Holiday table decor for free

from the front

overhead view

This is something that I try to do when setting the table for a holiday dinner. The "work" takes about 10 minutes for 6-8 places at the table, it costs absolutely nothing, it adds decor to the table which frees me from having to do much else for appearance, can be done ahead, it's fun to do, and it wows my family every time. My mom started me on this when I was a kid, so given a simple enough pattern, this is something that elementary school-aged and older kids could do to 1) keep them entertained while mom, dad, friends are busy in the kitchen, and 2) give them something to do to contribute to the holiday meal.

Holiday napkin folds

You can fold paper or cloth napkins. Paper holds creases better than cloth, but either work. I'll post a couple of these between now and New Year's. Some are easier than others. I think the most impressive napkin folds are the ones that stand up on their own. But there are some elaborate-looking ones that are super simple to do, as well.

This is the holiday fan. This one also resembles a turkey, so I made these for Thanksgiving dinner. It is basically an accordion-pleated napkin.

square napkin

fold in half

accordion pleat, about 1" pleats

leave about 3 inches unpleated

fold the pleated napkin in half, with the non-pleated section
 sandwiched in-between the pleated sections

fold the non-pleated section in half, on the diagonal

tuck the triangle of the non-pleated section into the
accordion pleats on the back side

Voila, 1 holiday fan (or turkey)

Hi there!

I hope you all had a great weekend! We celebrated a birthday last night at our house. I baked a cake and frosted it with cocoa buttercream frosting. I have to tell you about the cocoa powder that I used.

Has anyone here tried Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder? This was by far the best cocoa powder that I have ever used. Cook's Illustrated ranked it highly, recently.

This is not the regular Hershey's cocoa powder. It has a very intense chocolatey taste, and is very dark in color. I used less of this cocoa powder than I would normally use of Winco's baking cocoa or Trader Joe's cocoa powder, and the flavor was richer. I was very pleased. And do you know what? My daughter bought this cocoa powder for something she was making, and she said that it was on sale, at the same price as the regular Hershey's cocoa. I believe that, regularly, the Special Dark cocoa is more expensive than the regular stuff, but the sale price was a steal. I'm a fan.

Anyway, I'm finishing up a project, dealing with birthdays, holidays, and a bug. I'll be back to normal posting very soon. Have a wonderful day!