Get Ready to Party Series Day 4 - The Table and Buffet

I recently hosted a group of  friends in my home for a fall luncheon. I thought it might be fun and helpful to write a series on how I planned and pulled off this party.

My hope is that by sharing it may be a blessing to someone else and it might encourage others to step out and invite someone in!

Day 4 Setting the Table and the Buffet

Click the photo to see the entire series:

I'm so happy that Richella featured my series. Her blog is wonderful. Check it out.

In today's post I'm going to share some photos of how I set my table and the buffet for my fall luncheon. 

I hope these serve as a bit of encouragement that you don't have to go all out with the decorating and set up. Simple is sometimes better.

Serving from the kitchen:

When we did a little kitchen remodel a few years ago I kept the big island even though I've always thought it was a little too big for the room. The reason I kept it is because it a great buffet area. 

I don't have any issues with serving from the kitchen. We had a soup party once and I had three big pots of soup bubbling away on the stove. My only condition for serving from the kitchen is my sink has to be clean with no dirty dishes!

Before the party and before any food has been set out:

This is the buffet set up ready for the food. I stacked the plates on the buffet. I placed a simple burlap runner down the center. I put little notes showing what food goes where so I can enlist helpers if needed and they'll know where everything goes. 

Napkins and silver ware are set on the table. To the left of the stove I set up a hot beverage area. Assorted tea bags, coffee, honey, sugar, cream, cups and spoons. The tea kettle is kept on simmer ready to pour.

The cold drinks were set up on the desk area in the kitchen. 

Dessert set up on the kitchen table. I set out extra forks and napkins and the serving pieces that will be needed for the desserts. This table also has my guest book and a bowl of party mix that I bagged up for each guest to take home. 

The dining table:

I had to put two tables together to seat ten. Since my dining room is too small for two tables

we pushed the dining table to the living room and added another table. One day we're going to take down the wall between these two rooms to make one large space. But for now we just make do. 

I used two cream colored tablecloths to tie both table together. In the middle I used a solid brown tablecloth and on each end I laid a piece of fall printed fabric. The decorations were simply fall leaves and a few plastic  pumpkins.

Everyone helping themselves to the buffet:

I like to use real plates and silverware unless we're having an outdoor party like a BBQ with lots of kids. Then I might use paper plates. I have a lot of plates and serving dishes and I'd rather use them than have them collect dust in the cabinet. 

I make sure the dishwasher is empty so clean up is pretty quick.

Food as part of the decorations:

Food isn't just good for our tummies it's also beautiful and can serve as part of the decorations. 

To make this veggie basket I took a large, clean basket. I searched around the kitchen for a plate or platter that would fit in the opening but I couldn't find one that was just right. 

I improvised by placing the rack from my canning pot in the bottom of the basket.

Next I used a plate that was just a little smaller than the opening of the basket. I finished it off by covering the plate with lettuce leaves. 

I used a whole pepper to hold the dip and arranged the raw veggies on the bed of lettuce. The whole thing fit nicely into the basket opening and made a nice display.

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of how I set up for my luncheon. Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you about a fun game we played...

Happy Day!

Patti

See day 5 here. Games Anyone?