Kick Off 2022 with Style and Panache!
We made it to 2022! And with the new year, we are able to reset and refresh, while getting a new perspective to carry us through the next 365 days. It’s the perfect time to review the past year and evaluate what you learned and how you grew. It’s also the ideal time to look ahead, set goals and start anew.
Top on the list for 2022 should be intimate gatherings with treasured friends and family with pure joy in the camaraderie and companionship, spent over a beautiful meal together. This is more cherished and valued than ever. And nothing brings people together more than a great meal, laughter, conversation and building memories.
To kick off home entertaining for 2022, we suggest reassessing your current stash of tabletop and serveware and see what pieces you are missing and need to add to your collection.
Stunning Serving Trays
First and foremost, take a look at your large scale serving tray collection. Do you need large trays to gather your barware, make cocktails, serve guests aperitifs? How about large trays with handles, used as home décor, and placed on top of buffet tables, console tables or coffee tables? These are great places to gather a finely curated collection of home accessories, as well as functional items, like remote controls or a cup of coffee.
Don’t forget about smaller scale trays, too. These are excellent for charcuterie for two, appetizers and dips or serving your favorite sweet treat, such as a pastry or strudel. Julia Knight also has a broad range of stunning vanity trays for your bathroom and dressing room. No matter what your color palette or if you prefer a more modern or traditional viewpoint in home decor, our vast collection will be sure to have the perfect piece to suit your needs.
How many trays should you have on hand? That’s a great question that many have asked the team at Julia Knight. To recap, we suggest keeping three to four trays in your repertoire. The first, a large serving tray with handles for serving cocktails and beverages. The second is used to create a gorgeous meat, cheese and artisanal bread charcuterie tray. The third tray is for the perfumes, hand towels and jewelry in the powder room. And the forth can be used for home décor and also as back up for additional serving pieces as back up for impromptu parties or Sunday dinner with the family.
Beautiful Bowls in Every Size
No one but Julia Knight offers such a wide selection of serving bowls for every single occasion. From petite and small bowls to medium and large bowls, stacking bowls or gala bowls, we really have you covered. If you prefer sand cast aluminum or stainless steel, we have an abundance of options in a plethora of colors and finishes.
Whether you're serving guests or simply yourself, the small bowls, 4” to 6”, are great for dips, sauces, nuts, olives, ice cream or meal prep. These bowls are small in stature but make up there worth in functionality. If you don’t do a lot of meal prep, you might want to consider having 2-4 of these particular size bowls on hand. However, if you enjoy cooking at home, and gathering and arranging your ingredients in preparation, a quantity of 4-8 would more than likely meet your needs for your mise en’ place.
Medium size serving bowls, typically 8” to 12”, are an important staple in every home. They are a great choice for serving favorite family sides, robust salads, artisanal rolls, chips or popcorn. Typically, you would use a medium size bowl for serving a family or group of four to six people, or on a buffet table, while serving a small dinner party or group. For a family of four or more, it would be appropriate to have two to three bowls on hand. This would cover a starter salad and two sides served at each meal. If you tend to host quite a few dinner parties, the it would be worthwhile to have a total of three to five bowls available. This eliminates the ‘shuffle’ when guests show up with contributions to the meal, but not the serving bowl to share the meal in. Having a selection of medium size bowls on hand will make it easy to showcase your dishes as well as what your guests provide.
Large sized serving bowls can range from 12” to 15” and are awesome for hosting family holidays, friends for brunch or larger scale dinner parties. Bowls this size are used for hearty side dishes or main course meals, such as spaghetti and meatballs, antipasto, fruit salads or a mixed green salad. If it’s just you and you really love to host parties, or you are a family of four to six, you will want to consider having two of the large size serving bowls on hand. If you have four to six in your family and also like to host a soiree a couple times a year, then you will definitely want to have two to four large serving bowls.
Serving Style with Stylish Serving Utensils
Not to be missed, serving utensils create a pretty viewpoint as an accompaniment to your serveware collection. From daily used items, such as spreaders and salad serving sets, to more task specific items like meat forks, cake knives or cake servers, the variety of utensils that Julia Knigh provides, are available are expansive.
For the spreaders, we recommend having three to five available; for your daily use, for guests and for dinner parties and/or brunch. It’s definitely important to have two to four salad serving sets available. Whether you use these as a set or break them up to use the spoon and the salad fork, you will seriously get a huge amount of usage from these items. For larger parties or gatherings, you cannot have enough serving utensils on hand.
For the limited use items, such as the cake knife or cake server, we recommend having two of each of these items in the drawer. True, you may not use them everyday, but when you need them, they will be the perfect go-to for that gorgeous chocolate torte or that stunning piece of homemade apple pie.
How to Collect Your Collection
Building up your reserve of the perfect collection of tabletop and serveware pieces can be a bit overwhelming. But be patient with yourself. The hostess with the mostess knows that creating this type of collection is established over a lifetime of purchases, gift giving and special moments. However, once you know you have everything you need, you’ll be able to host your families and friends with confidence and joy.
