Make each guest and family member feel special when serving up a holiday meal. Mark their place at the table with something special they can take home and enjoy for the following days or weeks.
Dress up each place setting with a small plant, fragrant herb or flower. Purchase one of the many miniature holiday plants available from your favorite florist or garden center. You can find miniature specimens of orchids, cyclamen, kalanchoes, poinsettias, azaleas and others. Just set each plant in its own terra cotta pot or decorative foil if you need to dress it up a bit. Add a tag with the guest’s name and send them home with plant care instructions. It will remind them of your gathering and provide weeks of added enjoyment.
Make it easy for you and each guest with low-maintenance Tillandsia air plants. These popular plants need indirect sunlight and a half hour weekly soak in tepid water to thrive. Set a plant on each plate or in a decorative glass, vase or container.
Add a bit of holiday flair by placing each one in an open orb ornament or miniature terrarium. Include other small holiday items and top it with a ribbon.
Give each guest their own cut flower to enjoy and take home. All you need is a bouquet of flowers, a few floral water picks (water-filled tubes used by florists), greens and ribbon. Cut the flowers to the desired length and place them in a floral water pick. Tuck the bloom into a napkin set on each plate and add ribbon and perhaps a bit of greens. Use any remaining blooms to fill containers in rooms and on tables throughout your home.
Include a holiday favorite, the poinsettia, at each guest’s place setting. Simply cut the flowers off a potted poinsettia plant to the desired length. Place it in a floral water pick tucked into their napkin or set it in a small bud vase with some greens. Try searing the cut end before placing it in water to help extend the life of the cut poinsettia. Send them home with your guests as a remembrance of your gathering.
Consider purchasing and using small transplants or seeds of herbs to dress up the table. Set transplants in a small container you have on hand, purchase or create. Paint, decoupage or dress up empty fruit and vegetable cans, wrap them in burlap and secure with a ribbon or wrap in foil. Set a few seeds secured with a ribbon on or next to each plate. Your guests will enjoy growing and harvesting them in an indoor herb garden this winter or in their gardens and containers during the growing season.
Use bits and pieces of greens from your Christmas tree, garland and wreaths. Arrange these in small containers or vases. Combine with small berry-laden stems, cones, candy canes or colorful holiday picks. Gather a few evergreen twigs, add a fragrant cinnamon stick and secure with a ribbon.
Keep it simple if time and energy are limited. Even a few sprigs of fragrant lavender tied together with a ribbon will help you create a memorable gathering.
Melinda Myers is the author of numerous books, including Small Space Gardening. Myers web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.
