How To Properly...
Set a Table
To set a table, you should first decide how many people you are having over and for what occasion. That will determine how many places you need to set at the table, and how you should prepare things. You should also begin by deciding whether or not you want to use a table cloth, or have the natural wood look of the table. Often holiday, seasonal, or colored table cloths can compliment your table. After you have decided on and applied (or not decided not to apply) a table cloth, you should next put out the plates.
The plates that you put out should depend on depend on what kind of courses you are serving, and the crowd and occasion for which you are entertaining. If you are serving a formal dinner, use formal plates, and different plates for salad, and main entr\u00e9e, etc. If you are serving for a kids birthday party, disposable plates are ideal.
Next, you should put down your silverware. Fork(s) should go on the right, then knife on the inside left, and spoon on the outside left. If you are serving salad, it is proper to have a salad fork and a regular fork.
After your silverware is in place, you will need to decide on napkins. You can get decorative disposable napkins in a variety of patterns, or you can buy cloth napkins and fold them into various shapes. The proper way to go with the napkins are to get cloth napkins, but if you're serving at home this can seem a little too fancy for some occasions. It can also be an annoyance to have to wash them, as where disposable napkins can just be thrown out.
Lastly, you should decide on decorations. Fresh flowers are always a nice decoration, but you have to make sure that they really are fresh, otherwise you can have petals and leaves falling onto the table and around the food, and you also don't want to attract bugs. For these reasons, fake flowers are a nice alternative. You can also consider other centerpieces, like fruit bowls, or candles. There are a variety of decorations that you can buy for seasonal events that will compliment your dishes or themes.
While considering setting the table, you should also be thinking about what you will be serving. You want to leave room for the dishes of food on the table, or decide if you want to have the dishes sitting on a counter, buffet, or elsewhere. Placing all of the food on the table can hinder the amount of space you have, and this can be detrimental to a party, because things are more likely to be spilled or knocked over. For smaller gatherings, it is usually better to have the food on the table, but for larger gatherings where everyone may not be sitting at the same table, it is generally better to have the food sitting elsewhere. Likewise, it is a good idea to have pitchers of water available on each table, so that guests have something to drink within reach at all times. With this said, you should still be a good host and offer other options, but this is just a polite and convenient way of providing further refreshment. Coffee is another good beverage to have handy at the table.
