The busiest season of the year is fast approaching with Halloween just a month away, then Thanksgiving followed by Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Not only are the last three months of the year full of shopping, planning and decorating, they can also be the three busiest months for entertaining at your home.
To help you get a jump on things, today’s article offers tips on how to set your table for entatining from a formal dinner party to a cocktail party. Just to make sure I had my facts straight, I consulted my mother’s copy of “The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette, A Guide to Contemporary Living.” Even though 99 percent of us don’t have a maid or butler to help serve our guests, the general principles of entertaining still apply in today’s more relaxed and informal society.
Setting your table for a formal dinner.
• Table linens n gone are the days of the traditional white tablecloth and napkins. Today it is acceptable for linens to express the personality of the host and hostess. The general rule with linens is to provide a pretty setting to make the food look better and taste better. Napkins are to be placed on the plate or to the left of the forks.
• Candlesticks should be used for evening entertainment only, where they serve a purpose in illuminating the table.
• Centerpieces have moved from the traditional floral arrangement flanked by candlesticks to also being an expression of personal taste. Today’s hostess might use fresh greenery from her yard arranged in a prized cut glass bowl or the decorated cake that will be served for dessert.
• Flatware should be placed one inch or so from the edge of the table at place settings and the table is set with whatever flatware will be needed for the meal. There are usually two forks, for meat and salad, these are to the left of the plate. An additional fork may be needed for an appetizer, but there should never be more than three forks beside the plate at once. The salad fork is placed to the right of the meat fork, unless the salad is the first course. In that case the salad fork is to the left of the meat fork. Knives, which are to the right of the plate, are limited to two, one for the appetizer if there is one and the other for the meat. Spoons for soup are placed to the right of the knives. The dessert fork and spoon are placed at the top of the plate.
• Glassware is placed in the order of their use above the knives, with the water glass to the left, then wine glasses and cordial. The champagne glass is set at the back of the other glassware.
Casual Entertaining generally means you’ve provided an assortment of appetizers for your guests to nibble on throughout the evening from a buffet table.
One of the first tips I learned working in the catering business was how to add dimension and height to the buffet table by using risers. And the neat thing is you don’t have to go out and buy anything to get the desired effect.
• Look around your house for casserole dishes, paint cans, empty flowerpots, baskets and other items in varying heights and sizes. Turn the item upside down, expect for paint cans, which gives you a solid surface to support the weight of the platter, centerpiece or bowl being used to serve food.
Cover the item(s) with tablecloths or pieces of fabric in coordinating colors to hide it from view and you have an interesting, three-dimensional table setting. So that your fabrics don’t have a flat look, gather them into soft folds over and around the riser. Blending different fabric textures also adds interest to the table. If you are going to purchase fabric for a special occasion, 1 to 2 yards will provide adequate coverage of the riser(s).
• Votive candles are also very effective on a buffet table rather than candlesticks. To avoid the mess of melted candle wax, use tealights in your votives. The wax evaporates as they burn and you simply throw away the metal container at the end of the evening. Tealights last for about four hours.
• Clear glass 6-or 8- inch plates are an alternative to paper or plastic plates for the buffet table. Stores such as Old Time Pottery, Garden Ridge and others usually sell these for about $1.50 per plate. The price is very resonable and allows you to build your collection a little at a time. You can also check out antique and thrift stores for inexpensive sets of china or everyday dishes.
In addition to Amy Vanderbilt’s etiquette book you can go on-line to the Better Homes and Garden Website or HGTV Website. Both offered great tips and ideas on table setting, centerpieces, theme parties, invitations and more.
Contact Marla Toncray at marla.toncray@lee.net or 606-564-9091 Ext 275.
