Creating
any Perfect Holiday Dinner requires "setting the scene". It
is just as important for the presentation to be appealing as it is for
the food to be delicious!
Below
are a few tips for preparing your dinner and ideas for decorations to
set the prefect holiday dinner scene.
Seasonal colors dress
up your table
For Thanksgiving it's nice to use warm fall colors for your table -
greens, soft golds and deep reds look wonderful for that time of year and
make your guests feel warm and cozy. You can't go wrong with a white
nicely pressed tablecloth. And this allows you to be more creative with
the dishes, stemware, napkins etc. Use dinnerware in some of the warm
fall colors, or for a more traditional, formal look, use white china.
A nice touch would be to add a fun plaid cloth napkin in the fall colors
and some elegant warm gold stemware.
Easy festive touches
Mums in warm colors placed in pots by the front door, make a nice
warm entrance for your guests. Around the table use real pumpkins, gourds,
and bittersweet to add some fall appeal. There are even artificial fall
leaves you can place around the table. And if you want to add a little
extra touch, you can buy real miniature pumpkins and use them as place
cards. Simply make a small slit in the top of the pumpkin, slip in the
place card with your guest's name on it and put at each placesetting.
Easy, but impressive!
Don't forget to decorate
the food too!
Don't forget to add little garnishes to the dishes when needed. For
example if you like to bring the whole turkey out on a platter to slice
at the table. Add grapes, walnuts, orange slices, etc. to dress up the
turkey on the platter. And sprinkle fresh herbs to your mashed potatoes
in the serving bowl. Put a little orange curl to jazz up your cranberries.
And don't forget before you bring out that pumpkin pie put a nice dollop
of whip cream in the center to finish it off.
A
few tips in preparation of the big day:
