Easter Easy and Edible Centerpiece

Easter's on its way and this fun and festive flower arrangement uses America's favorite marshmallow Peeps and jelly beans as decorative filler for your glass vase!

I used my favorite ‘vase-within-a-vase’ method for this flower arrangement:

Start with two vases, a smaller one to nest inside a larger one (round vases work too, they don’t have to be square). I found my vases at Michaels a couple of years ago. Download their mobile app to your smartphone so you have access to their weekly 40% coupon when you shop. Walmart, Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby are also good places to find affordable glass vases.

For an easy centerpiece, I started by filling the walls between the glass vases with jelly beans that look like speckled eggs. Use the candy of your choice. (If you're using your candy for decorative purposes only, stock up at the dollar store to fill your vase.)

Add a layer of Easter Peeps along the top. There is no right or wrong way to make this centerpiece. . . use all one color or multiple colors of Peeps, or let your Peeps multiple like bunnies and arrange them in multiple rows!

Once you have your walls of your vase filled with candy, it's time to fill your inner vase with water and your flowers!

Tip: Fill your inner vase only 2/3 full with water so you won't slosh or spill any water on your candy when moving your arrangement.

For a long-lasting arrangement, add a packet of commercial floral preservative to the water that comes with your flowers. If you don’t have any floral preservative you can mix your own with this easy formula:

Mix one part lemon-lime soda (regular, not diet) to three parts water, along with 1/2 teaspoon of bleach.

The citric acid in the soda helps the water travel up the stems to the flowers more rapidly, while providing food in the form of sugar. The bleach helps fight the growth of bacteria, allowing the flowers to stay hydrated and fresh.

For fun I added some Peeps to peek out among the flowers on bamboo skewers! You can find bamboo skewers at most grocery stores and the dollar store, available in 10 and 12-inch lengths.

I used some long-lasting alstroemeria from the grocery store, along with some tulips (not so long-lasting :)

Since I’d rather play with my Peeps than eat them, I can replace the flowers and enjoy the vase for the next three weeks between now and Easter.

See another version of an Easter centerpiece using jelly bean eggs and dogwood branches and plum tree blossoms, along with an alfresco Easter table, HERE.