Congratulate Your Grad with the Graduation Cap Napkin Fold
Spring is in the air, which means that young adults across the country are receiving their diplomas and degrees. Not only is a high school or college graduation a huge achievement, it’s a perfect excuse to celebrate! Why not throw a party in your graduate’s honor? (You know you’ll love getting all the decorations ready!)
As you can learn in my Graduation Cap YouTube video, you can easily turn a basic cloth napkin into a graduation cap. Simply add a bit of yarn to the top to serve as the tassel, and your cap is complete. If you are feeling ambitious, why not add a plastic decoration containing the year?
The graduation cap, also known as a mortarboard, has come to symbolize academic achievement. At the high school level, the cap’s tassel is usually one of the school’s colors while at the college level the tassel may be basic black or represent the graduate’s field of study. Whatever its color, the tassel is embellished with a charm revealing the year of graduation. In most graduation ceremonies in the U.S., the tassel is worn on one side of the cap until the graduate physically receives their diploma, when it is moved to the other side of the cap.
These Graduation Cap napkins can be set on top of plates or used as table decorations. They are a great way to say “Congrats!” to your favorite graduates.
Celebrate a “Hoppy” Easter with Carrot Party Favors
Usually falling right in between New Year’s bashes and Fourth of July fireworks, Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Whether you’re planning to serve a traditional Easter ham or holding a buffet brunch with all the fixings; pastel colors, flowers and the general idea of Spring all offer great ways to decorate.
Easter is the perfect time to utilize your favorite fine china and glasses. Pastel dishes or plates decorated with a floral trim will make any Easter meal taste even better. Put simple clear bud vases at each place setting and scatter green tea candles throughout the table. An elegantly folded cloth napkin will be both functional and decorative. I chose light green napkins this time, but pastel yellow or light pink would also work well. Don’t forget, you can perfect napkin-folding technique with a little help from my informative YouTube videos.
If Easter baskets loaded with candy-filled eggs aren’t your thing you can still offer your friends and family a treat in addition to whatever pie or cake you serve for dessert. Just tuck a little a packet of candies inside a festive “carrot,” as you can see in these photos. You’ve probably never seen anyone eat their “vegetables” so quickly!
Easter Table for kids
DIY Easter centerpiece.
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Style
Wearing your favorite green shirt while drinking a green beer down at the local pub isn’t the only way to go Irish for a day! This year, why not celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in style? Give your kitchen table a simple mini-makeover with a little help from the Napkin Wizard on March 17.
You might not own fine china decorated with shamrocks, but affordable plastic holiday plates can be found at most party or craft stores. Plain green plates can also be used. Green cloth napkins can easily be folded into four-leaf clovers, and if you enjoy paper crafts you can even decorate your clover napkins with shamrock cut-outs as seen in the photo. They are simple to make with construction paper and scissors.
If your St. Patty’s Day meal is going to be a formal one, be sure to add place cards so your guests can easily locate their spot at the table. Green glasses round out the table setting and inexpensive knickknacks like this cute Betty Boop statuette can add a bit of humor to the meal.
… and speaking of food, you’re serving corned beef and cabbage, right?
Brighten a Meal with the Montana Napkin Fold
It’s possible to make your table look elegant without going overboard or spending a fortune—just take advantage of the art of napkin folding! Similar to origami, which is the art of paper folding, napkin folding allows you to create beautiful decorations with your napkins.
Paper napkins might be convenient, but they just won’t cut it when you’re hosting a special celebration. They can even look tacky if you are using beautiful plates and silverware. Cloth napkins that are simply folded in half are boring, too! That is why I am always creating new napkin folds. Creatively folded napkins are a great way to help make any party a success.
My Montana Napkin Fold, pictured below, will brighten any meal, whether it is a sophisticated affair or a low-key get-together that involves a meal. You can use solid colored napkins to create the Montana, but I chose these red napkins embellished with white flowers and white trim. Placed on top of a plate of the same color palette, the entire design looks elegant on top of this black charger. Red candlesticks on the table add yet another touch of class to the place setting.
As you can see, even the smallest touches can help turn any table from drab to designer. The Montana Napkin Fold is one small touch that your guests will appreciate and talk about for weeks to come. Be sure to let them know that you learned from the best—the Napkin Wizard!
