Setting An Elegant Non Scary Halloween Table

Ok I admit it – I’m a Halloween Weenie!  Truly spooky Halloween decorations more often than not creep me out!  This usually doesn’t affect my life at all though, except in October.

For instance, here’s my neighbors’ wonderfully decorated Halloween yard.  It’s the talk of the street, and kids and adults all love it!

Unfortunately the only way I can look at it is from across the street.  At night. When all I can see is the pretty twinkling lights.  And if I narrow my eyes, it’s all soft focus.  No tombstones, hanging ghosts, or spiders! Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against ghosts or spiders in their natural habitat.  Or one at a time.  I’ve never liked horror movies either, so there you go!

But I do love the season and celebrating Halloween!  I love the colors, the pumpkins, the parties, the costumes, and of course, the treats!

So this year after the candy’s been handed out, and we gather for dinner before dressing up and making the party rounds, our table will say Halloween with dark, but non scary, elegance!

Let’s peek around the corner, just to make sure there aren’t any monsters in there…  Ok – we’re good!  So let me tell you about the table.

As I often do, I started with the centerpiece.  I got the darkest flowers I could find.  And also something orange to honor the holiday – in this case, tulips.  It still looked a little empty, so I added some white roses and dark fall leaves to fill it out.  I like draping the leaves over the edge when the arrangement is so tall.  It creates some interest closer to the table.

The vase is an antique we got from my mother in law.  It’s actually deep translucent purple!  It’s gorgeous when the light shines through it.  But tonight it looks black, and that’s what I wanted.

More black – table linens were next.  I’ve had these placemats and napkins forever, and I use them all the time.

The new copper chargers were a good base for the plate stack.  They add some sparkle, and contrast with the black.  Plus copper is such a great fall color – almost orange – perfect for Halloween.

I also used gold flatware.  Besides matching the rim on the dinner plate, the rich gold warms up the setting.

The dinner plate is white scalloped china with a thin gold rim.  It’s part of a set I got several years ago.  I really only needed two place settings, but the antique dealer didn’t want to break up the set, so I succumbed to temptation and bought the whole setting for eight!  It actually was a pretty good price, so I didn’t feel too bad about coming out with more than I went in for!

These white china soup bowls and saucers were my mom’s.  She had them for years, and I don’t think she ever used them.  When I got them, they were still wrapped and in the box!

With the plate stack complete, there was an awful lot of white real estate! Putting the napkin between the plates helped a bit.  I sprinkled a few baby rose petals on the dinner plate, and that helped too, but not quite enough.  I was planning to serve cream of pumpkin soup for dinner, so I went ahead and made some! (Check out this post for soup info!)

If you have your first course already on the table when your guests sit down, the food itself can add color or texture to your place setting.  The color of the pumpkin soup was in the Halloween palette, and I had a lot of fun making patterns with the cream and cinnamon!  (I think I’ve got a ways to go before I can get that job at Starbucks, though!)

I almost always use these cut crystal highball/water glasses.  They’re so pretty, and reflect a lot of candlelight too.  It’s fun to see if I can make them look a little different in each setting.  The large wine glasses are our “everyday” ones.  They can go in the dishwasher, which I love!

For candlelight, I used my gold mercury glass votives.

I also wanted some candlesticks since the flower arrangement was tall.  I borrowed these beautiful rubbed bronze candlesticks from a friend, and they’re perfect!  (Thank you, Friend!  You know who you are!)

She loaned me the little autumn candle wreaths and black candles too.  Those are so cool!  I think they gave the table its finishing touch!

And we’ll have one of my favorite white wines to go with the cream of pumpkin soup – Nobilo from New Zealand! 

So now you know – I’m a Halloween Weenie!  Whether you are or not, you can always set a beautiful, dark, and elegant non scary table for Halloween – or any time!

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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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This Post Shared With

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