Decorating the Table for Easter Dinner
Easter is both a secular and religious holiday that correlates with the beginning of springtime. Some families and friends gather at the end of this holiday for an elaborate Easter dinner. Prepare for your own Easter dinner by decorating your table with symbols of the holiday, including delicate eggs, pastel prints and seasonal flowers. Include calming colors, such as pale pink, lavender, light yellow and mint green, in your candlelit scene for a peaceful evening meal. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- White dishes and serving bowls
- Pastel-colored linen napkins in stripes or polka-dots
- White tablecloth
- 5 to 10 pastel printed handkerchiefs
- Needle and thread or straight pins
- Iron (optional)
- 12 raw eggs
- Food coloring
- Candle wicks
- Scissors
- Candle wax
- Egg cups
- 9 glass bottles
- Ribbon
- Freshly cut flowers
- 2 miniature grapevine wreaths for each place setting
- Hot-glue gun and hot-glue sticks
- Ostrich eggs, one per guest
- Silver paint pen
- Miniature sprigs of fresh flowers
Instructions
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Select solid-white plates, saucers, bowls and serving dishes so the decorations are the main attractions. Add a striped or polka-dotted napkin in a pale pink, yellow, blue or green beneath each set of silverware for a splash of color and texture. Provide a plain, clear glass goblet for each person, as well as a white coffee cup and saucer.
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Use a solid-white tablecloth to cover the table. Line the handkerchiefs end to end along the center of the tablecloth for the table runner, allowing a handkerchief to overhang on the ends of the table. Flip the handkerchiefs over and sew along the connecting sides or use straight pins for a temporary fix. Return right-side-up and iron if necessary to remove any wrinkles.
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Blow the egg yolk out of the eggs, and use food coloring to dye the egg shells after you have rinsed them thoroughly with water. Remove the top third of the egg shells and insert a candle wick so it stands to the top of the egg. Pour melted candle wax around the wick, and let cool before lighting your candles. Set the egg candles in egg cups and place along the table runner.
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Make a floral centerpiece for your table by gathering nine glass bottles that are the same height and width, such as old milk bottles or Mason jars. Arrange in a grid pattern or in an asymmetrical shape. and wrap ribbon around the exterior of all the bottles. Add water to the bottles, and stick one or two blooms in each jar, such as calla lilies, wildflowers, lilacs, hydrangea, daisies, daffodils or tulips, staggering the heights or keeping them uniform in height.
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Hot-glue two miniature grapevine wreaths together to form a wreath. Write the name of each guest using a silver paint pen on each of the ostrich eggs and place in the nest for a place card. Add sprigs of miniature spring flowers around the egg.
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Tips & Warnings
Add a bow to the centerpiece or keep the lines of the ribbon simple by using a straight pin to hold the ends in place. You could add layers of ribbon over the top of each other, or place several pieces of ribbon over the bottles so that very little of the bottles are peaking through.
Give the ostrich eggs to your guests raw so they can take them home for a nice treat; you can find these at grocery stores during the spring.
Do not set the raw ostrich eggs out for the place cards until just before time to serve dinner, and collect and store the eggs in the refrigerator until it is time for guests to leave.
References
- Epicurious: Fresh and Colorful Easter Table Settings -- Modern Meal
- Country Living; Buy It or DIY for Less -- DIY Table Runner; Erica Sanderson
- "Martha Stewart Living"; Eggshell Votives; Apr 97
- Country Living: Spring Craft Ideas -- DIY Vase
- Celebrations; Mindy Kobrin; Easter Table Decoration -- Eggs in a Nest Place Cards
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
