Paper or Cloth on Father's Day

Sunday's Father's Day turned out to be a wonderful day of family and good eats!  My husband and I had gotten home from a conference late on Saturday night, so I wasn't sure we could carry the holiday off successfully, but with some pre-planning and early morning grocery shopping on Sunday,  we actually were ready when everyone arrived at 1 P.M.

Before we left, I had set the table, so at least that was done:

I started the table with my red tablecloth.

I wanted to keep my dish stack simple and "non-fussy" since the day was celebrating the Dads in the family. I didn't want to use paper plates ( I know today's paper products are nothing like they used to be, but I'm still a stickler on special days-----except for dessert!) so, out came my "workhorse" white Portuguese Metaceramica dinner plates from HomeGoods.

I then added my watermelon salad plates from Michael's. I love the bright finish on these plates.  They say "summer" to me.

I finished my place setting with my Mikasa Regent Bead flatware and my Mikasa glassware: just to make the table a bit celebratory.  Notice there are no napkins in this place setting.  I'll explain THAT when I share my centerpiece.

My centerpiece started with the wooden shoeshine box I purchased this past year while antiquing with my cousin.  I love the finish on it with its dings and marks, showing lots of use. I was getting ready to fill it with assorted "manly-related" items when my Hubby first saw my original place setting with its linen napkins and he laughingly noted, "You can't do linen napkins with barbeque!" Since he was the chef and the DAD of the Day, I deferred to him and took up the linen napkins and added a stack of paper ones!  Just for fun, as I was picking up the linen napkins, I thought: I know what I'll do to spruce things up a bit (once a tablescaper; always a tablescaper!).  So, I gathered up the napkins into a "linen bouquet" and filled my wooden shoeshine box with them. I added a burlap bow to coordinate with the burlap runner, my wooden thread spools as candle holders and my centerpiece was completed. I told everyone they could chose what they wanted to use, "Paper or cloth"!

We had a wonderful barbeque of tri-tip roast, hamburger sliders for the grandkids and lots of sidedishes.
Apple pie and brownie bites with ice cream was our dessert. There were gifts and even a raffle for a bottle of Sriracha Sauce after  the dads had taken all the kids to the park.  All in all, a wonderful day of laughter, good conversation and lots of yummy food.  Since we had been away, I relied heavily on Costco for the dinner components!  Next year, I'll cook!!!!   I hope everyone's celebrations were filled with fun and family.

I'll be joining Susan for Tablescape Thursday at  www.betweennapsontheporch.net  and
Christine for her Table It! link party at www.rustic-refined.com. Thank you, ladies, for your continued efforts to give us a place to share and enjoy our tables!