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My Christmas Tablescape and cleaning up with Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloth
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Here are my 10 tips to creating a beautiful holiday Tablescape:
1: Create a theme
Have a picture in your mind, of how you want your holiday table to feel. Is it rustic, eclectic, modern, winter themed, Santa themed? Whatever the look that is in your mind, stick with it, and work from there. Mine has always been traditional, and is inspired by my gold forks and knives, and serving set that my mother-in-law passed down to me.
2: Have chargers, or place mats.
Chargers, for me, are my go-to, because place mats can overlap each other sometimes and I don’t prefer that look, so I stick with beautiful gold chargers. I wipe them down with the Scotch-Brite Scrubbing dish cloth, using the soft side, to clear off any dust from being in storage for a year.
3: Create a focal point
My focal point, is my centerpieces. I got these two flanking centerpieces at Ralphs after last Christmas, in the clearance section. They were so beautiful, and I knew they would complement my main gold poinsettia centerpiece perfectly. A centerpiece creates a beautiful focal point, before the main dish is ready to serve. It really fills the empty space, and it looks lovely.
4: Create ample space
Don’t try and fit too many places settings on a table that only can accommodate so many. Make sure that each guest, has enough elbow room.
5: Think outside the norm
Instead of placing the napkin under the silverware, place them over the dishes, or in between the dishes to give it a new look. You can also place napkins, in a wine glass, or to the side. I folded a napkin in half, and tucked under, then folded the other half over, as you can see. Then I flipped the napkin over, and placed it in between the dinner plate, and salad plate.
6: Fill the empty plate
For a show stopping tablescape, I placed pretty white poinsettia ornaments, on each salad plate, to create more drama! You can even create name cards for this space, if you prefer a seating chart. I usually don’t have seating cards, because my mother-in-law decides where everyone sits. :p
7: Placing silverware.
I found out, that this is the correct way to place silverware, when setting a formal table. Starting on the right side of the plate, we have our salad fork, then our dinner fork. On the left side, we have our dinner knife, then teaspoon, then soup spoon. But for an informal dinner, I just set the fork and knife, off to the right.
8: Clearing a table quickly
The way I clear a table, is to scoop each food remains from one dish, onto another. I can usually scoop three dirty dish remains onto one dish, then stack the cleared dishes, and scoop the dish, with filled food remains into a kitchen trash can, that has been brought into the dining room. It makes life, a little easier. If I need to keep my trash can in the kitchen, I usually bring an empty trash bag, into the dining room, and empty all the dishes into the bag, and stack up dirty dishes.
9: Have leftover containers ready
I have leftover containers ready to go, before I even serve the food, because sometimes, cooking for six hours, usually results in 20 minutes of eating, and I don’t like spending a lot of time looking for containers to fill leftovers, and then going mad because I cannot find the matching tops to them, so during my table setting, I also set up my storage containers in my kitchen, so that they are ready to go!
10: Set your table in advance.
I always set my holiday table, the night before our holiday dinner. That way, I am not frazzled, and doing too many things at once. And I am able to take my time, and get my table ready without any distractions. I use the Scotch-Brite Scrubbing Dish Cloth, on the soft side of the cloth, to shine up my heirloom gold silverware.
I also use the night before, for food prep, like chopping onions, carrots, etc. I then just place them in freezer bags, and pop them in the fridge for the next day’s dinner.
So these are my tips for creating a holiday tablescape with easy clean-up! What are your favorite tips for setting your holiday table? Let me know in the comments below:)
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