and time but it can be done. I have baked up dozens of acorns to kill the worms and used them in decorations with no problems. The acorns are still fine years later!
Love this centerpiece. So simple. And if you’re worried about bugs, then you can use faux acorns or mini pine cones like you suggest. I think you’re just fine with this centerpiece, especially if it’s just for a few weeks. And the acorns are contained, so you should be good to go.
WOW! Thanks for the schooling on acorns! I actually intended this to be a temporary piece, but I’ll be sure to get rid of them before the grubs start coming out! ;)
Agree to the above…they’re actually inside the acorn and burrow out. And squirrels leave behind the ones with the grubs in them!
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2007/sep/072107.htm
Agreed with The Iowa Expat. Good concept but not a long term centerpiece. The last thing you want on your dining table is GRUBS!
I don’t want to rain on your parade as I love your centerpiece, but let me warn you: I did something similar last year only to find there must have been fly eggs on my acorns…ughhh, yucky-yuck-yuck cleaning out my vase.