LAYING THE TABLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21112, 20 February 1932, Page 6 (Supplement)

LAYING THE TABLE.

INTRODUCE VARIETY. FOLDING TABLE NAPKINS. Do you always lead your guests to a table laid in the same old way, or do you try to introduce variety into the decorations and appointments so that your friends compliment you on your initiative ? No hostess worthy of the name would knowingly give her guests the same menu time after time, yet unlilushingly they are led in to dinner, winter or summer, to a table laid exactly as before. There is a bowl of flowers in the centre arranged more or less in the same manner; the table napkins are laid down at exactly the same angle; there are the same number of courses to the meal, so the cutlery appears as before; in fact, the whole proceeding shrieks of lack of initiative. Flowers on a table are always attractive, but why not vary the decoration by having one large and two small cutglass vases, placed at intervals down the centre of the table? These vases are comparatively cheap, and can be arranged in so many way 3 Then try a centre-piece of fruit. Oranges, rosy apples, and bananas, topped with a bunch of black grapes, give an elegant appearance to the table. If

the table is largo you could put a vase of flowers—just a couple of exquisite blooms, with a little fern—each side of the fruit, or at two corners. Another time, try having a bowl 'of flowers in the centre, with a dish of fruit one side, and a corresponding dish on the other side containing nuts. Then try folding the table napkins in various shapes. The water-lily is one of the prettiest. May I tell you how to do it ? Fold the four corners of the napkin to the centre, repeating this three times, then turn the whole thing over and fold the four corners to the centre. Place a tumbler firmly in the centre, and, while holding it with one hand, pull the leaves out one by one from underneath, until the lily is formed. If you do not possess silver toast racks, place one of these lilies at the corner of the table, filled with toast, which is cut so thin that it curls round. And, finally, don't forget to make a note of which decoration you choose for your various guests at your little dinner parties, so that you can take your friends in to dinner confident that you can never be accused of lacking initiative.