Idea for a Nautical Centerpiece

by Sheri
(Waynesburg, ohio)

I love the idea of a nautical themed centerpiece for a wedding or a summer party.

To make this kind of centerpiece, you'll need:

- A small to med size fish bowl
- Color coordinated aquarium rocks (you can find these in any pet shop)
- A beta fish or gold fish or small (baja) shark

These look really neat, and the guests are always excited to decide who gets to bring their centerpiece fish home with them. Though it might not be a bad idea to know what to do with one or two extra fish after the night, just in case some of them don't find a home.

If you want to get creative with this sort of table centerpiece, I've also used margarita glasses or large wine goblets. You could also shop around for interesting vintage containers to use, and have a different one on each table. Or add different things to the bottom of the container, like shiny river rocks, clear stones, or even something like fake diamonds or costume jewelry if that fits your theme.

To make a nautical fish centerpiece look a little fancier, float orchids on top of the centerpiece, or other similar flowers (I wouldn't recommend doing floating candles with a fish centerpiece, as it seems a little mean-- must be scary for the poor fish!) Be sure to leave enough room between the flowers and the bottom for the fish to swim around and be seen by your guests.

And if you want to be sure your fish table centerpiece gets noticed, you might want to set it on top of something taller, so the fish is right at eye-level with the guests. Or set him on a tray of sand to complete the nautical theme. This is one of my favorite centerpieces, and I think people always get a kick out of it.