A Father’s Day Tablescape – Pizza Elegance at the Last Minute

Here’s a little story about a fun, elegant, and quick Father’s Day tablescape.

It starts like this.

My in-laws were in town for the weekend. So we all went out on Saturday night to hear my husband play really loud rock and roll! By about 1:00am, we were having so much fun that we decided to get together the next night too. It turned out the next day was Father’s Day!

Since none of us had any fathers still living, we hadn’t really planned on celebrating. (And frankly, I’d forgotten all about it!) But once we remembered, we thought getting together for dinner would be a good way to mark the occasion. We would raise our glasses to the fathers in our lives!

A Quick Father’s Day Tablescape

By the time I woke up much later that morning (or maybe it was the afternoon,) there wasn’t a lot of time to prepare! Also nobody really felt like cooking. We solved that problem by getting on the phone to our favorite pizza place. We ordered up a couple pies and a salad, and called it good!

Even though our meal was casual, I still wanted to set a memorable table. But I was running out of time.

Vintage-Casual Flowers & Herbs

I usually start with the flowers for my tablescape ideas, but unfortunately it had been really hot the previous few days. That’s pretty exciting in the Pacific Northwest in June. But it also meant there weren’t too many flowers still blooming in the garden.

The few red roses we had left were a little worn out. But I thought they looked kind of Vintage-Casual with some of the petals a little brown around the edges.

Plus, they and the only other thing I could really find which were orange day lilies, looked like pizza colors to me, so that worked.

We also had some pizza herbs like rosemary and sage out in the herb garden, so I grabbed them too.

If I couldn’t have found anything that I liked in the yard, I would have run down to the store and gotten  some, but I was trying to save time by getting whatever I could at home. Sometimes that leads to a little extra creativity!

Mason Jars For The Centerpiece

For the centerpiece arrangement, I just stuck both kinds of flowers and the rosemary pretty randomly in some old Mason jars.

It turned out to be exactly what I was after – a casual feel to offset the formality and richness of the gold flatware and candle holders I wanted to use for this Father’s Day tablescape.

Father’s Day Tablescape Place Cards

The extra herbs made a nice little accent with the place cards. I just quickly cut some little pieces of card stock and punched holes in the ends. Even a very simple thing can be fun and look pretty!

I got my husband the artist to write our guests’ names on the cards – thanks, Darling – then tied them with some regular kitchen string.

(My guests always think it’s funny that I keep the string ball inside the stack of mixing bowls in our cupboard.  I know – that is a weird place for it, but we always seem to need it when we’re on that side of the kitchen!)

A Beautiful Bright Tablecloth

Anyway, sticking with my pizza theme, I ran down to my tablecloth storage area and got my go-to red tablecloth. (You can see this same tablecloth in this post for a whole different look.) I love all the detail in the pattern, which lends some interest with the solid colored plates.  I also really love that it’s faded so gently. I’ve had it a long time and it still looks great.

I didn’t want to wash a lot of dishes either!  So I only used things that could go in the dishwasher.

Our indestructible everyday white plates were an easy choice. The small wine glasses that we often use for water, and our big all-purpose wine glasses worked well.

How I Got My Flatware

This gold flatware is about 40 years old. We got it when my mother worked at the bank, back in the day. Remember when they used to give away “premiums” when you deposited money? (Ok, giving away my age, here!)

Well, this was the demo set. Mom ended up with it when the marketing department had their annual employee sale. When she moved several years ago, she gave it to me and I use it all the time.

Basic Gold Chargers

You’ll see this style of basic charger a lot at my house.  I love chargers even for just regular meals, so it’s important to have some that aren’t very precious and wash up easily.  I stop by the Dollar Store a lot on my way home from work, and troll the home goods aisles.

You can often find these hard plastic ones for, well $1.00, and they come in all kinds of colors and styles. Check the shopping section below for these, and most of the other pieces on the table.

The Father’s Day Tablescape Plates

Since the tablecloth and flowers were so bright, I thought the white plates would balance it out. My various plates are actually slightly different colors of white and cream.  I like that because it adds a little depth to a kind of texture-less plate stack.

I added a little color and contrast to the stack by layering the red jacquard napkins between the plates.

The green herb sprigs on top helped with the contrast too.

Some nice heavy gold Mercury glass pillar candle holders and votives finished off our Father’s Day tablescape.

I know, I usually go for the lighter colors on the table, but I really had fun with this hot colored, pizza-inspired red and gold Father’s Day tablescape!

The moral of this story: Don’t be shy about doing something quick and different whenever you feel like it – not just on Father’s Day!

Shop The Father’s Day Tablescape Post

Click on the pictures for links to pieces I used for this table.  If the exact item isn’t available any more, I chose a similar option.

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