a brave new world of serving ware

You could put cocktails in your martini glasses and flowers in your vases, but we’ve all seen that before.

The latest trend on the special event front is using your entertaining ware for something it wasn’t at all intended for. Here are some creative ways to repurpose what you may already have.

• Fill martini glasses with cold soups, dips and ice cream sundaes (I did the latter recently when I ran out of petal bowls at my ICS).

• I put toppings for build-your-own salads and sundaes, etc. in the small square bowls that often come in sushi dinnerware sets.

• Flowers in teapots — this is an especially cute centerpiece for a tea party, unless, you know, you want to use your teapot for tea.

• Sorbet in espresso cups. I once had friends over for a multi-course meal and added a full course by serving palate-cleansing sorbet in espresso cups in between the soup and the entrée courses. It was super-simple, super-cute and a hit.

• Candy in vases, a la candy buffet-style. At a Wolfgang Puck event I attended, I swear the Gummy Worms and Runts were served in sleek clear vases of varying heights. (Actually — though I just swore this is true, don’t quote me on that. But they certainly looked like vases.) If you do the same, make sure the vases are wide enough to fit a hand.

• Asian soup spoons with individual hors d’oeuvres.

Have other creative takes? By all means, add to the list. 

Comments

Dig the idea of serving sorbet in between courses--so fun (and so easy!).

I love this! I saw something somewhat related posted on Design*Sponge that is equally cute. It is a DIY cake stand made out of plates (my description is not doing it justice). Here is the link to the post: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/06/wingnut-brooklyn.html and to the item on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12695769

Love these ideas! So clever.

My own standbys are:
-- wooden cutting boards as cheese trays
-- salad bowl filled with ice to serve beverages
-- trifle bowls as punch bowls -- because, seriously, how often do you eat a trifle? And punch is one of my favorite party staples, especially with a citrus-studded ice ring. :)

I use big, thick coffee mugs for EVERYTHING... flowers, candy, whatever! I even use some basic white mugs that came with our dinnerware set for au jus sauce when making French Dip sandwiches.