Napkin, Anyone?

Years ago, a co-worker gifted me a VHS tape about napkin-folding. It seemed an odd gift at the time. My husband laughed when I showed him. That tape ended up getting a real workout. It was some time later when I became interested in elaborate table-setting. How did my co-worker know me so well as to anticipate this interest?

My “shove it in” method of decorating holiday and birthday dinner tables (see picture at left) has caused family and friends to expect something special: sometimes elegant, sometimes childish, sometimes just plain wacky. My husband asks for his birthday table to be empty so there’s a place to set food. Otherwise, overstuffed is the order of the day.

I have four sets of dishes to pillage, depending on the occasion. Two, I purchased over the years. Two are hand-me-downs. I have some goblets bought long ago from Robinson’s-May. I like to use canning jars as glasses for less formal tables. But the final touch to any table is the napkin.

In years gone by, I would have a seat on the floor and watch all the videos on my tape. There were over 30 as I recall. I’d jot down the numbers of any I thought of interest. Once I made it to the end of the tape, there was always one that seemed doable and pertinent. Watching TV with my pile of napkins, I’d practice until I got the hang of that particular fold.

Our VCR is long dead. I finally got rid of my tape. Fortunately, it’s super easy to peruse napkin folds on Pinterest. They’re always linked to short YouTube videos. And so, my old-fashioned napkin folding has advanced to the modern age! Check out a few examples:

This year’s Christmas brunch table featured a Christmas tree fold:

I started doing a rose fold a couple of years ago—super easy and pretty impressive:

I used a pinwheel fold for Thanksgiving—See’s candy made the perfect button—but it would be great to use in the summer and for the 4^th.

Click the Pinterest link below to check out my pins of napkin folds. They can be found on the tablescape board. Happy folding!