Timeless Elegance: Hosting a Classic Black and White Indoor Garden Dinner Party with Fruit and Vegetable Decorations

Timeless Elegance: Hosting a Classic Black and White Indoor Garden Dinner Party with Fruit and Vegetable Decorations

Embracing the charm of a classic black and white theme while hosting a garden dinner party creates a harmonious blend of elegance and natural beauty.  Adding fruits and vegetables as table decorations not only enhance the aesthetic appeal, but also celebrates the bountiful gifts of nature.  

Welcome to the third Fabulous Friday Link Party Blog Hop.  The Fabulous Friday Link Party is where bloggers share their best home related blog posts every Friday. Quarterly, the Link Party hosts each invite a talented blogger who links up regularly to join us in a special Blog Hop.


This is just one stop of twelve for our Spring Garden Blog Hop.  The six Fabulous Friday hosts and our guest bloggers are sharing awesome Garden Inspiration and How-To's.  Follow along for wonderful gardening related ideas.  All the links to the Hosts and their Featured Blogger Friends are at the end of this blog post.

When my friend Wendy with WM Designs invited me to join the Fabulous Friday Link Gardening Party Blog Hop, I thought oh no!  I have two black thumbs, and eight gray digits, how can I ever have any positive information to pass along about gardening?  Then I had to dial myself down, and say hey Cara, you can always decorate with those precious fruits and vegetables that come from the garden so away I went creating an indoor garden party to share with you today.  

I may not be able to offer you much advice other than things not to do since I once killed a small cactus.  Yes, true story... the mishap there was overwatering.  The poor cactus molded and had to become a member of the Cara Plant Graveyard, joining all of it's predecessors.  There are many departed plants a part of that graveyard unfortunately.

You see, my mother has thirteen green thumbs, can grow anything, and has been known to resurrect dead plants from my home, if I get them to her in time that is.  I always thought this super power would be passed down to me, but I learned in my 20's plants, flowers, and growing things from seed really isn't my thing.  

Trust me, there have been many hobbies and interests over the years, too many to list, but I can share with you how to put together a wonderful garden-inspired dinner party with fruit and vegetable centerpieces fit for any occasion.  This classic black and white theme could be used for a bridal or even a baby shower, so let's get started!

Here in Ohio, we have been experiencing less than desirable garden party temperatures so hosting inside was a must.  I had a vision in my mind, and so I began mapping out my "decor" through my grocery cart.  You may be thinking what sorts of items can I purchase from the grocery as decorations other than from their party planning department?  Well, let's be adventurous and decorate with food!

Since gardening was a large part of what drove this blog hop, I decided to go full tilt seeing how I could create an indoor garden dinner party with fruit and vegetable decorations, along with some interesting pieces pulled from our home.

I grabbed a vase from the attic that was used at our wedding reception for fresh flowers.  A garden party wouldn't be complete without some goodies from the garden, so I lined the exterior of the vase with asparagus and tied a simple pink bow around our vase.  I like that the asparagus hides the stems, something I am never fond of looking at when creating flower arrangements for some reason.

Since I am still working on building my immune system back up, I had to rely on my friends at our local grocery to choose the flowers for our garden party tablescape.  Recently, many flower shops in our area have closed so the grocery was my only option for real flowers.  I wasn't crazy about someone else choosing my fresh flowers since I worried I would be given a very small bouquet.  I was right to worry since that was exactly what I ended up with.

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Of course I did not let that rain on my garden parade or deter me since I looked at this as an opportunity to be a bit more creative. I added kale to create the illusion of a larger bouquet.  When I was still not satisfied, shhh.... but I added a few real touch tulips to create a fuller arrangement.  I wasn't about to let that small bouquet stop me from creating the perfect scene for our garden party dinner.  

I added my mother-in-laws Imperial Rose patterned china to the table.  I love these pieces, but they are usually homed inside our china cabinet for safe keeping.  Do you know I have never used them until today?  

I pulled out my best silverware set my husband gave me for Christmas one year.  Does he know this gal, or what?  I love curves, details, and items that just say, "Well, hello there."

I criss-crossed my spoon and fork over the knife and tied a simple black and white striped gross grained ribbon around the silverware to give our table a bit of "extra".  I tend to enjoy adding those bits of extra when it comes to decor in our home.  Since I am always concerned about germs these days, I placed our silverware on top of these classic plaid napkins.  

Going with an elegant black and white garden theme, I thought dessert should coordinate with our black and white decor and created an oreo cake.   I decided to use our Fostoria glass cake plate my husband and I picked up from an auction many years ago for $1.00!  What a steal!

This small oreo cake was created using two packs of gluten free oreos (I'm the gluten free gal)  simply by stacking the cookies on top of one another and creating a tower.  I had to work around the small rum well in the center of the cake plate, but overall, I liked the way they played off of our black and white table runner.  

No garden dinner party would be complete without green beans.  Not on the menu tonight, just on our candles.  Since everything is better in odd numbers when decorating, I criss-crossed three green beans over the candle and secured them with our black and white ribbon, then nested each candle on top of glass candlesticks.  

We also used these candlesticks on the tables of our wedding reception.  I could not seem to locate the third candlestick so I got a bit creative and used a flower frog for the last candle so they were at varying heights on the table.  

Things begin to get a bit interesting here since I had my heart set on a shade of pink for my napkins.  I did not have any in my stash so I decided to make my own.  Would you believe our blush napkins were once our living room curtains?    

I cut one panel to make these dinner napkins, cutting each one to my preferred size of 18x18.  Then I washed the napkins and threw them in the dryer.  I love the raw edge that happened once they were removed from the dryer.  The curtains were high quality in their time, but we decided to migrate away from the bubble gum pink in our living room the first day we received the keys to our new home.

I knew artichokes were a must for our garden table.  I think they are one of the most beautiful vegetables to use when decorating.  I placed a piece of kale as garnish under our artichokes for added texture and dimension, and again kept to our rule of using items in threes.  The artichokes were placed to create a pyramid for added height to this display. 

   

Pulling the cutting board from our kitchen, I  began arranging fruit and vegetable decor to decorate our table.  Celery was slivered at the ends to create the look of celery fans, blueberries and dried oranges placed on top of one of my vintage glass plates added to the decor on our table.  

Green seedless grapes were skewered and placed into a decorative glass jar.  The jar was filled with diamond scatter from our wedding to leverage the skewers to keep them in place.  I love the way the diamonds elevated our timeless black and white table decor.

The large white damask runner on our table was actually an aisle runner to be used at the church on our wedding day.  Of course, wedding days are so hectic, and it was forgotten with no time to rush home.  It has been in our attic for many years waiting to be used, and I asked myself why not use it as a table runner?  Since I love a layered look, I thought it offered the perfect backdrop to the flowered black and white table runner.

Our plates were purposefully not centered on our black chargers and dinner plates.  I found I really liked the napkins cocooning the plates a top our chargers.  Cashews were added to black and white gingham baking/treat cups as a snack for our guests to enjoy while engaging in intimate conversation around our dinner table.

 

I kept adding and taking away the black and white party fans from the table.  If I were hosting a bridal or baby shower, I would push the table up against the wall and use them on the table.  Since they are not double-sided, guests sitting on the right side of the table get the full benefit of seeing them, but guests on the left only see the all white backs.  Personally, I love them and think they add a bit of eye catching detail to our elegant black and white garden dinner party theme.

When hosting a dinner party, I like to place my decor at the ends of the table, and have a simple decoration in the middle of the table like the flower arrangement we shared above.  Having the center of the table free of distractions allows food to be placed for easy access to your dinner guests, and encourages conversation amongst friends since they are not competing for attention with your beautiful decor.    

This black and white floral runner is where it really all began when creating ideas for a classic black and white themed dinner party.  I could not pass it up since I love a classic black and white floral pattern.  The all white damask runner coordinated well with the floral pattern on our table.  It also reminded me of delicate lace.    

Keeping our decorations simple using glass helped in playing up the drama of our table runner too.  The paper products used to host a classic black and white dinner party came from My Mind's Eye.  I was so excited when I came across their site, finding their décor to be stunning and very affordable.  

When it comes to how to decorate a table with fruits and vegetables for an indoor garden dinner party, you do not need to spend a lot of money.  Paper products are a less expensive option when hosting, but as you can see, they can still be very beautiful.  

Using these tips for decorating a black and white dinner party will allow you to spend next to nothing for your next event.  Using glasses, dishes, our curtains, and aisle runner were all items we already had.  I like to think I created a perfectly unique party with a timeless elegance for our dinner guests.

Ciao,

Cara  

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