Seafood Dinner Party with Vintage Fish Dinner Service

May 04, 2019 in Adult's Parties, dining table, Dinner Parties, free printable

For a number of years I have collected vintage fish shaped ceramics, these include dinner sets from Shorter and Sons England to some lovely Australian pieces from Wembley Ware and Darbyshire. These are all vintage pieces from 1950s or earlier and on a crazy whim I decided to see what would happen if I had a seafood dinner party using my vintage fish collection.

And it actually worked, enjoy Julie.

The table held vintage fish shaped vases with colourful bouquets of flowers, vintage fish plates, salt and pepper shakers and more. Keeping with the vintage theme we included vintage crystal glasses and decanters.

The pieces used have been collected over a number of years through various trips to antique fairs and markets and the occasional on-line purchase.

I created the menu incorporating my fish display cabinet , the menu is available as a free download . Vintage Crystal and decanters were used for this party and a Shorter and Sons Fish Gravy boat with matching pate.

This has to be the brightest and most unusual dinner party table I’ve created. It is always fun to experiment with vintage pieces and see what you can create.

Seafood dinner party with vintage Shorter and Sons fish plates

Shorter and Sons fish plates come in a range of colours from the most common cream with green gills and fins through plates in hues of greens, blues and pinks.. This party included matching name places and paper napkin rings, both are available as a free download.

Jim Beam fish decanters completed the look with another large green fish vase and small Wembley Ware fish vases.

Jim Beam Fish Decanters - Seafood Dinner Party

Fish vases allow for great displays of colour.

The Menu

The menu included four courses and ending with coffee and petit fours. Dishes were simple to prepare so more time could be spent with guests

We served two canapes, the first was a simple prawn with avacado and mayo on toasted pina di casa, this was served on a very large shorter and sons fish plater. The second was natural oysters served on a shorter and sons oyster plate rwith matching salt shaker.

Seafood Canapes on Shorter and Sons Platter

Shorter and Sons Oyster Plate with Salt Shaker

The next course was a seafood chowder, this was served in a shorter and sons soup tureen with matching lid (Not shown)

Seafood Chowder served in Shorter and Sons Tureen

Our main course was spaghetti Marinara with garlic bread, this dish looked great on the fish plates.

Spaghetti Marinara served on Shorter and Sons Fist Plate

We finished with a raspberry souffle with a hidden chocolate truffle, served in a souffle dish on a smaller shorter and sons plate. We finished with coffee and a selection of petit fours.

Raspberry Souffle served on a Shorter and Sons Fish Plate

Seafood Dinner Party Games

During the night we played a few rounds of “Guess Who or Guess What” based on different seafood dishes or sea life. We placed cards in card holders wrapped in black velvet. These cards are available as a free download.

A set of printable products were created to compliment this party, they include napkin rings, blank name tents and blank cards. Three sets of Dinner party “Guess Who” games are also available as a free download Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3.

We hoped you enjoyed our seafood dinner party.

Cheers Julie

Australia Day Celebrations

January 20, 2014 in Australia Day, dining table

With Australia Day just around the corner we have created some ideas for Table Styling, Menu's and Children's Games. I'm finding that with each passing year our supermarkets are producing some great Australian themed products that really allow you to set the scene for a great Australia Day party.

This year I've found all the styling items (except the toothpicks) from Woolworths, this has been great as I normally travel around a number of shops before I find everything I need. Well done Woolworths!

I've had a lot of fun styling this table and experimenting with different ways to use products. During this post we'll detail how the look was created so you can easily do it at home. Tomorrow we'll be posting our free Australia Day Childrens Game download which I'm sure will keep your children busy on Australia day.

And whatever you get up to on Sunday, have a fantastic Australia Day.

Enjoy.

For the menu I've settled on some Aussie classics of Hamburgers, Lime Prawn Skewers and Potato Wedges accompanied by tomato sauce, BBQ sauce and aioli.

To finish the meal we have made a resplendent Mango and Passionfruit Pavlova and layered Jelly cups.

Complete with your favourite Australian Wines and Beers.

To create the Dining and Serving tables I've used the following techniques:

Plastic table cloths have been covered with Australian flags.
Plate setting have been created by placing Australia day plastic plates over a basic white plate, then folding a flag as a final layer.
I've used two styles of napkins, the first was mostly white and has been folded to show the Australian flag, this has been used on the dining table. The second napkin design was navy blue and has been used to create a cone to serve the Potato wedges. be sure to use a sturdy paper on the inside of the napkin when forming the cone.
A large Australian flag has been used as a backdrop for the serving table and smaller flags, sold as car flags have been attached to the dinning chairs.
Plastic cups with the Australian flag have been used for Jelly Cups.
Final touches include bumper stickers over wine bottle labels and Australian stubby holders for the beer.
Small Australian flag toothpicks have been used to highlight the Pavlova, Jelly Cups and Hamburgers.

Tip: The Australian flags will require a good iron to look flat.

You will find the recipe for our Mango and Passionfruit Pavlova on our Dessert page.

Layered Jelly cups are always a hit.

Australia Day Menu with Burgers, Potato Wedges, Prawn and lime Skewers, Pavlova and Jelly..

Please join us tomorrow for our Free Australia Day Children's games.

Christmas Table - Chic Blue and Silver Design

December 02, 2013 in christmas, dining table

With so many choices, deciding how to style your Christmas Table can be quite daunting. Normally I've used traditional colours of Red, Gold and Green. This year however I've decided to adopt a more modern crisp blue and silver palate. I hope you will agree that this combination "just works" and I hope it will offer some cooling relief for what is often a hot Melbourne Christmas.

To celebrate the occasion, we've created a range of printable products for the table which will soon be available in our shop.

Items to watch for:

Home made Christmas Crackers are always a hit. We have posted a tutorial detailing just how easy it is to make your own Christmas Crackers.
I just love the bauble wine glass arrangements. we've used acrylic paint to personalise the baubles for each guest.
Starting with the colour palate, we've added lot's of different shapes and textures to the dinning table centrepiece.
Use hanging snow flakes as wine glass and decanter coasters.
Decorate a Candle holder with star decorations to transform it for a christmas.

Christmas Wine Glass with personalised bauble.

Dress a Candle holder with Christmas Cheer

It was a real joy to style this years Christmas table, I'm now really looking forward to Christmas Day.

Vendor Credits:

Vue - Blue Laquer Chargers (available at Myer on-line)
Myer - Assorted Christmas decorations including silver tree, large deers, large baubles garlands and smaller table decorations.
Riot Art- Mesh Baubles, acrylic paint
Chic Party Ideas - Printables

Our Blog

Subscribe

Archives