Sugar High (Payback!)

November 28, 2011January 31, 2018 / Alycia Nichols / 67 Comments

So what do you do when you want to render a little payback to your adult children for their snarky teenage remarks regarding your parenting skills? You throw a little party for THEIR children that includes almost nothing but sugar…then send the little ones home for THEM to deal with! 🙂 That’s my plan for later this week. Bad, bad Grandma!

Even with children, I like to dress the table in washable linens. A white full-length linen is topped with a red poly-cotton cloth that is rife with whimsical gold stars and swirls. I bought several of the top layer linens several years ago on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond but have never had occasion to use them.

Lunch will start with fruit-filled red or green Jello (cut into Christmas tree shapes) served on the green glass salad plates. That will be followed by grilled cheese sandwiches, carrot sticks with ranch dressing, and crispy sweet potato fries on the white Corelle plate.

The simply folded napkins are actually plush white wash cloths tied with green and red curling ribbon. I pick the cloths up at Sam’s Club to stock our bathrooms for use as hand towels like this:

I keep a separate stash just for little hands at luncheons (and barbeques because I’m masochistic like that! :-)). After lunch just toss ’em in the washing machine with a little soap and Clorox® to soak for a day or so, and they’re good as new! (If a stain remains, I use the cloth for polishing silver.)

The white flatware is from TJ Maxx and is just “formal” enough for 7-10 year olds.

I bought these fun ice cream soda glasses several years ago at a store that is now defunct. You can probably pick up something similar from Pier 1, Old Time Pottery, or even Dollar Tree where I bought the red & white reusable straws. I’ll be serving a choice of strawberry or chocolate fudge ice cream sodas.

I went rogue on the place card holders. I don’t know what these things are intended to be, but I thought they’d make great holders! I bought them from Hobby Lobby a few years back.

Keeping with my infamous motto of “go big, or go home”, I plopped this massive sleigh in the center of the table filled with a big ol’ snowman and all sorts of goodies that the kids can take home after the party. I bought the sleigh and snowman wholesale about 10 years ago. The giant red, green & white Christmas candy canes are from Dollar Tree (2011). Man, I love that place! I created a very different snowman tablescape last year that you can see by clicking here.

Beneath the sleigh is plush cotton “snow” scattered with oversized ornaments that look like wrapped candy from Dollar Tree.

Keeping with the candy theme in the sleigh is a huge plush “wrapped candy.” I had 2 of them, but can’t find the other one! Maybe by Wednesday…..

I bought these fun painted wood “Ho, Ho, Ho” signs at Pier 1’s Christmas clearance last year.

I couldn’t let the china cabinet go unadorned. I bought this cute little dude at Burlington’s Christmas clearance last year for $1.97 (90% off)!!!!! This is another store that has great everyday prices and phenomenal clearance sales!

I am still grinning about the great deal these giant Santa hat chair covers were at….you guessed it…Dollar Tree! They fit nice and snug on our dining room chairs and give the room a really festive look! (I’m just praying they don’t discolor the chair fabric!)

And the pièce d’ résistance…the candy/dessert buffet!!! Candy, cookies, cupcakes…lots, and lots, and LOTS of sugar!!!!!!!! Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!!! The fun figurines on the candy bar came from Burlington’s Christmas clearance last year. The assortment of glass canisters are from Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx, and Home Goods. I created a more glamorous candy/dessert buffet for a friend’s Sweet Sixteen x Two birthday earlier this year. Click here to see it!

I’m picking the kids up around 11:30 and bringing them back to my house. I don’t want their parents to drop them off for fear they won’t come back to get them once they see what’s on the menu! 🙂 I can’t wait!!! I’ve never felt so deliciously evil in all my life!!! 🙂

Please join me at Susan’s place, Between Naps on the Porch, for Tablescape Thursday again this week to check out what other tablescapers from around the globe are doing to celebrate the Christmas season!

Pinky Peter Cottontail

April 11, 2011July 29, 2017 / Alycia Nichols / 58 Comments

My best friend – a gal whose decorating style might best be described as eclectic – asked me to create a “simple” Easter brunch/luncheon tablescape. Simple, huh? You guys are killin’ me with the “simple” tables!!! I love to load a table up, make it groan under the weight of all the pretty eye candy. Why, oh why must I create a “simple” brunch tablescape??!?!?! It’s just not natural!!!

OK…I’m finished whining now. Without further ado, I present to you a “simple” Easter brunch/luncheon tablescape that, by the way, is pretty cost-effective to duplicate!

The simplicity of this Easter brunch tablescape starts with the repetition of a specific element: Easter bunnies.

I started with a soft pistachio “Spring Meadow” table linen from Bed, Bath & Beyond. It has an almost damask look about it which created a bit of formality without getting too stiff. Each place setting starts with a white ceramic charger, topped with a soft pink napkin to create a color buffer between the charger and the white Corelle entrée plate. The salad/dessert plate is Lenox “Butterfly Meadow – Swallowtail”. A white ceramic floral bowl that will be used for the inevitable fruit compote starter is from Pier 1.

I found these realistic faux chocolate bunnies at Hobby Lobby several years ago. Of course, the real thing will work just as well and serve as a perfect take-home treat for young and old alike.

This is the way it all stacks up.

Because I was tickled with the pink on the centerpiece bunnies, I wanted to play that color up as a predominant accent for this tablescape. This pink tinged stemware works beautifully and dutifully for serving juice and mimosas.

“Danish Princess” silverplate flatware is formal but approachable. A “simple” table doesn’t always have to mean wholly unadorned.

I bought these ceramic egg cups in several different pastel colors last year from Crate & Barrel. They are great for displaying colorful Easter eggs! Here I use eggs that are of the same color and have been decorated alike to add a bit of (repetitive) consistency around the table.

I found these adorable paper hydrangea Easter bunnies at Village Gardens in Blue Springs, MO. I love the pink in their tails and ears!

I created the hefty centerpiece using brilliant pink cyclamen, sinewy Vinca vine, and fun spikes that will later be planted in my flower garden. The flowers, all still in their nursery pots, are nestled into a metal basket and covered with Spanish moss to hide the mechanics. I like the mix of textures and shapes. The flowers in the centerpiece coordinate with those on the buffet.

While the soft pink geraniums (tucked into another green metal basket) and frosty white kalanchoe are not the same flowers used on the table, they readily complement them. Elements that “complement” trump those that strictly “match” any day of the week in my decorating book! Get double use out of these flowers by planting the geraniums in beds or pots outdoors for summer long color. The kalanchoe – available in red, pink, yellow or white – are colorful, highly textural, easy care indoor succulents.

These cute ceramic characters extend the bunny theme from the table to the buffet.

Creamy white pitchers for serving mimosas and juice are tied in with the table bunnies’ pink bows. This ombre ribbon, edged in white, has hues ranging from the deepest pink in the cyclamen to the softest in the napkins. Ribbon is an inexpensive way to extend a color scheme, especially for an Easter table.

So there you have it! A “simple” spring tablescape for an Easter brunch or luncheon that can be easily mimicked with items you may already have at home. As for you, sweet Sheri, you can always borrow it all if you want!

Other posts featuring Easter tablescapes on this site include:
“Easter Brunch”
“Easter Floral”
“Informally Formal”
“Spring & Easter Around the House”
“Spring Into Easter”
“Easter In Pink & Grey”
“All A’Bloom In Pink for Spring”
“Easter Bloom”
“The Party She Deserves”
“Carousel Colors”
“Barton’s Easter Brunch“

I’m joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch again this week!
Check out what a bunch of talented ladies & gentlemen are up to in the world of tablescaping!

March of the Penguins

December 29, 2010July 29, 2017 / Alycia Nichols / 42 Comments

This week, something a little different that was so much fun: Our little Dinner and a Movie Supper Club met at our house. I hated the movie (very graphic documentary…sorry, Jackie, but I lean toward a different kind of mating ritual in the form of romantic comedies! 🙂 ), but decorating the table to go with the movie’s theme was a blast!

So, without further ado, I give you March of the Penguins!

Grownups want to have fun every once in awhile, too, so I wanted this tablescape to have some youthful features with an adult flair. Predominant colors of the evening: black, white and goldenrod (which is fancy talk for yellow!).

A snowy white cotton linen was the foundation for the table. A jolt of color was presented in the form of goldenrod placemats (Bed, Bath & Beyond) turned lengthwise for an elongated effect. A black acrylic charger, plain white dinner plate and solid black salad plate were then topped with a goldenrod napkin. Sophisticated black flatware and Godinger crystal rounded out the setting.

Using my computer and a pair of decorative edge scissors, I created a program for each guest so they’d know what was in store for the evening. The black bow ties were very inexpensive from a clearance rack at Hobby Lobby a couple of years back. I just glued them on to each program with a low-heat glue gun.

Glass cylinders are so great for all kinds of displays! I have them in heights varying from 3 to 31 inches!!! For this tablescape, I used an 11″ x 9″ in the center flanked by two 4″ x 8″. Each was placed atop a 14″ round mirror that gives the illusion of an icy pond. I filled them with a couple of inches of faux snow for a wintry effect, then dropped in penguins, pinecones, bottle brush trees, and shiny silver balls. (I always toss a little iridescent glitter in with the “snow” to give it a little more sizzle!) The taller cylinder was large enough for a white wicker sleigh with a penguin and his Christmas tree along for the ride. Having researched the yearly mating journey of penguins, I decided to mimic their colonies by using them in great numbers all over the table.

These pretty little bottle brush trees only stand about 6″ tall, but they pack a big punch with their shimmering branches that glow by the light of the votive candles.

Tall glass candlesticks topped with shiny silver balls lend height and additional shimmer to the tablescape.

Of course the buffet had to get a little special treatment, too! There’s almost no such thing as “too much candlelight.” Grouping them en masse like this gives an unprecedented look to any tablescape. (They also flatter every skin tone and make everyone look fabulous!) These votives, lined up on 3 sides, softly illuminate the silver balls in the glass cylinders and all the lovely cut crystal on the after-dinner drink tray.

The supper club wants to meet here again next month. We’ll see!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL!!!

To see all the photos from the March of the Penguins tablescape, please click here or on the “Winter” tab above!

This week I am again delighted to join Susan and all the other incredibly talented tablescapers for Tablescape Thursday! When you’re finished here, pop on over and check them out!