For your next dinner gathering try winning over your guests’ hearts by making them feel extra special. Besides the great food you’ll be serving that night, it’s the small details that will enamor visitors making them talk about this evening for many weeks or even months to come.
Today I’m sharing two super easy and quick tutorials on how to present the menu for that upcoming dinner celebration.
First you’ll have to gather the names of the dishes you’ll be offering during that soirée. You don’t have to be specific, because being creative is what’s intended; so for example your mashed potatoes could be “Melted brown butter over ‘pommes de terre’ “. For the first option I just printed 2 menus on one 8.5″x 11”. Although you can always choose a fancier paper, I simply use normal printer paper. After printing and cutting the paper, I used a rubber stamp with a metallic ink to add a glamorous touch (these items were from the dollar section at +Target). Another thing I added were a couple of large golden clips (also from Target) to hold the menu and placed these over the plates. (You can see more of this table here.)
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These amazing plates are from +HomeGoods. I love mixing and matching pieces for a striking and different look. |
For my next table setting, I also printed the menus but in a smaller size by diving the same printer paper in four equal parts. Again, I used a rubber stamp to add a decorative element to the menu but another way one can add a whimsy detail would be to add a clip-art in the background of the words before printing. I found from BGH at Walmart a banner with three galvanized pieces with a convenient clip. After taking the rope out, I used the clip to hold the menu pages over the galvanized pieces.
To make this piece stand out, instead of using rope or ribbon to hang them, I had some leftover eucalyptus branches from a flower arrangement I did (check it here) which I carefully passed through the holes. These were great because in order to close this loop I just twisted both ends together but you can always is florist wire or regular tape. I hanged these menus on the sides of the chairs and love how they end up looking.
I always try to surprise my guests with small details and I think both of these ideas are great examples of doing a lot with little effort.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this easy tutorial and please share your ideas on ways you like to surprise your guests when it’s time for dinner during the holidays.
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