Catering Tips: Napkin Display

Napkins are an important part of linen selection and can add so much to your occasion's decor. Whether they're white or color, displayed on the table or the buffet, folded elegantly or with a little pizazz, don't forget to ask about incorporating them into next event design. Here are some ideas: 

Our pintuck napkin options

Our pintuck napkin options

For inspiring napkin folding ideas, view this Martha Stewart photo gallery, and try them at your holiday dinner.

Merry Christmas!

Catering Tips: Saving Money on the Corporate Holiday Party

Now you have some ideas for planning a fun corporate holiday party. Here are some ideas for cutting costs:

• Have your party catered, rather than going to a restaurant, so you can the control the costs and options by offering a set menu, instead of letting employees order off a regular menu.
• Purchase a table at a single group rate, where all the details are included, by joining other businesses in the festivities.
• Hold the party during the day, when venues often offer lower prices.
• Save printing and postage costs by sending invitations via a free online service.
• Reduce drink costs by limiting choices to one or two specialty drinks, rather than hosting an open bar.
• Instead of giving away favors that will be thrown away or forgotten, or having an awkward gift-exchange, ask attendees to bring a new toy to donate to Toys for Tots.

What's your favorite thing about holiday office parties? What does your company do that's unique and fun? Leave a comment here or on Twitter or Facebook to be entered into a drawing to win free delivery on a Set & Go Holiday Lunchtime Buffet in December 2010 (up to $35 value).

Catering Tips: Creating a Room Diagram

Image courtesy of Allison Reisz Photography

When planning an event of any kind, whether it be a corporate holiday party, conference, or a wedding reception, indoors or outdoors, in a banquet hall or under a tent, it benefits everyone involved in the planning and execution of your event to have a diagram of the overall room arrangement. The drawing should be well-labeled, answering each of the following questions, as applicable:

• Where will each guest table go?
• Where will the head/sweetheart/reserved table(s) go?
• How many chairs/guests will be at each table?
• Which meal has each guest chosen (for a plated reception)?
• Where will the sign-in/guest book/gift/favor/place card tables go?
• Where will the large decor/plants go?
• Where will the bar go?
• Where will the DJ/band/stage/speaking platform/podium go?
• Where will the dance floor go?
• Where will the cake table go?
• Where will the appetizer/buffet/action station/non-alcoholic drink tables go?

From a catering perspective, having a detailed, clearly-labeled rendering of your room layout helps us know in advance where to set up the buffet or action stations and saves time and confusion the day of your event. We won't accidentally put the shrimp cocktail display on the cake table or set up your sweet tea where the favors should have gone and waste the time of the catering or another vendor's staff rectifying the situation. For a plated meal, we use the number of people seated at each table to determine how many servers to bring and assign to each table or section. Additionally, if you're assigning seats for a plated meal, you'll guests will have chosen their meal ahead of time. Label each seat on your diagram with the meal that guest has chosen to increase the timeliness in which your guests are served.

There are several resources to help you plan a room diagram:

• If you are working with an event planner, he/she will usually do this for you as part of the service you contracted.
• If not, or if you are doing the planning yourself, start by asking your venue's coordinator if there is a diagram template of the room's structure. This is the easiest and most accurate way to account for the room's dimensions and any irregularities in its shape.
• Talk with each of your vendors about their own space and table needs, and have a walk-through with them, if necessary. Let their professional experience guide you through the process; they work on events every day and know the best "flow" and set-up for their services to function at their prime.
• Add and label these and any additional tables and important elements you're using to the diagram, and send it and your timeline to your venue and all of your vendors before your event to ensure the smoothest set-up possible.
• Use a free, online room diagram service, such as Seating Arrangement, to design your floor plan, assign guest seating, manage RSVPs, and send the information electronically to your vendors.

Screen shot of Seating Arrangement's "Floor Plan" Tutorial