Honoring your guests with a festive, joyful table (with minimal expense) is really quite simple if you have some confidence and a little bit of know-how, which I'll be more than happy to share with you. And the added effort is really worth it when you see the smiles on everyone's faces.......
For starters you'll need a colorful tablecloth or piece of fabric. I love using my collection of vintage tablecloths for parties and usually layer them over a large white tablecloth. But really you can use anything that happens to fall in the fabric department — a beautiful old sheet, a vintage curtain (shown here) even a large scarf.
Next think of an idea for a simple party favor. I wrapped some pastel-colored candy coated almonds in this etherial celophane that I saved from a Purim gift, and tied each bundle with an orange ribbon.
I had some paper that I made with my children 2 years ago for Purim that seemed just the right color for my theme. The paper wasn't enough to make an actual placemat to put under the large plate, so I improvised and made the shape above which I placed between the salad plate and base plate. In order to see the paper piece I used saucers as the salad plate as they are smaller than the regular desert plate. (And the favor sits nicely within the ring for the teacup!)
The patterns on the paper were created with large rubber stamps for home decorating, that I once bought at the dollar store. (When you see deals like this, buy a few of each kind, for $1 you'll never go wrong). Once the paint was applied to the paper, the dots were made with glitter fabric paint in a squeeze bottle (many refer to this as"tulip"). Make ahead of time as the dimensional dots take a few hours to dry.
Now think about a centerpiece or something simple and low that can be repeated down the length of the table. These artificial flowers were easily removed from their stems, and will be re-united with their stems once the party is over, but for now they look great placed directly on the table and grouped in small bowls.
Real blooms can individually floated in bowls of water, and or course tea lights or floating candles can add a beautiful warm glow to your table.
See how simple it really can be? And the result is lovely. Come join me sometime, there's always a reason to celebrate, even if it's that you finally got all the laundry done by Wednesday!
