Pink & Purple Chocolate Christmas Tablescape

November 12, 2012July 28, 2017 / Alycia Nichols / 73 Comments

I was tickled when the folks over at iVillage asked me to submit a holiday tablescape for their rockin’ site. When I checked the feature out this morning I saw that I was in very good company with bloggers like Mary from “Home Is Where the Boat Is” and Laura from “Our Prairie Home“. I was also introduced to a few bloggers with whom I was previously unfamiliar, so hooray! 😉 (If you’ve never visited iVillage, you might want to. It’s pretty awesome. SO much information about home & garden, great food, health & beauty…everything for women who want to be in the know!) Thank you, iVillage!

The photo I submitted was of an unpublished Christmas tablescape, so since it’s out there now I figured I’d go ahead and give you the whole package. This is another tablescape created for my recent “Tablescaping a Winter Wonderland” class through MCC at Longview. It would be a great table for a “tweener” or teen Christmas party for girls who still enjoy whimsy but feel more grown up when you add certain special touches. And as my friend Delia pointed out, this tablescape would also work really well for a winter baby shower!
(Click on any photo to enhance/enlarge. Photos by Sheri L. Grant.)

While pastel pink and purple are not “traditional” Christmas colors per se, they somehow work when visions of sugarplums, cookies and candies dance in your head. A snowy blanket of white linen covers the table from head to toe as a base for the bubblegum colors.

Each place setting begins with a lavender acrylic charger from Michael’s Craft Store. A plain white Corelle dinner plate is separated from the lacy white Pier 1 plate with a shot of pastel pink found in the napkin. The bon-bon topped cupcake is the final ingredient to create this pink, purple and chocolate Christmas setting. The silver flatware is very dressy…one of those “grown up” touches to keep the look from becoming too cutesy for teens and tweeners. No menus used. They’re teens, so you can just text them! 😉

Delicately etched pink stemware is another grown-up touch.

These “sugary” pink, purple, chocolate & white figurines picked up at 75% off at Burlington‘s end-of-season sale last year were the inspiration for the table. The sparkly finish on them makes them shimmer in the light.

I am a forever fan of using food to help fill in a centerpiece. Not only does it look and smell great, but it adds color, texture and shape. Because everything is edible, that’s money saved! (Some of the food presented here is faux for class purposes.) I like to present food at varied levels on assorted trays, plates and bowls, and you simply can’t go wrong with glass stands! A little more color and shine is brought down to the base level of the table with pastel pink and silver ornaments.

The buffet behind the dining table wholly subscribes to my philosophy of “Go big, or go home.” An oversized sleigh draped in silver bead garland (also used HERE) rests on a bed of cottony snow, filled with shimmering gifts in the prevailing colors of pink, purple and silver. More sweets and ornaments are displayed in glass stands and jars. Additional tree figurines stand guard over a shimmering silver basket of neatly wrapped gifts.

The tea cart stands ready to serve more beverages in these cute glass tumblers striped in pink, purple & white found at TJ Maxx for just $1 each on clearance. Paper napkins in the same colors are laid out for dessert. A glass apothecary jar holds a pouf of “snow” topped with a pale pink LED candle and a few random ornaments.

More apothecary jars filled with snow, ornaments, and LED candles sit atop the china cabinet.

Sheri videotaped the room in its entirety to give you a little better perspective of the layout. Just turn your volume down; otherwise you’ll hear me in the background running around getting ready for students to arrive! 🙂

For more teen/tweener-friendly Christmas tablescapes on this site, check out:
“Sugar High – Payback!“
“Frosty the Snowman“
“March of the Penguins“

For more Christmas posts on this site:
“Cranberry Christmas“
“Cranberry Christmas Squared“
“White Hot“
“Winter Brunch“
“Christmas Progressive Dinner“
“Get Me To the Church On Time“
“Winter Cardinal“
AND
check out NINE other posts all on the “Winter” page!

Join me if you will this week at Susan’s place for “Tablescape Thursday” anytime after 9:00 a.m. CST and at the Style Sisters’ place for Centerpiece Wednesday. There are a lot of bloggers out there with terrific ideas for the holidays!

Purple + Green = Happy Birthday!

August 21, 2012December 19, 2012 / Alycia Nichols / 56 Comments

“Best friends are those who, when you show up at their door with a dead body, say nothing, grab a shovel, and follow you.” –author unknown

I have been very fortunate to have the same best friend for nearly 50 years. Yes, yes, I know…I only look 25 (HA! :-)), but it’s true: Sheri and I have been friends since the 1st grade!!! We have seen each other through all of what life has flung at us, and we’ve had a rollicking good “Thelma & Louise” kind of time through it all. No two people could be more different, have more diverse interests, be as “day and night” as we are, but that has never seemed to matter. We’ve always remained the Yin to the other’s Yang. Like Felix and Oscar…with ovaries! 🙂

Sheri has a birthday coming up on Friday. While she prefers to keep things low-key these days, I can still at least imagine the party I would throw in her honor! This is a setting that would also work well for a bridal shower or, with grapes and pears added to the mix, a lovely summer vineyard wedding reception.
(Click on any image to enhance/enlarge it.)

Varying shades of purple with bright lime green tempered with white would be a welcome sight for the birthday girl and her guests. The setting is simple with relatively clean lines, but it has lots of energetic color. The setting is anchored with a floor-length white table linen that, not unlike an artist’s canvas, shows off that color at its best.

Each place setting begins with an acrylic lavender charger from Michael’s, followed by a lime green dinner plate from Dollar Tree (a great place to really stretch a buck…everything in the place is just $1!!!) and a white Corelle salad plate. You don’t always have to use top of the line dishes and accessories to create a beautiful, tasteful, memorable tablescape!

White cotton hemstitch napkins are simply cinched with a length of lavender organza ribbon.

The flatware is also kept simple. The only embellishment on it echoes the ridges on the rim of the dinner plate.

Sheri and I both love to eat good food. She sometimes phones me to ask, “What do I feel like eating? I know I’m hungry, but I can’t figure out what I want to eat.” I ceremoniously smack my lips and wrack my brain for something tasty that I think will satisfy her taste buds. It actually works about 90% of the time! The menu for her birthday would include food that I know she loves. I created these menus on my home computer using specialty papers from Michael’s and Hobby Lobby.

I have waited what seems like a lifetime to use this stemware!!! I love the sultry plum color! The goblets are from Stein Mart, and the fun pilsners are from T.J. Maxx.

Sheri has always loved flowers, and there would be no shortage of multi-bloom bouquets at her dinner party to perk up the room! Here, an assemblage of hydrangea, roses, Dutch tulips, acid-green viburnum, and Dutch lilac in simply-styled lime green ceramic vases mixes with a scattering of plums and green apples.

The buffet behind the dining table boasts the same colors for the florals and accessories but includes a bit more white. The purple & green floral pots are actually lightweight and convenient-to-store Styrofoam™! I bought them at a wholesale place headquartered in a town just about 35 minutes away from our home. These will come in very handy for future Spring and Easter tablescapes!

Chunky pillar candles embellished with the same organza ribbon used to tie the napkins are set atop curvy white turned wood Z Gallerie candlesticks.

Ask guests to wrap gifts in colors that will complement the decor. Here, woven strips of lavender organza and lime green satin ribbon dress up a plain white gift box. The box is gussied up even further with a few blooms that match the decor.

A plain pitcher is made to look special by the deep, rich apple juice/plum juice/peach nectar beverage created just for this occasion. Slices of fruit always give a little more “oomph!” to beverage displays. The lime green acrylic appetizer plates are from Target.

I always like to add little touches throughout the room that complement the table decor. The china cabinet in the corner is treated to the same flower pots as the buffet but filled with chartreuse roses and raffia filler.

So what cocktail hour music would I choose? Songs about friends, of course, with Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend”, Sweet Baby James Taylor’s “You’ve Got a Friend”, and Kenny Rogers’ “You Were a Good Friend” topping the list. And as we’re both fast approaching our AARP years, what kind of friend and hostess would I be if I didn’t include the theme from “The Golden Girls”? 😉

Through thick and thin, good hairstyles and bad, for better or worse, from here to eternity…Sheri Lynn Grant will always be my best friend. She has to be…the girl knows way too much! 🙂
Happy Birthday, Sheri!

Other posts on this site using purple:
“Purple & Pastel“
“Planning in Purple“

I will be joining Cuisine Kathleen for “Let’s Dish!” this week along with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for “Tablescape Thursday“. C’mon by and take a peek at what all the tablescapers from around the globe are up to!

Purple & Pastel Tablescape

May 15, 2012April 9, 2017 / Alycia Nichols / 68 Comments

My friend and caterer-to-die-for, Andre Harper, and his family recently hosted a multi-occasion party in honor of his parents. All within the span of about 10 days came Mother’s Day, both parents’ birthdays, AND Mr. & Mrs. Harper’s 60th wedding anniversary!!! THAT called for one heck of a celebration that took a whole team to execute. Everyone played a part in the area they know best, so I gladly took on the table decor. 🙂
(Click on any image to enhance/enlarge it.)

Andre’s thoughtful brother-in-law Dwayne, who is usually more comfortable in the company of a fishing pole than a bouquet of posies, bought roses for each of the ladies in attendance. What a sweet gesture! I wrapped each stem in lavender tissue and tied it with a length of silky ribbon. An attendant hired for the day presented a rose to each female guest as she emerged from the limousine that brought them to the party.

I sat down with the family to discuss the look they wanted. We kicked around a lot of ideas that at first involved a lavender overlay and tall florals. In the end, however, Andre’s description of his Mother’s affinity for “dainty” things kept gnawing at me.

After a lot of thought and a couple of sleepless nights, the original plan evolved into pure ivory linens all around to allow details to really shine. A color like lavender, although relatively demure, still commands a lot of attention and is therefore best presented in staccato doses when the goal is “dainty.”

We stuck with the original plan of white wood chairs with comfortable padded seats.

I wanted to capture the Mom’s affection for lavender – a beautiful color for a Mother’s Day celebration – and also lend a few details that would make the tablescape suitable for an anniversary and birthday party. (This table would also work well for a wedding reception or rehearsal dinner.) I chose lavender chargers from Michaels, topped with clear dinner and dessert plates from Bed Bath & Beyond. Using clear plates allowed the pleasing color of the charger against the ivory linens to show.

The detail of a napkin tucked inside a silver pew cone lent elegance and shine to the center of each plate. I used this same technique for my Mom’s birthday a couple of years ago with equally pretty results. (Click HERE and scroll down to the 3rd post, “Pretty In Pink”, if you’d like to see that.) Demure lavender tulips (inserted into a water pick to keep them fresh) were then slipped in to bring another touch of color to the place setting.

I used my silver heirloom flatware to add a bit of design to the tabletop.

Simple, unadorned stemware from Old Time Pottery looks extra showy when assembled in groups. (Note: I always, always, always hand-dry my glassware to make certain it is devoid of unsightly water spots. If you have a dishwasher that will assure the same results, by all means go for it! If you’re not sure, though, give your stemware a once over with a damp towel followed by a quick swipe with a dry one to remove any lingering water spots.)

The family wanted the parents’ place settings to stand out while leaving open seating for the other guests. I created place cards on the computer and placed them in pretty silver frames adorned with faux pearls and rhinestones. I also created two pretty nosegays tied and affixed to the parents’ chairs with organza ribbon.

With all the other pretty details on the table, I still wanted the florals to be the star. Lots and lots of florals!!! I used a mix of white and lavender cremons, lavender tulips, purple hydrangea, green Queen Anne’s lace, mums and filler flowers to create six unique but complementary bouquets. Scattered between the taller arrangements were floating lavender cremons. The family liked the idea of using faux silver floral vessels so that the ladies could all take a bouquet home with them. No muss, no fuss, and totally undetectable until you touch them! (Yes…those are acrylic vases and bowls!!!) They may sell acrylic floral vessels in stores like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. If not, check with your florist. I have used them for years when the occasion calls for take-home bouquets!!!

For a great idea on how to figure out proper spacing for your decorative elements, click HERE and scroll down to Tip #34!

Photos courtesy of the Harper family

Andre laid out quite a spread that besides tasty meats and vegetables included a seafood pasta salad that would send you into an immediate Happy Dance! 🙂 The beautifully decorated cake, emblazoned with yesteryear photos of the parents, brought lots of “Oohs!” and “Ahs!” from friends and family.

It takes a village to raise a child and a team to put on a party!!! Tired but happy to have pulled it off is Team Harper. Front row center: (attendant) Tatum Shelby. Back row: (daughter) Granee Harper Parker, me, (son-in-law/chivalrous guy) Dwayne Parker, (son/caterer extraordinaire who put on a spread that would make a grown man cry) Andre Harper, and Andre’s sweet girlfriend, Trina Collins.

Photo courtesy of the Harper Family

Congratulations and best wishes, Mr. and Mrs. Harper!!! You must be very proud of the loving and thoughtful children you have raised!

Andre and I have collaborated before to create a special dinner for our STL pal, Lauren. Click HERE or on the Fun Stuff tab above and scroll down to the 13th post, “Dinner With Friends“. His gumbo will put you in a trance!!!!!!! 🙂
Harper’s Catering, Kansas City, MO, 816-761-0959
harperscatering2000@kc.rr.com

For more wedding-related posts on this site, click on the “Wedding” tab above
or on these individual posts:
“Planning in Purple“
“Peonies & Pearls“
“Blushing Bridal Shower“
“Showered In Pink“
“Flirty Peach Skirt“
“Roses in October“
“Get Me To the Church On Time“

I am joining Cuisine Kathleen’s “Let’s Dish!” and Susan’s “Tablescape Thursday” again this week. I’m also on BeBetsy.com. You are invited to peek in on some of the world’s most talented tablescapers with me!