Polished Holiday Tablescapes: Creative napkins and shining silver

Polished tablescape features fancy china, shiny silver and creatively folded napkins,

This weekend, we're adding polish to our tablescape with fancy china, shiny silver and, for a touch of charm and whimsy, creatively folded napkins in shapes of roses and bunnies.

Whether you're celebrating Easter, Passover or just welcoming Spring this weekend, a festive tablescape is an added delight for your guests -  whether you're hosting a houseful of family or an intimate afternoon tea with friends. 

Napkins can be folded in many shapes, including roses.

We combined a bit of "spring cleaning" with our dining tableau planning, bringing out the silver and giving it a good polish that even Downton Abbey's head butler, Carson, would give a gloved thumb's up to. We spiffed up the silver tea set as well as the antique egg cups.  (My husband, Chris, purchased the latter for my mother-in-law over forty years ago when he and his buddy cycled through England one summer - so the cups hold not only marble eggs, but many great feels, too.)

Spring cleaning had us polishing our silver, including these antique egg cups

But, this year, the napkins are doing double duty:  well-mannered clean-up service as well as decorative delightfulness.  We searched the internet for napkin folding guides to create tablescape flora and fauna and found our muses in linen rabbits and roses. 

There are a few varieties in design and recommend material (cloth vs paper), but, overall, the folds are similar. The outcomes, however, can vary, and in our case, do require a bit of practice.

If you do a "google search", you'll find plenty of great sources for step-by-step instructions of napkin creations. But, for a quick-and-basic guide to bunnies and roses - and to show what's in store for this mission possible, should you decide to take it - we provide the following photos.

Napkin bunny:

1. Fold over napkin

2. Fold again

3. Fold over in "shawl" shape

3. Bring bottom corners up

5. Bend back top of "kite"

4. Fold in "kite" shape

6. Almost done! Tuck in and tie up

Napkin rose:

1. Fold over in triangle shape

2. Roll up, leave space at top

3. Roll "roll", leave small tail

4. Tuck tail in

5. Pull out ends to create petals

6. Turn over and fluff petals

You may have noticed, we used our favorite pastel yellow napkins, embroidered with sunflowers (made for Rachel's bridal shower by Honeywood Embroidery).  Guests get an added decorative bonus once they unravel their bunny or rose. 

Whether you're filling your baskets with chocolate bunnies or fresh flowers this weekend, bring some polish to your tablescapes with some shining serving pieces and double-duty decorative napkins.

Happy Festive Weekend to All from Barb's Tea Service!