No matter what the occasion or holiday, celebrating with family and friends is an integral part of our social interaction. Even if it's just a quiet dinner at home, planning your party with a theme in mind allows you to coordinate the food, drink and decorations in order to create a festive atmosphere. One important part of the decorating process should be the dinner table.
Types
Whether serving a buffet or sit-down dinner, your table should complement and reflect the theme of your party. The decorations will need to be planned around the style of dinner or offerings you will be serving. While a buffet by definition is a large table holding multiple items of food where a guest serves himself, a sit-down dinner is just what it says, your guests sit at a table and then are either served their food by wait staff or serve themselves "family-style." The decorations, therefore, are also distinctly different and dependent upon how and what you plan to serve.
Another consideration should be whether you are planning a "pot-luck" buffet-style event. This will mean that the place settings or serving dishes will be as widely varied as the food selections your guest may bring. If possible, let your guests know the theme of your party and make it a "game" for them ( for example, Who can bring the most creative Asian dish?) and award a prize to whoever gets the most votes. This will allow your guests to enjoy the themed atmosphere and lend a little extra excitement to the party. Who knows - you many get a dragon-shaped cake, or an elegant plate of egg rolls carefully placed on a large red or black oriental platter.
Features
In some ways a buffet service is much easier to decorate than a sit-down dinner. By simply allowing room for themed decorations between the serving platters the table will be incorporated into your themed party. The serving platters themselves can become part of the decorations. For example, colored platters can reflect the color combinations inherent in your theme (ie blue, green and aqua for a "sea" theme) or the use of decorated or specially shaped platters to inhance the ideas (ie., a leaf shaped plate holding acorn cookies for a fall themed buffet).
A sit-down dinner features a full place setting, that not only should reflect the theme of your party, but also the number and kind of courses you will be serving. For example, a dinner consisting of shrimp cocktail, soup, main meal, bread and dessert will not only have the appropriate plates available, but will also need to include the individual pieces of silverware (cocktail fork, soup spoon, knife,fork, spoon, bread/butter knife, separate fork for dessert). Also to be considered are the types of beverages provided (wine, coffee, water) as well as napkins and centerpieces.
Effects
Be creative when designing your themed table setting. You want your table to highlight the theme, not overshadow it. The effect should be pleasing to the eye, while not appearing busy or overdone. For example, if planning a winter party where you don't want the traditional holiday decorations, consider going icy. Cut some tree branches and spray paint them white. Stand them in a white or clear vase and then string them with white icicle lights, so they appear to be dripping with icy water. Some clear acrylic ice cubes scattered on tables along with glittery snowflakes that can hang from light fixtures can also enhance the wintery image. Tables can be covered with icy-silver or blue fabric. Table decorations don't have to break your budget if you can use a little imagination in your design.
Considerations
Start building your table decorations with the basics. A cloth to cover the table can be anything. A large piece of fabric, a stylized blanket or rug or even a series of scarves can be used as the base for your table . For example, for a Moroccan theme, a bright colored piece of fabric can cover the table and pieces of mosaic tile can be used as trivets and place settings. Complement your lighting with wrought iron decorative candle holders. An Asian themed dinner can have table decorations made of chopsticks and Chinese dragons or masks hanging from the walls and ceiling. Again, be creative without being overpowering.
Potential
The potential and possibilities for decorating your table are as varied as the themes you might choose and only limited by your imagination. Make everything a festive occasion by injecting some special ideas into your daily living. Don't just have "make your own taco night" every Thursday night for the kids, make it a "Mexican fiesta" complete with Mariachi music playing in the background and miniature piatas sitting on the table. Non-alcoholic margaritas for the little ones just keeps the fun moving along. And if pizza is more your idea of a quick dinner, put a red tablecloth on the table, place some breadsticks in a basket and a candle in the center and voila - you're in an Italian Bistro.
Expert Insight
Consider all aspects of your table when planning the table decorations. Place food items at different heights to create dimension and more space.
Simple ideas can be the best. Don't get carried away. A plate with 3 small candles among some blue and green stones or decorative foliage can be an elegant addition to any table setting. Make it better by placing different sized candles on the plate, again adding that touch of height.
Consider going all one color. For example, use different shades of red (maroon, burgandy, etc) for the decoration, enhancing the table setting with objects that also reflect the different shades (apples, cranberries, roses).
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