How to Set a Table With a Nature Theme

A beautiful table should set the theme for the gathering that you've planned. A nature-themed table can be elegant or traditional, but it will always evoke warmth and a relaxing atmosphere. Using things from the outdoors can set as formal or laid back a mood as you desire. It's all in the kind of foraging you do.

Things You'll Need

• Tablecloth
• Natural items that match your theme
• Autumn leaves
• Shells, sand
• Candles
• Burlap, twine, leather thong
• Handmade baskets

Instructions

1. Choose a theme. If you want a beach theme, start with a tablecloth the color of the sea or the sand. An autumn theme may have a deep gold or red, rust or brown tone. Use a color found in nature. Something the color of earth, sand, sky or leaves would work well. Avoid patterns that are not very muted as they will take away from your decorating. Also, don't use colors that will overpower such as black, stark white or anything loud.

2. Create a centerpiece out of anything. Large shells can hold blue green tea candles set into sand, a glass bowl can be lined with fall colored leaves and pine cones and hold candles. Tie a small bundle of twigs and wildflowers with a piece of burlap and twine or leather thong and lay it on a bed of pine straw or leaves on a small plate with tea candles. Float candles in a bowl of tinted water or put a few tall and short pillar candles on a mirror with a little sand or twigs around it.

3. Use half peels of oranges, grapefruits and lemons and limes (cut there the long way) with the bottoms on your table. Fill them with sand, small colored stones, glass stones and a small candle to look and smell lovely. Decorate the table with collage of broccoli florets, carrot curls, colored pepper sticks and green olives in a couple of acorn squash halves hollowed out and cut flat across the bottom. Add a few small orange cups of ranch dressing and toothpicks and make your centerpiece edible.

4. Choose wildflowers for summer, leaves for fall, lush greens for spring and evergreens and ice sculptures for winter. Make an ice sculpture by spraying any kind of dish or pan with cooking spray and pouring in water colored lightly with blue food coloring. Turn the ice upside down or a plate covered with a white dish cloth and it will slide out nicely in a few moments. You can also freeze some evergreen pieces into the ice for a nice touch of color.

5. Lace up linen napkins loosely with raffia, leather thong material or a piece of twine knotted around a small straight twig. Add a small wildflower or seashell to the knot for some color. Make place cards from pieces of bark decorated with simple lettering and brown or blue fine line marker. Set these in a bit of sand inside a small bowl for a beach theme or make a thin slit in a small piece of a brand and set them inside. If you don't have bark that is thin enough to use, use paper that you burn the edges of and then wrinkle and flatten out to make it look old and weather worn.

6. Tie your food into your theme. Hearty stews and thick steaks go well with an autumn theme while baked fish and salads and fruity drinks work well with a beach mood. Choose quiche, fruit salad and homemade banana bread to complement a summertime theme and a ragout or hearty gumbo for a winter bash. Think about what you like to eat when it's cold out or hot or when you're going on a hayride -- all those things that go with each season for ideas for food and decorations. Look up party411 in the URL resources area below for more great party ideas.

Tips & Warnings

• Add just a little blue food coloring to your ice sculptures so it will look like ice. You can float these sculptures in a bowl of a clear punch or soft drink and use it to cool the drinks.

• Don't put out fresh flowers or greenery until the last minute. Make sure everything else is done so that they will look fresh when your guests come.

Resources