Some of the best times in life are memories of food. Aromas from the kitchen you can taste in the air. A pot roast steaming from the oven. The chitter chatter of voices and dishes clinking and clanking. I was only seven, but I remember it well. The one meal most families share is dinner. You don't have to spend a lot of money on food, drink and decorations. You don’t need to spend money to make meals unforgetable. Start with the dinner table.
Of course, plates, silverware and glasses set the table. You also need to “dress up” your set table. When your table looks good, it feels inviting. It’s "eye flavor" for dinner.
Home and Food magazines, websites and blogs, say, "Decorations can make your table unforgetable.” You don't need a lot of money. Use whatever you have around your home.
Create a "cuisine theme," such as an All American Patriotic extravaganza, a Mexican fiesta, Irish, Italian, baseball or garden theme with just a few decorations.
For the tablecloth, scour your home for items to use, such as wrapping paper, newspapers laid out, old magazines taped together. Re-purpose skirts of outdated clothes. Glue, sew or tie things together.
Make centerpieces with garden flowers, candles, school supplies, office items, books, music, movie posters, photos in frames, boxes with bows, interesting bottles and jars, baskets, stuffed animals, Christmas lights. Save food containers, jar labels and cereal boxes. Use a chalkboard, pencil carousel, boxes and bottles, toys.
For place settings, make fun napkin rings from old jewelry, nuts and bolts or string. Put name cards on plates. (Young and old love to see their name in print.) Put left over Christmas curling ribbon across plates and around glasses.
Use holiday napkins for non-holiday meals. Would you smile to see Christmas holly on your napkin in June? It's unexpected.
Use your computer and printer. Print out coloring book outlines, set a paper print out by the dinner placesetting with a few crayons or colored pencils.
Maybe my kids will remember my song sheets at Christmas or the games when they could tell what they liked… I printed questions and cut the sheet into slips of paper for the kids to pull out of a jar. I think it was a jar. "What's your favorite color and why?" The "why" may surprise you.
Try putting a kitchen item or tool like a wrench on the table and ask everyone at the table to name all the things it can be used for. I never got to that one. I’m not sure my kids really liked my childish games. One did, for sure. Anyway, I thought it was fun…
You don't have to go overboard to make meals unforgetable. Even a few handmade items can make a memory you talk about for years. How many times have you been with family members and said, "Remember when..."