Serving Strategy | Buffet or seated?
Save formal seated dining for Christmas or New Year’s Day celebrations.
Entertaining experts say Thanksgiving Day — with its comfort foods and football games — is tailor-made for an easygoing buffet.
This should be a laid-back holiday for hosts and guests, according to cookbook author Jorj Morgan.
“Today’s entertaining is more flexible and less formal,” says the author of “Fresh Traditions: Classic Dishes for a Contemporary Lifestyle” (Cumberland House). Look for her recipes and party tips at .
Morgan believes hosts can provide the best of both worlds for their Thanksgiving guests by offering a “seated buffet.” Here’s how: Set up the dinner table with the good china and silverware used for formal dining, then load up a kitchen island, sideboard or kitchen table with the food.
“Bring everybody together for the first course of maybe a Waldorf salad or pumpkin soup,” she says. “Then everybody can go help themselves to the platters on the buffet while the hostess is putting gravy bowls or cranberry relish on the table.”
Denver’s Kristin Hanson Boutique Catering considers the following issues before settling on buffet or seated service for a given event:
• Buffets work well for serving large groups of people.
• Buffets also can be less expensive because they do not require hired serving help.
• The traditional Thanksgiving meal tends to include casseroles, which work well on a buffet table. It’s hard to pass a heavy casserole dish.
• Seated service works best for smaller groups.
• Seated service is also well suited to smaller menus; there are fewer dishes to pass from person to person.
• Seated service is quicker and less cumbersome if there is more than one platter of each food item being passed. For example, three gravy boats, two platters of turkey, etc.
“A New Years Eve party is a more high-end formal event, where people want to get dressed up,” Hanson says. “But Thanksgiving doesn’t feel that way to me. It’s more about being comfortable and comforted with your favorite dishes, family and friends.”
Sheba R. Wheeler: 303-954-1283 or swheeler@denverpost.com.
Weekend Project | Design your centerpiece
Edible vase-less centerpiece
Hunter Margolf of Boulder’s Profusion Floral Design (, 303-579-4433) considers more than just one meal when he assembles edible, sustainable Thanksgiving tablescapes. “These arrangements are meant to be a feast for the stomach, as well as the eye,” he says. “Take advantage of these delicious foods when you are done with your arrangement either in soups or baked with butter and maple syrup.”
Materials
field harvest pumpkins
squash
gourds
artichokes
protea
sunflowers
ornamental cabbage
metal skewer
bamboo skewers
Directions
1. Arrange the larger squash and pumpkins on the bottom of your centerpiece.
2. Add smaller pumpkins and gourds on top of the base in a cascading effect by stringing them on a metal skewer and then securing them with bamboo skewers. The skewers are used only to hold the elements in place.
3. When you have achieved a pleasant shape for your centerpiece, you can start embellishing with the remaining materials. Use flowers to fill in the nooks and crannies between the edibles. Remember to add color in the darker spaces of the arrangement.
Shabby chic centerpiece
The Thanksgiving table is a special gathering place for family and friends. Deb Rodibaugh and Barb Andreakos of DecorArranging (, 720-922-8453) like to create a festive, welcoming scene by drawing on autumn colors and using whatever they already have on hand. “You can do as little or as much as your space allows.”
Materials:
Seasonal fruits and vegetables, including: red and green apples, grapes, pumpkins, squash, Indian corn, berries and nuts
Placemats
Chargers
Holiday linens and dishware
Candles
Cherished decorations
Directions
1. Begin with something you already own, such as a candle base or garland.
2. Arrange seasonal gourds and fruits in groupings across the table.
3. Vary the sizes and colors of the gourds.
4. Fall colors are earth tones, so they will work with any color of linens and dishes. Mixing and matching colors and patterns will add interest. Using stripes, floral patterns and plaids will add texture.
4. If you need to add height to any part of your arrangement, use a coffee mug or pieces of stemware topped with a napkin as a base.
These Thanksgiving table centerpiece ideas were provided by members of the Interior Redesign Industry Specialists ().
In Stores Now | Dishes
Whether it’s casual or formal, your Thanksgiving table is art. And you, dear host? You are the artist. The right dishware will frame your culinary creations and clue in your guests when the time comes for them to ooh and aah at the result of all your hard work. You might select a fabulous new set of dishes for the occasion, or one statement-making piece to set off your entire tablescape. Either way, a functional piece of dishware is far from a splurge, and right now home stores are stocked with a stylish and seasonal selection. Elana Ashanti Jefferson
