Creative Ways to Display Food at a Party

The holiday season can mandate festive arrangements of dinner tables, nativity scenes and even the dinner buffet. Similarly, presentation can induce a person to sample the hummus or opt for the deviled eggs instead. Therefore, spending some extra time to decorate the food table could elicit some extra compliments and a few extra empty dishes at night's end. Though the quality of the food is entirely up to you, how the food is presented can be enhanced with some creative ideas. Does this Spark an idea?

Use Attractive Containers

Coordinate bowls, plates and serving spoons to create one uniform pattern or color. Invest in different dishware that matches the theme: snowflake-patterned bowls match Christmas; gold-rimmed plates work well for special occasions, and dark browns and reds match Thanksgiving. Hostessblog.com shows several images of using patterned paper as ways to hold candy and other small food items.

Also think about using fruit and vegetables as containers. Consider using a hollowed watermelon or pineapple to hold punch, fruit salads or desserts. Hollowed mini pumpkins can hold savory butternut squash soups.

Place Garnishes and Objects around the Food

Use objects that match the theme of your event to decorate the table. For example, pine cones and sprigs of rosemary can be placed around the display for a winter event. A princess birthday party's food display could have tiaras and magic wands placed on the table. Even a "Star Wars" party table could benefit with action figures placed on the table: Use the food as their battlefield.

Ensure each item is clean before placing it on the table. Also, avoid placing very small objects on the table: It could be accidentally ingested, much to the dismay of an unknowing diner.

Recipetips.com provides several ways to use tomatoes to create rose garnishes and strawberry fans for additional ideas.

Make Designs in the Food

How-to-cook-gourmet.com describes the plate as a canvass, which means it can be adorned in many ways. Make ornate swirls in soups using cream. Drizzle dessert plates with caramel, chocolate and raspberry sauce. Use powdered sugar to lightly coat pies.

Add extra embellishments to dishes to make them more visually appealing. Use the whole version of the food to decorate each dish. Key lime pies, for example, could have small slices of twisted lime placed aside the pie tin. Guacamole could have avocado slices forming a star on top of the dip.

Layer the Table

Before adding a table cloth to the display table, create layers by placing books and other objects to staircase the table. This allows you to showcase food on various levels. Use pastry trays for small, delicate desserts.