|
Food isn't just the cooking, it's also the presentation. Even fast family
dinners are cheerier with a few creative touches. And for the party
afternoon or evening, those touches are expected.
Last year, and pretty much last minute, my sister
hosted a baby shower at her house. With barely time to cobble together
dips and chips and a few hot appetizers, she spent mere seconds thinking
about decorations.
But the whole was lovely and even elegant in an
afternoon gathering sort of way. First she got some carnations and other
flowers at a market, about $10. Then off she trotted to a craft store
and, for just about $10-$12, found some fabric balls, potpourri, a few
sprigs of colored fake flowers, and a roll of wide organza ribbon.
From the ribbon she made a layer cake. She rolled
baby diapers (cloth or out of the box) and bundled them together with the
wide ribbon. That looks like a white cake. She made a big, a medium and a
small layer so the finished "cake" resembled a wedding cake. She decorated
with some of the fake flowers. That was an impressive side-table
centerpiece.
For her dining table, my sister found several clean
mason jars, tied a blue ribbon around each one, and placed a carnation or
two and some blue flowers in them. She set them around the table and in
the center, in a row, she lined up green Pellegrino water bottles. This
looked quite festive and was the guests' water drink.
Other decor in the living room, where the gifts were
opened, was a simple collection of different sizes of rounded vases or
dishes, filled with the white and vanilla silk roses. Charming and in
keeping with the theme.
So for about $25 my sister decorated dining and
living rooms in a couple hours work.
A number of websites offer suggestions and
step-by-step instructions to decorating for any occasion. Type "party
decor" into any search engine. Check out Martha Stewart's site and Home
Made Simple or iVillage.
But if you haven't an afternoon to just peruse ideas
and instructions, and especially if you want really fast, easy, and cheap
decor for the table or spur-of-the-moment barbecue or party, the trick is
to use your imagination and to know what you have on hand. Spontaneous
parties and sudden get-togethers happen any time of year and almost surely
at a holiday time. Here are some fast, inexpensive ideas to get your
imagination moving.
For wine, cheese, hors d'oeuvres party, wine
tastings, evening barbecues: Place Card Holders: Take cork, cut a slit
along the side, and insert a name card. If the cork won’t stand on its
own, put a square of double-sided tape underneath it.
Centerpiece: Fill up a medium to large glass vase or
jar with all of your old wine corks, interspersed with colorful curled
ribbons. Leave plain or top the corks with those tiny flags (perfect for
Independence Day) or with sprigs of greenery or flowers.
Also: Instead of using the corks as place card
holders, use them to create labels to identify your dips or dishes. Use
the little flags or small silk (or real) flower stems taped to sturdy
toothpicks to lift your hors d'oeuvres or olives, etc.
Keep an assortment of silk or paper flowers on
hand for quick decor. Or, instead of flowers, grab some large, flamboyant
feathers next time you see them at the craft stores or dollar stores For
good effect, fill a clear bowl or vase with smooth stones, or pine cones
or green and red apples and arrange flowers or feathers in the vase with
colorful leaves or small branches of colored leaves, for unique, seasonal,
fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving bouquets.
Use seasonal fruit and veggies to good
purpose. For example, mound gourds and small pumpkins in and above a wide
clear vase. Wrap a large peach or pear with wide ribbon and tuck a place
card under the bow. The fruit also becomes a party favor. Place in the
middle of the plate before guests sit down. Oranges, lemons, limes and
hard fruits like cranberries make a colorful display in a clear bowl. You
can place flowers or cinnamon sticks or maybe candy sticks or canes using
the fruit as a base.
At Halloween or Thanksgiving, stick barbecue skewers
into small apples, gourds, and /or pumpkins and arrange with flowers or
feathers as a bouquet,. Then stick the other end of the skewers into a
medium-large pumpkin base. Weave a pretty red, gold, green ribbon among
the skewer stems.
For Christmas, make pine cone place holders (glue a
small cone to the card or place the card into a large cone). You can also
tie a ribbon around a pine cone and then around a rolled napkin for a very
quick seasonal look. Use smaller cones and small ball ornaments in a clear
vase for big or little centerpiece decor. Pair with candles.
Food can be decoration, too. Besides the fruit
in jars and bowls, try hard-boiled eggs. When cooled, use different colors
of magic markers to make squiggles or circles to decorate the eggs. Pile
them into a pretty ceramic or rustic wooden bowl and set them on your
picnic or barbecue table atop a charming place mat. It's a centerpiece
you can eat.
You can use the same idea with your salad.
Layer the salad by the colors in it - dark green, red, orange, light
green, etc. - in a large clear bowl. If you like, set the bowl into a
slightly larger bowl, or a casserole dish, filled with ice so the salad
sits on top but isn't hidden by the ice. Add greenery around the bottom of
the display for a lovely and home-spun look.
Consider food items like cranberries, peanuts,
walnuts or almonds as base material for filling champagne flutes or tall
wine glasses. A long-stemmed flower or two, like roses, carnations or
iris, will add flair. Tie a ribbon around the glass stem and attach the
place card, if you wish.
|
