Tags
blue, Father's Day, nautical, outdoors, Party, patriotic, Red, seafood boil, summer, Tablescape, White
Father’s Day is coming up this weekend, and while my husband hasn’t shared with me yet what he would like to do for his special day, we do have somewhat of a tradition (the last two years!) of having a Seafood Boil on my husband’s birthday and Father’s Day.
This nautical table setting that I have created would go perfectly with the Scrumptious Seafood Boil that I blogged about here.
It’s a great meal to feed a crowd of testosterone-filled seafood lovers – and with a house full of guys, it’s right up our alley!
While I styled it for Father’s Day, this party would be fitting for any summer-time outdoor gathering.
And of course, with the prominent red, white, and blue, it is also suitable for Memorial Day or the 4th of July.
Instead of a tablecloth, it all starts with some butcher paper -I use Reynolds Freezer Paper and just layer it in long pieces lengthwise on the table. You may be able to get some from your butcher or use actual butcher paper.
Instead of serving platters for the meal, we just pour the seafood directly out of the pot onto the paper and let everyone grab as they wish.
The added bonus in using the paper is that when the meal is over, you can just wrap up all the scraps in it and toss the whole lot in the trash.
I’ve tried newspapers in the past but it tends to soak through and fall apart when you bundle up the leftover garbage. The Reynolds has a coated side that prevents this from happening and I really like the crisp, clean look of the white.
For the table decor, I gathered all my nautical kitchen items and my seaside-related things from around the house.
I love these sea sponges I picked up in Tarpon Springs, Florida. (If you are ever on the Gulf Coast, you must visit there! It’s a quaint little seaside town known as the world’s best location for natural sea sponges. And it has the most amazing Greek restaurants!) I am so excited I finally get to use them in a table-scape!
I made some fun sailboat cookies (don’t laugh! I decorated them myself!) and added some individual berry cups for dessert.
You can’t have a seafood feed without crab crackers!
I recently went to a Moroccan restaurant where they gave us smallish, white bath towels to use as napkins – no lie! No bath towels here, but large flour sack dish cloths work great as napkins for this meal. I used my table cloth weights as decoration for the napkins.
And for your guests to pile up all their goodies, I love these Schooner Melamine Plates from west elm. Plus, they are on sale right now – and free shipping!
What are your traditions to recognize all the hard work that dad does to keep his family safe, healthy and happy?
Here’s wishing all you fathers (and father-figures!) the most delicious Father’s Day! 🙂