Fabulous Ways to Fiesta

This modern fiesta is all about the details. From pretty paper flowers to bright and bold banners, Design Improvised blogger Haeley Giambalvo shows you how to get down and crafty.

Photo Credit: Candice Stringham Photography

Save on an expensive bouquet from the market and opt for reusable paper flowers instead. They're cute -- and a cinch to make! As long as you have the following, you're golden. 

- Florist's wire

- Cupcake liners

- Pom-poms 

- Hot glue

Haeley's Styling Tip: Fill tall green vases with the flowers for a natural holder that lets the flowers do all the talking.

Give your party drinks the Hollywood treatment with homemade swizzle sticks. These pretties are made with cupcake wrappers and plastic stir sticks -- just cut, glue, and stir away!

Get crafty with a banner made of yarn. Haeley recommends using bold colors, such as orange, lime, pink, and purple. To hang, use clothespins and tie to trees, deck, or patio. 

Wide rickrack ribbon turns a plain painter's drop cloth into a fiesta-worthy tablecloth. All you need to make it is fabric glue, a measuring tape, ribbon, and the cloth. 

Keep up the festive yarn theme going by stringing some onto a wicker silverware basket. If it has a handle, even better! Haeley recommends wrapping that in string, too.

Mini vases make the perfect placeholders -- just fill each with an easy-to-assemble name flag. For a sweet way to say thank you, let guests take them home as a favor. 

Let guests help themselves to a variety of fiesta-worthy drinks. Keep the bar stocked with a signature cocktail, festive sodas, and water.

Grilling pizza is a super trendy (and easy) way to entertain, and it only takes a couple of minutes to make. Plus, it lets you hang outside with your crew instead of being cooped up in the kitchen. Look for premade crusts at your local grocery store.

Arrange a variety of fresh toppings in colorful small bowls, including salsa, cilantro, mesclun, queso fresco, avocado, and lime slices. Display the bowls in a pretty wicker tray lined with pom-pom trim. Just add a couple small dabs of hot glue to hold the trim in place.

Follow the pizza recipe or let guests make fun variations of their own. Use black beans or salsa as the sauce, spicy jalapenos or cool queso fresco as the topper -- either way, these personal pizzas will be downright delicious.

Haeley Giambalvo is the founder of Design Improvised—a blog focused on easy home decor and entertaining projects that make a big impact. Almost all the projects on her blog can be completed in less than an hour for $20 or less. Haeley is particularly passionate about any crafts involving pom-poms or balloons. Her idea to combine the two to make pom-pom balloons was the best decision she ever made! Her work has been featured by numerous magazine websites, Apartment Therapy, and BuzzFeed, among others. Haeley is a business consultant turned DIY blogger and mom to Stella, 5, and Hazel, 3. She lives in San Antonio, TX.