We’re counting down, with
Thanksgiving less than 3 weeks away. If
your family will be hosting this year, you can get ahead of the holiday
preparation rush by focusing on dressing up your table in advance.
As loved ones anticipate
gathering around your table, give them more than a delicious meal to feast on
by offering a few treats for the eyes as well.
Step 1: will you be going with a tablecloth, placemats, chargers, or a
mixture? Choose your base(s) to build
upon, perhaps even getting out the iron in advance to press your linens. If you feel some element (or fresh style) is
missing from your stock at home, take advantage of any fall sales and
promotions to gain some new pieces for your table spread.
Step 2: what will you be
serving on? Are your everyday plates
lovely and welcome at holidays, too, or is there special China to retrieve from
your storage space? When you’re not in a
big flap would be a key time to gather, count, and wash any special plates or
serving pieces. Also, is your stainless
ready to go, or could the fancy silver use a good polish? If need be, put some elbow grease into
polishing your silver with convenient wipes.
Step 3: how do you intend to
jazz up your place settings? Do you have
cloth napkins and napkin rings that will be fitting with your look? It couldn’t hurt to give those linens a good
ironing as well. Ensure you have enough
matching (or alternating) pieces to set the table for your guests. Though you may or may not have your exact
guest list at this point, think about a cute place card idea if you’d like to
map out your seating and arrange guests for optimal comfort and conversation. Mini chalkboards, gift tags tied to the
napkin ring or other decor, folded note cards, and glass or ceramic pieces that
can handle a dry erase or chalkboard marker are all viable options to use to
mark each person’s place at the table.
Step 4: what’s your space
plan? Are you likely to keep it all to
the dining table, or do you need to be factoring in a kids’ table or overflow
guests at a side or connected card (or longer) table? This will need to be taken into consideration
for your linens, place settings, and chairs.
If you need to plan on doing any rearranging, borrowing, or buying to
make it happen, jot yourself some notes now.
Step 5: what will your
centerpiece be? If your table is
currently set for fall, you’re good to go.
If you like to serve the dishes family style right from the table, you
don’t need much running down the center, as platters will take their
places. If you want to add something
just for the dinner, you can consider an elegant stagger of pillar and votive
candles, or something simple and contemporary like a chalkboard paper runner and
chalk at each place setting for during-dinner décor.
Plan ahead to make the most
of your Thanksgiving feast with a table dressed just for the occasion.
DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star November 9th.
