Wood and Apples Rosh Hashanah Decoration

This time last year, Miami was hit with Category 5 Hurricane, Irma. In our evacuation efforts, my family and I drove all the way to South Carolina before the storm hit, 10 days before Rosh Hashanah started. During our stay away, we ventured through the beautiful nature trails and forests of Westminster, discovering some of the most stunning nature sights. During one of our excursions we noticed some chunks of tree laying around, so we cut some up and brought them back home. We took these barks as muses for our rustic nature inspired Rosh Hashanah table decoration, and we’d like to share some of our design ideas with you.

First we covered our table with a white/brown striped sheet, mimicking the inner texture of a tree. We then placed a long rectangular piece of bark in the center of the table and topped it with nine fake green apples. We cut out the top of five of the apples, and placed a little candle inside each carving for the flame to take on the role of stem. Two circular cuts of bark accompanied both ends of the rectangular bark, each serving as a base for our floral foam center pieces. We used yellow orchids, alysum, baby breath flowers, dainthus green balls, and green hypericum berries. For plate design, we used bark print craft paper and string to make little name tags for each guest, which we pegged onto smaller fake apples. Next to the tags, we added a little booklet wishing everyone “Shana Tova”, and thanking them for joining us at  dinner. Inside the booklet was a page describing each of the simanim, and explaining the symbolism attached to the food. To top our plates off we added thin sticks of honey for each guest, ringing in a sweet new year for all.