How to Make a Thrifty Dollar Store Fall Centerpiece for Your Coffee Table

Hey there, Pumpkin! Don’t tell the kids, but now that we are empty nesters, my husband and I eat our late dinners on a large coffee table in our temporary apartment living room. With the fall season brewing, I began to brainstorm on how I could create an affordable, warm centerpiece to light on that coffee table at dinner time. After poking around the apartment to see what I had to work with, and a trip to the dollar store, I finally came up with my new centerpiece to impress my husband 😆. I hope you enjoy the “Thrifty Dollar Store Fall Centerpiece for Your Coffee Table” and make your own version for your home…

Gathering Fall Centerpiece Supplies

The first thing I needed to locate was something large and flat to use as the base for the Fall Centerpiece. It didn’t take me long to look on our bedroom wall and grab one of the thrift store baskets I used to create my “Thrift Store Basket Wall Corner” last year. There’s a million baskets up there, so honestly you couldn’t even tell I stole it. I knew this basket “tray” would make a nice canvas to fill, I just had to place a little plastic wrap on the bottom so I didn’t lose any of the fillings.

Next up, I added just a little faux moss to make it all look like I knew what I was doing 😆. All kidding aside, I think moss makes a nice natural filler, and you can use it over and over again, even for Easter baskets, or plants.

Dollar Store Candles for the Coffee Table Centerpiece

You can always count on the dollar store to provide pretty much any color votive candle you desire. The goal I had on my trip to the dollar store this time was to find candles that I knew would give off a warm glow. I chose gold, and brown, but to be honest they all look the same after they are lit. FYI, the cute scented candles I found had wooden tops on them, and would make such a nice gift basket filler.

After I warmed up the stickers with my handy dandy blow dryer, I peeled them all off fairly easily with just my hand and placed the candles on the tray on top of the moss. Now it was time to fill the tray with lots of other “fallish type dollar store goodies” I all had on hand, including river rocks (my acorns/pinecones were down in storage 🙄), a gold glitter pumpkin, and faux leaves. Everything was looking fantastic, but it still needed something. Maybe you can figure out in the photo below what my final idea was… 🍊

Dried Mini Clementines Finish Off the Fall Coffee Table Centerpiece

Lucky for me, I remembered I had baked/dried a full tray of clementines last year, and they were in my storage cabinet just waiting to come out. Let me tell you, these little orange guys sure made a grand entrance when I opened the bag they were in. Wow! Dried clementines have a beautiful citrus aroma that really made the apartment smell so fresh. I loved them so much I was trying to give some to the kids to put in their apartment. Ha ha…they passed. All I had to do was arrange them in groups of 3 to really give off that warm autumn vibe.

I baked my clementine slices on very low at 170 degrees for about 4-5 hours. Remember to flip them a couple times, and use parchment paper underneath so they don’t stick to your cookie sheet. I left them out that night to finish off the drying out (store in a plastic bag no refrigeration required).

I hope you enjoyed viewing my thrifty homemade fall centerpiece, as much as I enjoyed creating it. While I’m in no hurry for summer to end, I absolutely love looking forward to fall. If you have time, I invite you to visit my sweet friends of the Thrifty Style Team to see what they created for their home for fall…

Thrift Store Rattan Tray Fall Centerpiece

Our Beautiful Rustic Autumn Hutch