Hot Table Preparation How-Tos
How To: Box a tablecloth for catered events
Boxing a table doesn't mean getting into the ring, but it does require a certain degree of skill to successfully complete. Boxing the tablecloth is a great technique for any occasion or party, and every caterer should know these moves.
How To: Stuff balloons inside of balloons for party decor
An interesting party decor idea is to place balloons inside other balloons. This can be accomplished easily by first inflating a large balloon. Using a small stick, push a second, smaller balloon inside the larger one and then inflate the smaller balloon while it is inside the larger one. You can then tie up the second balloon, leaving the smaller one inside the large balloon. This can be repeated with multiple small balloons, so your balloons will have a unique and interesting look. This tut...
How To: Fold a cloth napkin into the shape of a woman's bra
In this clip, the Napkin Lady shows you how to take an ordinary cloth dinner napkin and fold it into the shape of a brassiere. This clip is quick and easy and you will have everyone at the table laughing in just a few simple steps. This bra napkin design is also great for bachelorette parties, showers and anywhere else where you need a little lighthearted napkin folding!
How To: Make a sphinx napkin fold
Watch a simple video that shows you how to make a sphinx napkin fold. Interestingly, it looks more like an Egyptian pyramid than the Sphynx! This classic yet stately place setting is sure to add life to any table. Make a sphinx napkin fold.
How To: Fold cloth napkins into silverware holders
In this tutorial, we learn how to fold cloth napkins into silverware holders. First, grab a dinner napkin and take the end to fold it in half. Now, fold it in half again so you have a small square. Now, fold the corner down half way and fold it down again. Then, flip it over and repeat this. Then, fold the top over and flip it over again. After this, place your silverware inside of the napkin and you will be ready to set your table! This takes just a few minutes and makes the look of any dinn...
How To: Pour wine and champagne to their proper levels
The art drink pouring is something every bartender has mastered. But bartenders aren't the only ones required to have that perfect pouring touch. Caterers, waiters and waitresses need to know the precision of the pour when it comes time for refills. Check this video out to learn the proper levels for pouring champagne, red wine and white wine into their respective glassware.
How To: Fold napkin roll-ups with silverware inside
Folding napkins takes precision, but a simple napkin rollup is the easiest of them all. You don't need to be a professional caterer or waiter to get this method down. Watch and learn how to make a nice, snug, rolled napkin with silverware inside. It's the most common way to present silverware at restaurants.
How To: Set the buffet table at your dinner party
Clinton Kelly, the lifestyle expert, shows the right way to ‘Set your Buffet Table’ for a buffet party, in this video. He suggests that all the serving dishes and utensils are laid on the buffet table, the night before the party. This will throw some light and give ideas as to how to place the dishes on the table. You could place the plates on one side of the table, the food at the center and the napkins to the other side. You should also decide the heights of the various serving platters, co...
How To: Set a table properly
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to set a table. Begin by putting the plate in the middle. Put a smaller plate for the bread to the upper left side of the plate. Then you can choose to put the napkin beside the forks or on the plate. Forks will be set on the left side. The knife and spoon go on the right side. Put the butter knife on the bread plate at an angle. The desert utensil goes above the plate. The cup goes above the knife. This video will benefit those viewers who are prepar...
How To: Keep ants off your picnic table
Don't let ants ruin your next outdoor outing. Picnics are a wonderful way to share yummy food in the great outdoors. Ants think so too! You can keep pesky ants away with just a few simple actions.
How To: Fold napkins into pyramid shapes
Turn your dining room table into the eighth wonder of the world by shaping your napkins into pyramids. Learn the art of napkin folding, perfect for entertaining guests!
How To: Make decorative napkin rings from shower curtain rings
The beauty of home crafting projects is in transforming old junk into something you can use. Host Heather's how-to video shows how to make quick and easy napkin rings to add a little bit of flair to the table. You will need plastic shower curtain rings, clippers, ribbon, rhinestones or any other embellishments, and a hot glue gun. Find out how to make quick and easy napkin rings from old plastic shower curtain rings by watching this video tutorial.
How To: Set the table for Christmas dinner
Learn how to set the table for Christmas dinner in this free series of holiday etiquette videos from our catering expert.
How To: Make an elegant napkin fold
Having a dinner party or just want to impress a date? Use this video to show your good manners and find out how to properly set the table and fold a paper napkin.
How To: Fold an origami napkin swan for a lavish dinner presentation
Nothing decorates a dinner table better than a napkin swan. It's cute and it makes dinnertime feel like a celebratory event. So, if you want to learn how to make a napkin swan, just follow the folding instructions in the video. Follow along and see what your napkin swan looks like!
How To: Make a napkin swan (or napkin peacock)
Need a lavish way to present you napkins at your next big dinner feast? May we suggest napkin swans? Folding a mere dinner napkin into a beautiful swan )or peacock) can take you just minutes, and completes and dinner table. The idea behind the fold is to shape it so that one end looks like a long, languorous tail-feathers of a peacock, but it could look like a swan, too.
How To: Create a retro mod tablescape for the holiday season
Whether you're going for a Mad Men theme this holiday season, or just like the retro mod look, this tutorial is for you. Create a tablescape that looks like it came straight out of the Sixties using these tips and hints.
How To: Fold a napkin into a beautiful fan for parties
Napkins can either be dull sheets of fabric or paper that you wipe your extraneous pot roast red sauce on or fantastical works of art that put the finishing touch on your table decor.
How To: Decorate on a budget for a farmhouse brunch
The wonderful thing about a "farmhouse brunch" theme is that most of the materials you'll need to decorate are natural and quite affordable. From sprigs of flowers to brown string to burlap, you probably already have most of the things you need lying around the house.
How To: Make a seaside inspired floral centerpiece with flowers
It doesn't have to be the middle of summer for you to craft a seaside-inspired centerpiece. Whether you live on the coast or closer to the Grand Canyon and lots of cactii than anything else, you can bring a piece of the sea home by making this craft.
How To: Create a beautiful holiday centerpiece with candles and ornaments
The holidays are upon us, guys and gals, which means it's time to start thinking about how you'll set your table to look inviting and beautiful for the festive season. While you can always go out and purchase a wilting pre-made floral centerpiece at your nearest supermarket, you yourself can often make a much better looking centerpiece at home.
How To: Transform a plain white table into a fab table for entertaining
An all-white tabletop is timelessly elegant, but sometimes the safe choice becomes the dull one. If you want to entertain with style, why not consider adding some fun color to your table decor?
How To: Make upcycled table settings and set the table for entertaining
Love entertaining but don't want to shell out a fortune to throw a good party? Then you're in luck. Check out this video to learn how to make a variety of cheap and chic table settings, from colorful wine glasses to monogrammed napkins, quickly and easily.
How To: Make upcycled monogrammed napkins with Evette Rios
The holiday season is now in full swing, which means you should be prepared for serving large crowds and dressing your house to the nines for the occasion. While you may think this would cost you a lot of money, it actually doesn't take much to throw a fun party.
How To: Make a DIY hot air balloon table centerpiece
Party centerpieces are something of a lost art, but this video will show you how to make a really original one quickly and easily. It looks like a hot air balloon, and requires only a basket, a balloon, some ribbon, and flowers.
How To: Set a table for a dinner party
In this tutorial, we learn how to set a table for a dinner party. On the left side of the plate should be your forks. First will be the tiny fork, then salad fork, then dinner fork. On the right side will be spoons. The soup spoon, dinner spoon, and knife. At the top should be a coffee spoon and a dessert fork. There should be three glasses, a water glass, a wine glass, and a red wine glass. For the plate, you will have a round dinner plate, salad plate, then votive candle on top. Underneath ...
How To: French serve a catered dinner as a waiter or waitress
Are you a caterer? Maybe you're a new caterer recently employed as a waiter to help serve a huge dinner party… a dinner party requiring French service. Sounds simple, right? You go around and serve people food. But there's more to it than that. There's a whole technique to French serving, and this video will show how to French serve the right way, from proper foot placement, to bending your back correctly, to serving the food off the plate.
How To: Identify different types of dinner glassware
Don't know much about the dinner table? You know the basics: you eat from a plate, you use silverware to shovel it in and you drink from glassware. But what about if you're at a fancy dinner? Would you be able to distinguish a juice cup from a champagne glass? A white wine glass from a martini glass? If not, these two videos will show you which ones are which.
How To: Chill drinks quickly at a party using ice and salt
In the midst of all your party planning it's easy to forget the little things, such as purchasing napkins for your guests or even remembering to cool your sodas and tonic waters before the event starts.
How To: Set the dinner table properly with glass & silverware
A great dinner party is great because of presentation, and you know that everything has its place on the table, but where exactly does everything go? Learn about the placement of everything, from silverware to glassware.
How To: Fold napkins beautifully for Thanksgiving
If you've found yourself visiting a few too many fast food restaurants, you've probably forgotten the beauty that napkins can amount to when given the proper fold and tuck.
How To: Fold a cloth napkin into a flower
In this Hosting & Entertaining video tutorial you will learn how to fold a cloth napkin into a flower. First fold the napkin in half. Then lift one corner and fold it back up to the center fold line and do the same for the other corner also. Now fold the center point back up to the center fold line. Flip the napkin over and repeat these steps. Then open up the center fold and fold the protruding triangles back up to the center point of the napkin. You now have a square folded napkin. . Now fo...
How To: Make buffets easy and quick
Hosting parties can be a bit of a drag, especially if you have no idea how to throw one. So in this tutorial, you'll find out how to throw one, by forming an easy and quick buffet that everyone will love. The video gives you some helpful tips for making buffets much easier and quick to prepare. So sit back and good luck!
How To: Fold a pleated fan napkin
If you’re in need of a fancy napkin setting then try this pleated standing fan design. It only takes seconds to make. Start by folding on inch folds back and forth. Then fold the pleating in half, flip the mess over and let it spread out naturally. You’ll need cloth napkins and it often helps to have starched napkins when doing decorative folds. This will really dress up that dinner table.
How To: Fold a dinner napkin like a candle
Paper napkins add an element of class to any restaurant or dinner party. In this video, learn how to fold your party napkins into a cool candle shape in less than 60 seconds. Your napkins will be so nice that no one will want to unfold them! So, follow this tutorial and set your next dinner table like a fine dining restaurant and class up the joint!
How To: Remember what sides of the plate cutlery goes on
Rebecca Robeson shows you how to remember which side of the plate to put the fork, knife and spoon. To set a table the correct way, follow these steps: The word 'fork' has four letters, as does the word 'left'. So, the fork goes on the left. The word 'knife' has five letters, as does the word 'right'. So, the knife goes on the right. The word 'spoon' also has fiver letters, so it goes alongside the knife. Remember that the safe side of the knife, the dull side, faces out to anyone sitting nex...
How To: Make a floral Birthday "cake" table centerpiece
This video describes how to make a "no calorie" birthday cake centerpiece with carnations in soft and sweet hues of pink, yellow, white and cantaloupe. first a flower foam was taken. Then the toothpicks were used to join the flower foam together. Then trace out a circle from the foam using a kitchen knife. Add some water to the base of the cake. With equal size flowers decorate the base of the cake. Then the cake is beautifully covered with different types of flowers. decorate with as many fl...
How To: Make Santa suit candle votives for Christmas decor
Debra Hardy provides detailed instructions on how to make darling decorative Santa soy votive candles in this video. She first cuts the red felt into 6 3/4 inch by 2 inch strips for the Santa suit, wraps it around and adheres it to the bottom of the glass votive. Next, she secures a smaller strip of the white faux fur on top of the red felt also towards the bottom of the candle to create the bottom of Santa's jacket. Debra then instructs the viewer to cut a 6 3/4 inch by 1/4 inch black felt s...
How To: Arrange casual and formal place settings
Lifestyle expert Clinton Kelly shares tips for setting the table for a dinner party, either casual or more formal. For a casual dinner party he recommends using only a water glass and a non-specific wine glass. The plate goes in the center with a napkin in a ring placed on top of the plate. Two knives are placed to the right of the plate and two forks to the left.
How To: Arrange centerpieces with candles and fresh ingre
Lifestyle expert Clinton Kelly takes the hassle out of centerpiece designing.
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