Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, a man fell in love with a woman. The man gave the woman bling, the woman planned a party, and together the couple frolicked through Macy*s dreaming of their not too distant future home. The woman excitedly pointed to toasters and mixers and spatulas while the man dutifully scanned barcode after barcode. Eventually, the woman caught sight of the prettiest formal place settings. She envisioned holiday celebrations with joyful family members. They smiled at each other. A few more flicks of the scanner, a march down the aisle and 15 years of anniversary and birthday gifts later, the collection is complete; and, collecting dust in the china cabinet for 364 days of the year.

It has officially been 2 full months of Shelter-in-Place, wearing sweatpants and eating home-cooked meals in the kitchen.  If you were like us pre-quarantine, we ate out way too often.  Kid’s activities, running errands and fatigue led us everywhere from IHOP to Grand Lux Cafe.  Dining out changed the scenery and created memories of Sunday pre-Trader Joe’s trips to Moe’s and celebratory post swim meet dinners at Rainforest Cafe.  Why not change the dining scenery in your own home?

Whether you have your own collection or you inherited Great-Grandma’s Haviland, pull out the good stuff, gussy up your table and delight in a fancy dinner!  This does not mean you must lock yourself in the kitchen, creating culinary art which would put your Christmas Smorgasbord to shame.  Your family’s favorite recipe, spaghetti and a simple salad or even boxed mac & cheese are all acceptable meal options.  What you serve is less important than the memories you create.  Quite honestly, frozen pizza with Tang filled Waterford will be infinitely more amusing and unforgettable for your kids.

While you are at it, pull out your good candlesticks and give your kids creative reign over the centerpiece. 

Here are 3 easy, fun, kid-centric centerpiece ideas.

Idea 1:  Kids see beauty in nature which adults tend to miss. Children look at a dandelion and see a beautiful flower fit for a queen. Adults see a weed. Who is better fit to gather flowers and grasses and leaves for a centerpiece in quarantine than a child? I was surprised when my son returned with a bowl filled with these pink flowers. He submerged several of the flowers to hide the sticks. How clever!

Idea 2: If you live with a crafty kiddo, hand them a vase and ask them to fill it with paper flowers. Pipe cleaners, construction paper, markers, crayons, and tape will fill your vase a very creative arrangement. Your child may even lovingly fill the vase with blue tissue water to quench the flowers thirst.

Idea 3:  Have your kids create a fresh fruit arrangement in a pretty bowl or pitcher. As long as you have fruit on hand you will always have an easy centerpiece on hand.

Now that your table is set and your centerpiece is arranged, you may as well put on pants with a zipper… or, perhaps that is going too far.

Do you have any kid friendly centerpiece ideas? If so, share them in the comments.

In case you missed them, check out these other post in our series: Turn the Mundane into a Memory, A Spin on Snack Time, A Simple Switch to Lunch or Dinner and Turn Bedtime into an Adventure.

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