It is such a busy day and you have about an hour left to put together a stylish casual dinner party table setting. What do you do? You go to your kitchen cabinets and pull out what you have available, right? I’m sure many of you have been there. This was totally my situation when designing the blue and green tablescape displayed in the pictures, after experiencing a jam-packed day of go, go, go. Dinner was definitely going to be carry-out.
Some of the links on Danimardesigns.com are affiliate links from with I receive a small commission from sales of certain items, at no cost to you. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you kindly for letting me share.
Planning Ahead for your Casual Dinner Party Table Setting
There are staple pieces I prefer to keep stocked in my cabinets in order to put together a quick table setting for a casual dinner party. When preparing for a gathering, I like to think about who I’m celebrating, which supplies I have available, what is the feel I’m looking for in my display, and the kind of food am I serving.
For this special occasion, we were celebrating my dad, so I wanted to make sure the tablescape had more of a masculine feel to it. I remembered I had a blue and white buffalo plaid table runner and knew it would be the perfect addition to my casual dinner party table setting. I always like to start with an inspirational piece for each table design as my launching pad. The table runner was the inspiration behind this one.
Let me know in the comments if you are interested in seeing a compiled list of tablescape necessities you need to have stocked in your home, so you are always ready to have friends over for a gathering.
Casual Dinner Party Table Setting Supplies
Tablecloth and Runner
A solid white tablecloth with great texture is the perfect blank canvas to build upon. The colors incorporated can come from your chargers, dishes, linen napkins, glasses, centerpiece, etc. In this table setting, you can see that we added the buffalo plaid table runner as our first layer of color.
Place Settings
At each place setting, I showcased, a gold-toned faux wood charger, and topped it with a solid white dinner plate, creamy white salad plate, and a navy-blue linen napkin with a complimentary ribbed napkin ring for the purpose of more texture. The silver flatware that I keep stored away for special occasions was a great addition to the mix in light of the silver from the tin on the centerpiece. The light green water goblets added another shade of green by balancing out the centerpiece as well.
Centerpiece
I have been wanting to use this gorgeous Homegoods find as a tablescape centerpiece for a while now; just waiting for the right occasion. This was the time! It’s about a three-foot-long faux boxwood shrub in a tin container, so it filled the center portion of the table with the perfect height, depth, color and texture. When you see those Homegoods finds that speak to you, you have to grab them immediately, otherwise it most likely won’t be there if you delay. Can you tell I’m speaking from experience?
Candle Holders
I love the look of these white candle holders with a rope texture inlay, found from, none other than, the Dollar Tree. Another place you have to scoop things up fast at when you see a fun piece. They added great texture to the mix and little pops of warmth and sparkle from the tiny flames. Feel free to click here for more dinner party entertaining ideas and to see how I staged these gems in a more coastal tablescape design.
Casual Dinner Party Table Setting Food
Have you ever tried the restaurant, On the Boarder? It is one of my family’s favorites! Not only do they have great food for when you dine in, they also have incredible carryout. You get such a big bang for your buck and they make life super easy to feed a crowd. For this event, we ordered two of their “Build Your Own Taco Kit” combo meals. It comes with ground beef or chicken tinga, tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cheese, Mexican rice, beans, queso, chips, and salsa and feeds 3-5 people per combo.
Dinner was a huge hit, thanks to On the Boarder’s delicious Mexican food. We highly recommend them! Click here if you want to find the On the Boarder combo meal options for your dinner party.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed, in a much more relaxed fashion, the casual dinner party table setting I put together at a very rushed, last-minute pace. LOL! Life happens sometimes, and it helps to be prepared with having those staple tablescape pieces on hand, that you can pull out in a blink’s notice.
P.S. A Note of Encouragement
What’s in your heart to do today? When you think about a particular task, does it make you feel overwhelmed or tired just pondering how you will even get started? I completely understand! Been there! Might I just say, I’m there right now in an area in my life.
Rather than looking at the big picture and processing how you will get it done in its entirety, why not take one baby step in that direction and choose one thing on the list of things. Maybe your first step is to make a list. Then make a short one. It could be an action step you need to take towards a big decision. Take one baby action step. Whatever the “it” might be, don’t look at the whole ship, or how to move the entire thing, just look at how to step onto the boat, and start there. Don’t worry or fear about the rest. “…Tomorrow will take care of itself.” Matthew 6:34
Today is a gift. We have today to do what is in our hands to do. Just do what you can, take a tiny bite, and the rest will fall into place as you step out.