We are all so busy these days that meals are eaten on the run and no memory of the meal remains. I am as guilty of that as any busy person, but a couple of times a week - whether I am on my own or with friends - I set my table for an everyday meal as though it were something really special. I might use plates I haven't used for a while or dust off some glassware and I almost always have a good wine.
I was looking around for good diagrams and information about setting tables and I am unashamedly cannibalizing from the Emily Post Institute which seemed to be the shortest version). This tablesetting is for daily use - later I will go into more formal tablesettings and settings that deviate from any kind of plan like this one. And the whole thing of the thumbs (read below) is really a bit much. But after all, great artists - and we all have great artists within us - must learn to draw before they can paint. So have fun and add some of your own personality to the following. If you want one, a basic diagram is pictured above.
Etiquette Everyday ~ Entertaining
Table Setting Guide: Basic Place Setting
For a basic table setting, here are two great tricks to help you – or your kids – remember the order of plates and utensils:
Picture the word “FORKS.” The order, left to right is: F for Fork, O for Plate (the shape!), K for Knives and S for Spoons. (Okay – you have to forget the r, but you get the idea!)
Holding your hands in front of you, touch the tips of your thumbs to the tips of your forefinergers to make a lower case ‘b’ with your left hand and a lower case ‘d’ with your right hand. This reminds you that ‘bread and butter’ go to the left of the place setting and ‘drinks’ go on the right. Emily Post could have used that trick – she was often confused about which bread and butter belonged to her—and sometimes she used her neighbor’s! In which case, when it was called to her attention, she would say to the dismayed lady or gentleman, “Oh, I am always mixing them up. Here, please take mine!”
Some other things to know:
Knife blades always face the plate
The napkin goes to the left of the fork, or on the plate
The bread and butter plate and knife are optional
Have fun with this -- make it a game with your family when you're setting the table for dinner, whenever you all have dinner together again, of course!!!
I was looking around for good diagrams and information about setting tables and I am unashamedly cannibalizing from the Emily Post Institute which seemed to be the shortest version). This tablesetting is for daily use - later I will go into more formal tablesettings and settings that deviate from any kind of plan like this one. And the whole thing of the thumbs (read below) is really a bit much. But after all, great artists - and we all have great artists within us - must learn to draw before they can paint. So have fun and add some of your own personality to the following. If you want one, a basic diagram is pictured above.
Etiquette Everyday ~ Entertaining
Table Setting Guide: Basic Place Setting
For a basic table setting, here are two great tricks to help you – or your kids – remember the order of plates and utensils:
Picture the word “FORKS.” The order, left to right is: F for Fork, O for Plate (the shape!), K for Knives and S for Spoons. (Okay – you have to forget the r, but you get the idea!)
Holding your hands in front of you, touch the tips of your thumbs to the tips of your forefinergers to make a lower case ‘b’ with your left hand and a lower case ‘d’ with your right hand. This reminds you that ‘bread and butter’ go to the left of the place setting and ‘drinks’ go on the right. Emily Post could have used that trick – she was often confused about which bread and butter belonged to her—and sometimes she used her neighbor’s! In which case, when it was called to her attention, she would say to the dismayed lady or gentleman, “Oh, I am always mixing them up. Here, please take mine!”
Some other things to know:
Knife blades always face the plate
The napkin goes to the left of the fork, or on the plate
The bread and butter plate and knife are optional
Have fun with this -- make it a game with your family when you're setting the table for dinner, whenever you all have dinner together again, of course!!!
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