Maybe you stumbled across my post on social media? Hope you were intrigued by the beautiful place settings. You’ll find out more on their creation plus links to some of the fabulous food we shared. Let’s dive into the story and design for my dinner table decorations in blue and gold.
Once a month I host a dinner with a few of my girlfriends. I break out the fancy dishes and try to make a special meal. It’s a time for us to reconnect and support each other. For me, it’s also a way to show love and appreciation by giving a little pampering. Trying to be elegant without breaking the bank means I have to be a little creative. And we all know I love to be creative.
Gathering the table decor
For last month’s dinner, I began my table design with these beautiful blue plates. As you may remember from earlier posts, I pick up quite a lot of my table elements at thrift shops, and that is the story of these plates as well. Since they weren’t part of a set, but only a lonely six plates on their own, I was able to pick them up for about $1 a piece. And so the story of dinner decorations in blue and gold begins.
From my drawer of placemats I selected these blue ones and the flax colored ones you see layered underneath. I didn’t want blue-on-blue so I choose these gold plastic chargers that you can find at a dollar store. I really liked the gold. And I hardly ever use gold.
So then I pulled out everything else that looked like it could go together, a mishmosh of various pieces that I plopped down on my table and began to piece and pair. I have a gold-threaded table runner that I purchased from Trades of Hope (no longer available), and one gold tray…gold plastic silverware…that was about it for the gold finishes.
I had considered wrapping my white dishes with a gold-colored foil. But I couldn’t find any. Next I wondered about this gold Christmas wrapping paper. But I wasn’t really thrilled about something that might not be food safe on the table. So I got rid of that idea entirely.
The blue placemats weren’t exactly the same shade as my blue plates, but the variation helped me to pull off the use of my brown and blue serving tray which was something in between the two. The little blue rosette dessert plates made a special appearance as well.
Napkin Folds
With barbeque tacos on the menu, I decided to break from my usual cloth napkins and go with paper. To jazz them up, I copied this fun fold that I found and tucked in the plastic gold silverware. So pretty! Not a real fan of eating with plastic silverware, but there’s no way I’m buying an entire set of gold toned silverware that I’ll hardly ever use! (My birthday is coming up, if you’d like to buy me some.) They look fabulous in the picture, and then I brought out regular silverware as another option when the guests arrived.
Floral Bouquets
I was scratching my head about a centerpiece idea. It’s hard to find blue or gold flowers. I set out conversation cards for my guests so I decided to make little bouquets to prop them against instead of using a centerpiece. There would be plenty of food spread across my narrow table anyway.
Wanting to add more gold, I decided to cover the tiny mason jars I was using as vases. I could have just wrapped them in the gold wrapping paper, but I had happened to snag these shiny gold favor boxes at Hobby Lobby. They made a nice stable base to lean my conversation cards against as well as a support for the flowers from my yard. And the tiny clothespins for the cards are tied with leftover blue ribbon from my daughter’s wedding.
As I said before, there’s not a lot of chance of finding blue and gold flowers, especially if you’re cheap and are harvesting from your yard. But the bouquets really were the stars of the show. Each bouquet was a little different, and they added a beautiful contrast to the otherwise two-toned dinner decorations.
The menu
And then there was dinner!
Did I say tacos? These weren’t just any tacos, these were Asian Caramel Pulled Pork Tacos with Pineapple Snow Pea Salsa. Yeah, baby! Delicious! I served them with rice, my Sauteéd Zucchini and Corn, and these cute pepper Party Poppers.
And I almost forgot the dessert! A lemon orange buttermilk cake that I am still perfecting. But I served it up on those little blue rosette plates. For dessert, I removed the blue plates, then set a white plate over the gold charger with the small dessert plates on top. And this cake is delicious and one of a kind! Stay tuned for that in the future.
This month’s formula for success
I hope that this table design will inspire you to go create something beautiful with what you have on hand!
Layer different tableware on layers of table linens.
Use inexpensive supplies (favor boxes, paper napkins and plastic silverware) to complement what you have.
Even unlikely flowers from your yard can create perfectly lovely bouquets! You’ll be surprised how unlikely clippings can go together. And making tiny bouquets means you can have shorter stems and fuller bouquets with fewer flowers. On my table I have roses and coneflowers mixed in with May Night Salvia and even trimmings from my lilac bush that’s done blooming. The May Night Salvia is past its prime, but trimming away dead pieces made them look fresh. And the lilac stems added some perky greenery.
Happy eating and decorating everyone! Or you can just enjoy my posted eye-candy dinner table decorations in blue and gold.
