Enter the ribbon drink stirrers. I've had this cute little idea pinned for a loooong time and went back and forth with different options, knowing I wanted fun little accents for the drinks but not realizing how many potential things you could stick into a cocktail glass.
Cute except I couldn't get past waving a white flag and surrendering.
A fun monogram AND a "Cheers!" Yes, please!
These were top of my list until B said "No, just... no."
Again with the cute saying and the initials.
The color of the drink! The polka dot straw! The glass! The mint! Swoonworthy.
With (mostly) helpful input from Brian, we went with simple ribbon flags. I opted to use this tutorial in an attempt to keep the ribbon simple, relating to our colors, and not take me hours upon hours to do when there are bigger wedding fish to fry than individually writing a message on a drink flag that people are going to throw away (thanks for the reality check, B).
The image from the tutorial was a good starting point...
... but I quickly realized that I was going to have to fine-tune this project to be my own.
When I set out last Saturday afternoon to gather the materials for this little project, I thought I would just find a pack of stirrer straws, the cutest gray and white striped ribbon in the world, and I'd be on my way home. THREE stores later, I was empty handed and standing in the ribbon aisle at Michael's about to lose my mind. There was nothing close to a stirrer stick, and at one point I had a package of sticks used for cake pops in my hand and had to call Brian to ask if he could Google what they're made of and if they'd work for drinks (for the record, they're made of paper and no, they do not work for drinks). Nearing my limits, I finally texted Brian this picture and asked him to pick two:
Of course I headed home with all three and found a package of wooden sticks that seemed suitable. Once home, I set up a little work station on the floor, and started cutting ribbon. And cutting, and cutting... and cutting. At one point I must have heavy-sighed because Brian said "I think I'll have a drink-- want a glass of wine? You look like you might be there awhile..." Why yes please, kind sir! And I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last part. Armed with my glass of red and "Horrible Bosses" on TV, I just kept measuring and cutting through the spools.
Honestly, if you're considering this project for yourself, this was the most time consuming part, cutting the ribbon. The first few were super short but I thought they looked fun and kind of kicky until B put one in my wine glass and demonstrated that it was perfect length to poke in your nose and he was sure he knew some of our guests who would find that fantastically funny. That stick went in the trash, and I started measuring longer, right at 7 inches for each piece of ribbon.
All of the pieces were cut and I paused to eat dinner and then set up shop in the bedroom to watch a movie while Brian watched a game to start actually tying them on to the sticks. After my first glass of wine, another with dinner, and a third accompanying me post-dinner, my eyes started to get a little heavy, but I kept on trucking, thinking that I really wanted it done. Loop the ribbon, pull through, knot, tighten the pieces, tighten the knot. Repeat times two hundred. I thought I was doing awesome, but my hand got a cramp so I figured I'd wait a few minutes and pick back up.
... and then my eyes opened, three hours later. To the sound of Brian hysterically laughing as he woke me up. I apparently had fallen asleep with all of my gray and gold ribbon pieces scattered around me on the bed, which he of course took a picture of and which I will not be sharing with you today.
Sunday morning I picked back up where I left off and finished these babies off! The final product?
A total of 200 fun little ribbon stirrers. I ended up not using the gold because it was a little too light with the light wood stick, so gray and gold were the way to go! It took longer than it should have because I remeasured a few times, but once I got going, the process flew by.
My first wedding DIY project is in the books!
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