by Gillian Taber

Created on: April 03, 2012   Last Updated: March 12, 2013

Nothing completes a celebration table like an original centrepiece. Easter centrepieces needn't be difficult and can certainly be unique with a little effort and imagination. Using Spring colours and Easter or Spring themes, an Easter table can look beautiful in a matter of moments.

A couple of quick points:

Try to keep a supply of materials in the home. Dried or fake flowers, tissue paper, candles and ribbon are always handy.

Scour thrift shops for pretty and unique vases, trays and bowls in which to set displays.

1 – Easter candles – Choose a flat bottomed bowl, plate or tray to hold the candles. Gather up a selection of pastel-coloured candles, slender ribbons, some glass or real pebbles and some dried or fake flowers. - Real ones can be used but they tend to wilt too quickly to remain gorgeous.

Make bundles of flowers, securing them with ribbon. Use the tail ends of the ribbons to tie the flower bundles to the candles. With a wider ribbon, secure groups of three candles together. These can be equal in size, but they look lovely with a group of different heights.

Place three groups of three candles onto the chosen display base – Securing the candles to the plate with a little blu-tack helps prevent toppling – with the flower bundles facing out. Use the pebbles to cover the base plate, leaving the rim on show if it is particularly appropriate or decorative. Voilà, elegance, sophistication and unique to each table.

2 – Chocolate Heaven – Begin with a wide-based but shallow tray or plate. Gather up desiccated coconut, green food colouring, a small bar of chocolate, chocolate eggs (keep their colourful paper on if aiming at a young audience, remove it for a more sophisticated, older celebration), toy chicks, chocolate bunnies, matchstick style chocolate sticks, some cocktail sticks, and gold, edible glitter if available.

Start by putting the coconut in a bowl and dyeing it green with food colouring. Scatter most of this – reserve a little for later decorating - across the base of the chosen dish. Aiming for a pyramid shape, use the cocktail sticks to skewer the large chocolate eggs together, building a base almost the size of the dish base and working up to an inverted cone shape. This will take a little time, but will move quicker once a rhythm is attained. Leave one space at the very top (it will look a little like an open-topped volcano rather than a pointed mountain).

Place the chocolate 'mountain' onto the

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