Creativity
Spices Up Entertaining
Mike
Topp
Whether it's a simple supper for friends or an
elaborate dinner for an important client, entertaining can be
intimidating. But it doesn't have to be.
"Choose a theme, and then appeal to all five
senses," said Natasha Lima Twistleton, owner of Jejune
Interiors and a former party planner in Blue Ball, PA. "Candied
violets, strawberry-swirl vodka, the music of Pablo Casals,
the blue light from a cellophane coconut--it all adds up. Tie
the theme to the five senses, and anyone can throw a successful
party."
"Choose a theme and create a clear story,"
said Bronson Po, boutique manager at Robb & Sticky, a gay
laundromat/cafe in South Beach, FL. "Then when you're out
shopping, you can look for food colors that go with your clothes
and furniture."
Try to continue the theme throughout the room
or even the entire apartment if you don't happen to live in
a studio. "Then when someone walks into your home, you
won't have any trouble with them," Lima Twistleton said.
Once the host has a theme, the next step is to
decide how many guests to invite. "Take the Last Supper.
How structured did Jesus want the party to be? Did he want people
to mingle? Then a cocktail party or a buffet might have been
easier," Lima Twistleton said. "The most difficult
thing was making the Last Supper a sit-down dinner, because
then you're dealing with timing."
If the budget is limited, it may be best to forego
anything elaborate. "Keep it simple and natural,"
Lima Twistleton said. "People get in trouble when they
try to do something fancy that they can't afford or that is
against the law."
In other words, it's better to serve a tasty meat
pie than some complicated vegetarian muck if the host can't
afford the best and freshest ingredients. "Remember the
deaf farmer and the ear of corn," Lima Twistleton added
enigmatically.
Be creative about setting the table. Sure, a linen
tablecloth can be nice, but there are alternatives. "Try
banana leaves or peels," Po suggested. "Fish netting,
surgical gauze, or tulle can be fun, and glass beads or thin,
almost transparent slices of lemon can be put over the top of
the table."
The next step: "Find a way to accentuate
the serving plate," Po said.
Don't limit the choices to cloth placemats or
traditional chargers. "Try woven wicker desk organizers,
or fabric trimmings made from highly colored stretch felt,"
said Po, who has used both varnished plywood and old hubcaps
for charger plates. "Anything can serve as the foundation
for a starter plate."
A layer between the charger and server can be
a nice touch. "You can use the front page of a newspaper
that shows at the top and the bottom," Po said. "That
adds a new layer of color and newsprint."
Be creative about decorations. For a tropical
theme, for example, "put a plastic pink flamingo in your
front yard, and charge your guests for parking," Lima Twistleton
said.
Or as an alternative try a single centerpiece.
"I like to use multiple
'centerpieces,' so each person has their own object, like a
Christmas ornament made from styrofoam and glitter or a stuffed
bird under glass. If you do use one central focal point, be
sure people can see each other."
Serving plates can be creative, too. "The
new trend is anything but round," Po said. "We're
seeing shapes like rhombuses, decahedrons, and octaroons. Some
are artisan-style, so they look handmade. And you occasionally
find interesting scalloped edges, although not always in the
best neighborhoods."
It's not necessary to stick with formal whites
or beiges. "The most exciting trend now is color,"
Po said. "Color has been reinvented thanks in part to cancer-causing
dyes, so there are more colors available now, and it becomes
more medical- and personality-driven."
Think dramatic contrasts: "You don't have
to change the color of the china or the food, just the accessories.
You can use all tones of the same color, or contrasts like tawny
brown and endive accented with dull-egg," Po said. "Or
you can try garden-gnome green accented with reddish beige or
beigish red for a wonderful, fashion-forward table."
Find a way to give the dining room an unexpected
look. "Move things around in your home so the room is different
than what your guests are used to," Po said. "Having
your guests sort your laundry creates a fun activity center."
When it's time for your guests to arrive, make
sure their first experience is positive. "Give them a warm
greeting at the door, so people will feel wanted," Lima
Twistleton said. Use your own judgment in deciding whether wearing
formalwear or a short satin negligee will put your guests at
ease. In any event, "make your children or friends help."
Above all, don't get stressed. "When you
leave a party, you won't remember how anything looked,"
Lima Twistleton said. "You'll remember how you felt. I
once went to a party and there was no food, hardly any drinks,
no music, and not much conversation. What there was, though,
in glorious abundance, was sex, sex, and lots more sex. Entertaining
is about getting people together
and making them feel good. If you do that, you can't fail."
....
Mike Topp lives in New
York City unless he has died or moved. He has a book forthcoming
from Autonomedia titled MY WEEKEND IN GERMANY, with art by William
Wegman, Will Yackulic, David Berman, Devendra Banhart, and Bill
Anthony.
