Hosting a Funeral Luncheon

This week Carol and I provided an after-the-funeral meal for a friend. We held it at our church and served about thirty people. It was fun to see how pretty we could make the tables using only what we could find in the church kitchen, and a few things we brought in.


I brought a stack of vintage and gingham tablecloths, and draped every table in at least two layers. All the tables were round, and all the cloths were square or rectangular, but no matter. I made a little centerpiece for each table using my thrifted milk glass vases and what flowers I could find in the parking lot plantings--pink impatiens and crepe myrtle, mostly. The mixed but matching vases and flowers sort of pulled everything together.


With time to fuss, we decided to plate the cakes Carol had made--one was chocolate and one was a very pink strawberry. We sliced them and laid them on clear glass plates, then set them around the centerpieces alternating pink and brown. Sweet!

When we found we still had time, we plated salads and set them on the dinner plates. To keep things pretty, we put salad greens in the center of the salad plate, then garnished each with little separate piles of salad vegetables--cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, alternating the bright colors.

Carol finished off the tables by digging up pretty glass punch cups and making sets of three, filled with different salad dressings and set on little plates. They added beautiful color also.

I think the family felt cared for. They ate and ate every bite of lasagna, Carol brought toys out of the nursery for the little ones to play with, and everyone stayed and talked for hours.