photo via Amazon
Do you ever think when planning a party that you have it all together only to find out later that you ran out of plates and forks for cake? How can that happen? You purchased a Party Set of 350 pieces that included dinner and dessert plates, cups, knives, forks and spoons good for 50 guests! You should have plenty! Just like with everything we buy today, we have to read the fine print carefully and count and plan for each course. It is not uncommon for guests to take more than one plate- go to the buffet more than one time, and that can leave you short. But the cake plate is also the same size as the plates you might need for appetizers and if you put those plates and forks out for appetizers, now you don’t have enough for dessert and possibly dinner too of either forks or plates! There are so many products available that make DIY for your own party seem so very easy, why would you need the assistance of a planner or a caterer? The truth is we have probably experienced your pain in the past and can steer you from making the same mistakes, or we just have OCD and we count and recount to make sure we have sufficient supplies for every course! So a disposable party package for 50 of 350 pieces is still not enough, you may need to buy extra plates or cups or a whole second party set to make sure you have ample supplies!
photo via Amazon
Another great DIY invention is pre-rolled disposable knives/forks/spoons in the napkin with a colorful paper ring. I definitely recommend these to my clients. Have you ever tried to roll disposable cutlery in a paper napkin and tie them? They don’t always come out very well. The pre-rolled ones are perfection! But if you are not careful, there can be a lot of waste. Don’t just put out the whole roll as is. My helpful hint and tip is to pull out the spoon and set it aside. You can put all the spoons out together with dessert- with additional napkins. If you put the whole roll up set out at one time, the spoon will end up discarded. The spoons slide out easily and do not disrupt the integrity of the roll. No one will know that you have saved the spoon for later!
With cups, whether plastic or glass, people use more than one glass at an event. Typically, people will use at least 3 different cups at an event. One for a beverage when they arrive, one for a glass of water either with dinner or after dancing, and then another cup for a different beverage. Or a classic is you just pour yourself a beverage and you turn to talk to someone, put your cup down and walk away, and forget where you left it! Now you have to go and get another cup! So a good rule of thumb is at least 3 cups or glasses per person!
For napkins, you need some for cocktails and appetizers, a dinner napkin, and then another smaller napkin for cake and dessert. So twice the amount of smaller, cocktail napkins, one per person for dinner may be sufficient. With Forks, you may need some forks for appetizers, then forks for dinner and then forks for dessert! Do you see a pattern here? It is almost always 3 of each item just for one dinner party; unless you have very obedient guests and you tell them not to throw out their cups or their forks! It does not work well if you put out a garbage pail, then it is one and done for sure!
I have a whole series of helpful party tips and tricks you can find here that can help you when you are entertaining on your own. Do you have some great DIY tips and tricks you would like to share? Reach out and let me know, I would be happy to incorporate them and share with others for you so that we all can entertain with ease! A client recently requested this resource- of the prewrapped cutlery, so I thought it would be a good topic. Just because you like to do some things on your own, does not mean you can’t work with a caterer or a planner, we are there to lighten your load so that you have time to enjoy your guests and food and the reason you are all together in the first place.
Wishing you Joy every day, not just on special occasions.