Decorating and serving the festive table

While preparing for any feast, the main attention is directed to the festive menu, however the decoration and beautiful table setting are also important.

A competent arrangement of cutlery and accessories can translate a lunch or dinner timed to an important event to a higher level.

Table setting is an art in which it is necessary to follow the rules and take into account the nuances, but it is not so difficult as it seems at first glance – there are simple “formulas” that will help create a comfortable environment for every guest.

Rules for serving a festive table

There are several universal rules that are recommended to observe when organizing a feast dedicated to any occasion.

When choosing items for serving, you must choose such products that correspond to the holiday theme and are in harmony with the interior of the room.

Crockery, cutlery and napkins should be kept in the same style. Sparse items will introduce dissonance, and even the table, which is richly decorated with exquisite dishes, will look bad. At selection it is important to consider also color of textile products: napkins and tablecloths.

Serving the festive table performs not only an aesthetic function, it is needed not only to create the appropriate atmosphere and high spirits. The second, no less important task is to ensure maximum comfort for those present. It is necessary to think over the arrangement of appliances and dishes in such a way that it is convenient for each guest to use napkins, dishes, knife and fork.

The classic sequence of the festive table setting:

• First of all, the table is covered with a tablecloth. Textiles should be clean and carefully ironed. To protect the table surface from accidentally spilled drinks and fat spots that may appear during the feast, a film can be placed under it, but it should be done so that it is not visible to the guests. The tablecloths of pastel (cream or beige) shades or bright juicy colors look most advantageous.

• The next step is the placement of the plates. They are placed on an equal distance from each other, focusing on the number of guests.

• Place dishes placed on the table. Depending on the menu and the dishes planned for serving, choose the right amount. Putting the entire set of instruments to anything – if the table is not fish, then forks with knives for them do not need.

• When the cutlery is chosen and laid out, they switch to the arrangement of glassware: glasses, plates, wine glasses and vases.

• On the almost covered table put napkins. Ideal – figuratively folded, but you can use special rings to make the napkins look neat. For a festive table you will need two types of napkins – paper and tissue.

• Each guest should be able to pour or pepper the food to taste, and therefore on the table must place spices. The table served without this trifle is considered incorrectly decorated.

• The last stage of serving the festive table is the arrangement of cold dishes and snacks.

Beautiful vases with flowers – an invariable attribute of table decoration on official and business receptions. They will also become a spectacular and harmonious decoration of the festive table.

All the glassware and cutlery used to serve the festive table should not only be clean, but also shiny. To achieve the desired effect, they after washing and thorough drying are polished with tissue napkins.

Serving Tips

“To serve the festive table, you can use contrasting combinations – use together a white and colored plate, lay a dark tablecloth under a light dish”

A few recommendations that will help in preparation for the celebration:

• You should start with making menus, selecting dishes, choosing napkins and accessories to decorate the table.

• After that go to the dishes. A set of the same dishes will look best, but it is also possible to skillfully combine items from different sets. It is desirable that the dishes were white – this classic color is best suited for a holiday. A good combination is white dishes on a bright monophonic tablecloth.

• According to the rules, for each drink it is required to provide a separate device. It is very important that all of them are in the same style.

• When the table is covered, you should inspect it – if done correctly, it should be a single composition, where all elements – dishes, tablecloth, flowers, appliances – are harmoniously combined with each other.

• It is not necessary to strictly adhere to all the rules – successful experiments are welcome. To serve the festive table, you can use contrasting combinations – use together a white and colored plate, lay a dark tablecloth under a light dish.

• You can depart from the standards when choosing materials: bamboo mats replaced with guipure or imitating moss. Instead of the ceramic dishes take the wooden. The needlewomen can use their skills – for example, to tie accessories that will bring a note of home comfort to the solemn feast.

• One of the traditional elements of decorating a festive table is an original folded napkin. Fabrics are folded into a tube and tied with ribbons or decorated with flowers; paper figures are made of paper: for example, a boat or a rose.

• No festive table will be considered properly covered if guests can not find a salt shaker and pepper on it. Each guest has his own preferences, and to deprive him of the opportunity to season the dish to taste it is impossible. In addition to the standard set, you can put on the table and other spices: it will be interesting to look glass bottles of elegant form with vinegar, vegetable oils, mills and a mixture of herbs.

• A great way to decorate a table is to use natural materials: cones, flowers or berries. When choosing a bouquet should pay attention to the smell of flowers – those that publish too intense flavor, should not be used.

The choice of napkins and tablecloths to decorate the festive table

Napkins for a festive table can be both white and colored. Folded together in a bizarre form, they will bring solemnity into the atmosphere. When selecting textiles, you should think in advance how they will be – in the tone of the tablecloth or contrast with it. At the same time, it is important to remember that dishes and tablecloths should harmonize with the napkins.

If a suitable textile has not yet been found, you can use the universal solution – choose accessories from a monophonic canvas. They will be successfully combined with any, even colored, dishes.

Another good variant of decorating a festive table is dishes with a pattern, one of the colors of which coincides with the coloring of napkins and tablecloths.

If monophonic textiles seem too ordinary, you can decorate it with silk ribbons.

Elegant coffee service is most advantageous to look at the background of a set of tablecloths and napkins, decorated with simple lace.

To serve the festive table, it is not necessary to use a new tablecloth-if there is only an old tablecloth in the house, you can cover it with a transparent cloth with lurex or tulle.

A highlight is the use of paper napkins folded in an interesting way. There are many techniques for folding napkins, and choosing the most appropriate feast is quite simple. It is also important to consider the color of paper napkins – there are a lot of them on sale: white, colored, with a pattern, ornament, perforation. The set of most of the services for the celebration includes special rings for napkins, they are recommended to use.

Despite all the variety, you can and do not give up the usual white napkins – they can also be interestingly folded. Possible options: fan, triangle, roll and others. For products folded in this way, there may not be holders, and then crystal or glass goblets will come to the rescue.

Candles and candlesticks

Lighted candles on the festive table will help create an intimate romantic atmosphere, they successfully look at any feast. However, do not make a common mistake – use only candle lighting, refusing to fully. The table for a large number of guests should be well and evenly lit. In the twilight, when you can not see the dishes standing on the table, and the silhouette of the person sitting next to one can hardly be guessed, it’s difficult to maintain a cheerful mood.

Select candles should be, given the color range of all the rest of the decor and the items of the festive table. For any holiday, white candles will be a good choice, red ones, inserted in candlesticks and decorated with spruce paws, will look great at the Christmas and New Year’s tables.

The ways of placing candles are also varied. They can be placed between flower vases, grouped into small compositions throughout the table area, and attached to a flower stand, so that they are above the bouquet.

To decorate the festive table, candlesticks made from any material: ceramics, metal, wood, glass or porcelain, are suitable. However, they must approach the dishes – the wooden candlestick will not look good in the surroundings of the plates of porcelain.
There were no candlesticks, or they are not combined with other items on the table? Then you can use small glass jars. If you fill the containers with water and put in them burning candles, they will look unusual and spectacular. And for the center of the table, if desired, you can build an even more original composition: a deep water tray filled with water, in which a lot of lit candles-tablets float.

Candlesticks need to be selected not only for the material, but also in shape and height: according to the rules, small candles are placed in tall stands, and in low ones – elongated ones.

A little trick: that the candle does not fall during the feast, its end is slightly melted (with the help of fire or hot water), and as soon as the bottom softens, it is placed in a candlestick. If the bottom of the stand has a metal needle, then everything is much simpler – a candle is simply punctured on it.

The decoration of the festive table setting will be compositions from several candles. For example, several candles are placed in a container, differing in size and shape, poured water into which are thrown dried or fresh flowers, petals.

An interesting option – the placement of a small candlestick with a small candle next to the devices of each guest. In addition, you can decorate the composition with a buttonhole and a name card.
Lighting candles is best before the arrival of guests – at a time when everyone has already settled, this lengthy procedure can make attendees bored. It is not recommended to extinguish the main lighting during lunch.

To candles burned as long as possible, they are put in the freezer a few hours before the scheduled event.

Plates for the festive table

“Before you start putting the dishes on the table, you need to carefully spread out the tablecloth, removing the slightest folds and debris from it, and only after that you can start serving the festive table”

The choice of plates for the solemn event is a responsible task. Often they can determine the atmosphere of the holiday. It would be nice to have a set of dishes specially for the reception of guests.

Some recommendations on the correct arrangement of plates:

• Before you start to set the dishes on the table, you need to carefully straighten the tablecloth, removing from it the slightest folds and debris, and only after that you can start serving the festive table. Plates must stand in front of the chair of each guest. Place them on the very edge of the table is unacceptable. The optimal distance is 2 cm. To get the job done quickly, and do not have to use a ruler, you can take the waiters in – they measure the distance from the edge of the table to the dish with the help of two fingers (index and middle) stacked together.

• For especially festive meals it is recommended to put “double plates”: a snack bar over a shallow dining room. To make the dishes do not slip and do not creak, it is necessary to put a napkin between two plates.

• A crockery plate according to the rules is placed to the left of the main one, keeping between them a distance of 5 to 12 cm.

• For meals with a lot of dishes, all the plates are placed in a line: both snack bars, and canteens, and pies. The middle of each plate should be on the same line.

It is very important to arrange the plates correctly – in addition to them, there will also be cutlery, vases, salad bowls on the table. If you do not comply with the rules, guests may be uncomfortable, they will touch neighbors, they will not be able to freely take what they want from the table.

Cutlery for the festive table

If in ordinary life a person manages a minimal set of forks and spoons and does not really think about their proper arrangement, then this table is not acceptable when serving a festive table.

It is important to take into account all the nuances:

• The knife is always located to the right of the plate, and its blade must be deployed to it. If there are several knives, then the dining room is placed next to the plate, in the center there is a fish, in the center – a snack bar.
• The spoon is placed upside down with a spout. The traditional placement of the spoon is between the knives, it is especially easy to do this if there is no fish in the menu, and there is no knife for it. If on the table there are three knives, then a spoon is placed between the snack bar and the fish.
• The forks are always on the left. The scheme of their placement aside from the plate: a dining room, for fish, a snack bar. The instrument teeth should look up.

The optimal distance from the nearest device to the plate is about 5 mm. All instruments are placed perpendicular to the edge of the table and strictly parallel to each other.

Do not place the entire set of cutlery – you will only need those that are intended for dishes provided for in the menu. If only snacks are planned, the canteens used for hot dishes are not needed.

Dessert put in front of a plate: first there is a knife, in the center of the fork, with the edge of a spoon. Handles of a spoon and a knife turn to the right, plugs – on the left.

Glassware on the festive table

It is difficult to overestimate the role of glassware on the festive table. Glasses and wine glasses bear not only a practical purpose, they serve as an ornament of the entire composition of the festive table. For the celebration you should choose comfortable and well-placed glasses in the palm of your hand.

Rules for serving a festive table with glassware:

• Wine glasses can stand either to the right of the plates, or to the center. If it is placed in the center, then it should be located behind the plate, if from the side – then in the place where the upper edge of the plate intersects with the tip of the first knife. This wineglass is designed for juice or mineral water.

• If the menu contains kvass or mors, then you will need mugs. Handles of glassware should be turned to the right.

• Wine glasses and glasses intended for alcohol are placed at a small distance to the right of the glass for water. If you select a large number of drinks, then all glassware for alcohol should be on the right side of the plate, and the water glass on the left. It is important not to overdo it: the maximum allowable number of wine glasses in one row is 3, if you put more, the guest may become confused and feel uncomfortable.

• The recommended distance between glasses is 1 cm.

Bouquets for decoration of a festive table

Flowers – a traditional decoration of the festive table, with the help of which it is easy to bring a festive mood into the atmosphere.

A variety of options – small, composed of wildflowers, luxurious, saturated shades or variegated bouquets – will help set the tone for the event no worse than music.

With the help of flowers it is easy to create an atmosphere of coziness, to make the premises lighter and more affable. For this purpose, not always necessary large expensive, with the task with a skillful approach will cope and small bouquets made up of unpretentious wildflowers.

Ideas for serving a festive table

Serving the festive table can be performed in various ways, and for any celebration you can choose the appropriate decor.

For a romantic dinner

To the meeting was successful, when preparing it is necessary to abandon too active, screaming colors, and choose 2-3 as the main ones.

For example, textiles, candles and flowers can be red, and in this case the golden golden plates, snow-white plates, glass or crystal glasses and a vase will perfectly complement the composition. Thematic decor – a figure in the form of a heart, cupid or other – can also have a golden coating.

For a friendly feast

The maritime-style table is perfect for lunch with friends or a New Year’s Eve breakfast.

Tablecloth for this event is best to take a blue, and in the center of the table place a bouquet or decorative tree in a vase of the same color.
White glasses and dessert vases are ideal for white plates. Napkins are recommended to use light. It is preferable to place small plates with marine themes on the top of the plates.

Country style

Christmas table will look best if you use country style for its design: on a table made of natural wood, not covered with a tablecloth, put simple plates. Center the table with a red napkin, on it to arrange small Christmas trees or balls.

Such a modest atmosphere will create an atmosphere of calmness and harmony for those present.

For the New Year

To originally serve the table, which is planned to celebrate the New Year, it is necessary to use souvenirs in the form of gift boxes with gifts – wrapped in translucent fabric, they are placed in each plate, placing a napkin under them. Another possible option – the placement of bright Christmas-tree toys on snow-white plates.

Another good idea of ​​serving a festive table is a composition of red candles in candlesticks decorated with artificial needles.

Napkins can be folded in the form of purses – such jewelry will symbolize the prosperity that awaits all gathered next year.

A good combination of colors for the design of the New Year’s table: green, beige and brown.

Photogallery – serving a festive table

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Author: Mikhail Bond

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