Dress Up Your Food with Designer Garnishing Tips

You wouldn’t head out for a fabulous event without accessorizing a little black dress with a sparkling necklace or a suit with a snazzy tie, so why would you throw a cocktail party without dressing up your hors d’oeuvres and drinks just a bit?

Adding a few garnishes is a simple way to enhance your tablescape as well as the dining experience that you provide for your guests. They also instantly take dishes from bland and boring to beautiful and mouth-watering. Here are a few designer garnishing tips that are sure to make a statement the next time you play host.

The catering and event-design team from Boston-based Chive suggest incorporating an herbal theme throughout your party. For example, if you use herbs like rosemary or thyme to marinate your meat, use the herb in its fresh form to garnish your serving dishes. They also recommend placing a sprig on every plate.

Designer garnishing tips from Hickory Farms

Photo via Paula Deen

Celebrity event planner David Tutera says the little details are part of the makings of a memorable party. He shares that you shouldn’t “skimp on presentation with your cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Use a butter curler to create ribbons to dress up bread and a chocolate shaver to create fancy shavings to garnish desserts and specialty drinks.”

Designer dessert garnishing tips from Hickory Farms

Photo via Home Style with a Side of Gourmet

If you prefer a simpler approach, heed the advice of California wedding planners Nick and Aleah Valley of Valley & Co. They shared this suggestion with the wedding blog Style Me Pretty – “… don’t forget the simple things like tray passed ice water. Dress it up by infusing with lemon or cucumber or garnish with frozen grape skewers.” Colorful fruit and veggies not only add color to water, but a refreshing hint of flavor.

Photo via My Spa Water Book

We love the idea of using some “surprise” garnishes. Devine Dinner Party actually suggests bending the rules just a little bit. For example – they suggest adding some color to a tray of shrimp with deep purple grapes. In other words, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box.

Designer garnishing tips for a seafood display from Hickory Farms

Photo via Divine Dinner Party

We can’t forget to mix in a few ideas from one of our favorite places for party ideas, Hostess With the Mostess. We love this vintage table setting where each plate is garnished with a small bundle of refreshing lavender.

Photo via Hostess with the Mostess

In addition to place settings and drinks, don’t forget to add a garnish to your edible centerpieces. Here, Hostess With the Mostess created a melon basket, filled with skewered veggies and garnished with thyme. For an extra pop of color and flavor, consider including some skewers with cubed gourmet cheese.

Photo via Hostess with the Mostess

How do you accessorize your spread with garnishes? Share your favorite tips with us in the comments below, on the Hickory Farms Facebook page, or send it to us on Twitter @HickoryFarms.

Share the Love with a Chic Valentine’s Day Dinner Party

Celebrate the people you love this February by hosting a chic Valentine’s Day dinner party for a close group of friends. Set the mood days in advance with stylish invitations that will have them anticipating an evening of good food, good drinks, and good company.

First, you’ll want to decide on the theme and décor. Think about the type of mood you want to set. Do you want the look and feel to be romantic and whimsical or casual and playful? Here are a few great examples of chic invitations for Valentine’s Day dinner parties.

Photo via Tiny Prints

Photo via Etsy

Photo via Bugaboo Announcements

Next, find a few clever ways to put love in the air. We love the idea of decor that spells “love” with string lights or even with four simple clipboards. This type of décor is easy but still has a wonderful effect.

Blissful B Blog

The Shabby Creek Cottage

Once you have decided on your invitations and décor, you can move on to your Valentine’s Day menu. To keep things simple yet sophisticated, you can always go with a spread of gourmet nuts and gourmet meat and cheese.

If you really want to cut the preparation time, you can simply choose one or two Hickory Farms gourmet food baskets with a selection of gourmet nuts, meats, cheeses, or fruits. Some of our food gift baskets even come with Mini Melt Away Mints that would be perfect for throwing in a candy dish for dinner party guests.

By using our carefully curated food gift baskets, you’ll save some time and be able to get a little more creative with your presentation. Here’s a fun idea for displaying fruits for a Valentine’s Day dinner party.

Photo via Mint in the Middle

Let your invitations and décor inspire a pretty table setting. Dress up your tablescape with a few subtle hearts or X’s and O’s. You can do this with place cards, napkin rings, or other small decorations. Don’t forget some fresh flowers, too.

Photo via A Delightful Blog

Share your chic Valentine’s Day invitation, décor, and menu ideas in a comment below or by heading over to the Hickory Farms Facebook page.

Great Mardi Gras Party Ideas

Mardi Gras is right around the corner, and there’s no better excuse to throw a party!

Since the early 1700s when the French first settled in New Orleans, Mardi Gras has been celebrated on a grand scale with masquerades, parades, and other exciting carnival festivities. But even if you are not in New Orleans, you can throw your own Mardi Gras ball to take part in the celebration with family and friends!

If you want to throw a party in the true spirit of Mardi Gras, the first thing to keep in mind is that you can never have enough green, purple, and gold! The other Mardi Gras must-have is an abundance of colorful beads. And with a little creativity, you can use Mardi Gras beads to make all of your own party décor.

In these three examples, Mardi Gras beads were used to make DIY party coasters, a Mardi Gras wreath, and a festive centerpiece. You can even hang green, purple, and gold beads from light fixtures such as sconces and chandeliers to set the scene for your Mardi Gras bash.

Photo via Rust & Sunshine

Photo via Sew-InLove

Photo via Toomey’s

Photo via Dollar Store Crafts

The decorating doesn’t have to stop once the party starts. To keep your guests engaged, organize a Mardi Gras mask decorating contest. Purchase masks for your guests to decorate, and make sure you have plenty of craft supplies including feathers, glitter, ribbon, markers, and other decorating materials. Here’s a helpful printable template that we found for making your own Mardi Gras masks.

Photo via Success Creations

You can’t have a Mardi Gras celebration without lots of delicious food. Create a menu of Creole and Cajun favorites like gumbo and jambalaya. When the recipe calls for sausage, consider using gourmet meats from Hickory Farms. Here are two recipes for Cajun Chicken and Sausage Gumbo and Jambalaya Supper Stuffing recipes that are sure to be a hit at a Mardi Gras party.

Photo via Rachael Ray Magazine

Don’t forget to complete your menu with the most famous Mardi Gras tradition of all – the King Cake. Make sure to get your guests excited about this tradition! Whoever has the slice of cake with the baby is in charge of buying the next king cake and throwing the next Mardi Gras party!

Photo via Taste of Home

What’s your favorite part about Mardi Gras? Tell us in a comment below!