Pretty party? YES I CAN!

My husband and I are hosting Easter dinner (for our extended family of 26) at our house this year, and I tell you: The bar has been set. I believe it all began 40 years ago, when my incredibly charming grandmother, Mimi, would have our extended family over for a holiday meal. She spent a lifetime collecting Royal Doulton’s Old Country Rose patterned fine china, and you can bet her dinner table was always set flawlessly.

My sisters and I took note. Okay, who am I kidding? I was a tomboy and outside climbing the cherry tree and hitting target practice with my brother and my mom’s old Red Rider BB Gun. More importantly, my sisters took note, and eventually when my girl parts finally settled in and I married and had kids and became an internet geek and began entertaining guests and officially became feminine-ish (all pretty much in that order), I began to notice their attention to detail.

It started with plating. Heretofore, I would take my carefully prepared pasta and homemade sauce and roasted chicken and dump it in a bowl. Or slap it on a plate. Or two, even—depending on the amount of chicken and the forethought (or lack thereof) of grabbing a correctly-sized serving dish. Sure, there were placemats and mostly matched silverware.  But these days I truly shutter with mortification when I think of what little attention I paid to such things. It’s a miracle I cared enough to use clean dishes.

Mimi’s knack for table décor was passed on to my oldest sister, Denise, who sadly shrouds her mad table-setting skillz (yo) behind a work-a-day life as an ICU director (yawn) turned hospital administrator.  Knowing of her hidden talents and expertise, I think it’s a crying shame she followed some Florence Nightingale passion, giving up what could have been a lucrative career as a party decorator. (Kids parties, dog funerals, possibly the occasional bar mitzvah… the list is literally endless.) Talk about wasted talent: The woman can take a strip of burlap and a few ribbons and recreate the garden at giverny, right there down the center of any table. (Hello? Pretty parties helps people too, Denise. Whatever.)

Suffice it to say, my other sister, Joanna, has similar talents. And not only does her table always look beautiful and sophisticated, her food is downright gorgeous. And it doesn’t even have to be her food; Joey can put a store-bought roasted chicken on a plate and make you feel like you’re eating at a five star restaurant.

And then, THEN my brother had to go and marry this really awesome gal named Karen who apparently *also* had a hidden talent for event décor.  Walking into their home over the holidays? I made the mistake of looking for the escalator—I swear, that place was decked out to the Macy’s-at-Christmas nines, with just a hint of FAO Schwartz thrown in for good measure. Everything self-created, everything flawless and gorgeous. She swears she only bought a few things here and there, at garage sales and the dollar store and crafted the rest.

So you see what I’m contending with here. While I’m no longer the embarrassing slouch I was back in my 20s, it’s going to take a bit of creativity to run in the same entertaining-ranks as these women. Sure, I may have been a tomboy and grown into a baseball-loving, trash-talking internet geek, but that doesn’t mean all hope of my feminine success is lost. On the contrary: I have the power of Google on my side. (Keyword search: Easter table decorations.)

Here are a few ideas... Perhaps for your table as well?

Look at these pretty ladies! Simple, elegant, colorful. And talk about easy! Some tall glassware, a few simple stems and pebbles that can be found at craft stores, dollar stores--even in the fish aisle of the pet store

I love the antique look that silver can add to any place setting. And frankly, my mom has so many old pieces that have been handed down over time, I bet I can dig up a little something or two. Against white place settings? Instant elegance. And get a load of those cute jellybean-filled eggs! Whimsyyyyy. As for color, if being an internet geek has taught me anything, it's to love and appreciate an analogous color scheme.

Now imagine this cute flower in a springy color, and used as a napkin ring. It looks surprisingly easy to make following these instructions from V and Co, and by attaching a ponytail holder? Voila. I up my table's awesomeness factor by like 10 million. FACT.

My mind is churning. I'm going to come up with something nice-- I can do it. Now that I've stretched my imagination beyond tampon crafting, I can do anything.