Setting the Table for Family and Friends

In my immediate family there are four of us.  Pretty average, nothing anyone would consider "large".  However, my family doesn't do holidays with just the four of us.  Holidays with my family include everyone: all the grandparents (I am blessed to have four healthy, amazing grandparents), all of the cousins, aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings and children of all of the cousins and aunts and uncles and of course friends that feel like family.  It is not unusual to gather around the table for Passover or Rosh Hoshanah or be spread throughout the house on Thanksgiving with 40 - 50 people.

Not quite this long, but you get the idea

Let me ask you, how do you set a table for 40 - 50 people?  Most people do not own a set of China for 40-50 people, and rarely does the heaviest stock of paper plates hold up to a good Jewish brisket...  

Necessity being the mother of all invention the table would be set  communally; beautiful China would come from an Aunt here, a cousin there, a sister from nearby.  At the end of the day a beautiful table would be set in creams and gold that was worthy of the best crowd and food.

When we got married I registered for plain, everyday white China from Pottery Barn, but now that we have moved and I have more storage in my kitchen and a proper dining room for entertaining the idea of expanding my collection is not lost on me.  Here are some entertaining must haves, for now:

Dazzle Dinnerware by Crate and Barrel

Wood-Slices Dinnerware by West Elm

Vera Wang for Wedgwood "Gilded Weave"

Growing up I would volunteer for table setting duty at my cousin Deborah's house, and the look and feel of an extra long table, with shining glassware and matching mismatched plates has always stuck with me. The Holidays are special and are meant to be treated with extra care, a little extra sparkle and spent with the most important people.

It doesn't even matter if you eat take out Chinese on your China, just make it special!