Tips for entertaining with style and flair – Part one
A spot of planning and then you can relax!
Entertaining guests should always be fun and relaxed, regardless of how formal or informal the occasion. If you can plan ahead and are organised this should enable you to feel more relaxed and give you more time to socialise with your guests, instead of being tucked away in the kitchen!
I always have a (rather flexible) schedule in my head of when things should happen over the course of an evening (or whatever the occasion is). Sometimes, I will even write out my schedule if it is a big occasion or if there is just a lot on my mind and not enough space in there for everything! Otherwise, and I don’t know about you, but several wines later and my beef wellington is very well done indeed!
With this in mind, I always use a timer to let me know when things are done or need checking. I use my oven timer and I have a separate hand held timer, as well. Its just so easy and I can forget about any food preparation and chat to my friends until ping!, I then need to attend to something, even if its just a stir.
The Table
I love entertaining and I always make an effort to make my table look interesting and beautiful. I find it really can set the atmosphere, whether it be fun, dramatic or or just pretty! I have collected many different sets of china and glasses over the years, so I use different sets depending on the occasion, time of year or my mood.
If you have only one set of china, you can’t go wrong with white.
They don’t need to be expensive and if you can get them from a large store chain, it is more likely that they will stock them a year later, in case of breakages. I think the white china currently stocked at Homebase, in round or square, is a bargain and looks great.
You could also use these plates from Matalan, which look good and are very inexpensive.
If you want to make more of a statement and go with a colour or pattern, do so if that makes you happy!
I have a vibrant green set of ‘Octopus’ plates from Oka, which I use as everyday plates.
The colour makes me feel happy, not to mention the complements!
To set your table, use what you have in your home and be creative! It’s a bit like getting dressed in the morning – you put on your clothes and sometimes its fun to experiment and put things together that you may not have thought of before. Well, its the same with your table. Try looking at objects you may already have and see them in a different way, they may make a pretty decoration on your table or serve a practical purpose. After all, setting your table is interior decoration in miniature!
Recently, I used some sea shells that I had stored in a box in my garage for my table. They were a bit broken and I did think to throw them out. Instead, I used some silver-leaf that I already had in my art-box and applied the leaf to the shells and voila! some pretty decoration for the table. Spray-painting would probably be easier but the thing is just to use what you have and get creative. Of course they now look great around my bathtub.
Raiding your linen cupboard for table cloths is also a good idea. I have the expanding ‘Petworth’ table from Oka, it can seat 4 up to 18 people easily, and sometimes I really do need to use a sheet from the linen cupboard, just to cover the table!
Christmas dinner is always a minimum of 12, in my family, and usually more! But often in your linen cupboard its possible to find an old embroidered blanket or piece of cloth that is really pretty but not much use – but it can look lovely on your table.
For heat protection or if my bed sheet is a bit sheer, I use table protectors from John Lewis underneath the table cloth. These can be bought pre-cut or cut to your required length from a roll. I bought it off the roll and cut different lengths, which all piece together on my table, depending on what size I have the table expanded to.
Look out for “Part two” where I’ll be giving you more tips about to entertain guests with style and flair!
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