Decorating For A "Thank You" Dinner

 

Last week, our church held a dinner to say 'thank you' to everyone who serves in our church.....nursery workers, Sunday School teachers, ushers, and everyone in between. It was a sweet time of fellowship, encouragement, and prayer.
 
Hubster was on the committee that planned the dinner and I was asked to decorate the tables.

 

Since the entrée was lasagna, I tried to base the decorations a little bit on an Italian dinner theme. The tables were covered with red checked tablecloths a la Lady And The Tramp.

 

My sister-in-law and mother-in-law made favors that were a Volunteer's Survival Kit. They included cute little items with Bible verses to go with them that were placed in a white lunch bag and tied with red ribbon. 

 

The centerpieces were placed on white paper doilies and included a little grouping of three different things.

 



 

 

 

I found cans of crushed tomatoes with these great graphic labels at Save-A-Lot. I emptied them out (yes, I have lots of crushed tomatoes in my freezer now), and planted a tomato plant, parsley, and basil in each of them.

 



The second item was a mason jar with a photo in oil. If you're on Pinterest at all you've probably seen these. I've been waiting for just the right opportunity to try making them and I was happy with the way they turned out. I used photos of different folks who serve in our church and people seemed to enjoy looking around at the different photos.

The one pictured above is Hubster teaching Sunday School....in a jar. Ha!  In the jar below is a picture of our church that I used on the food table.

 

The third item in the centerpiece cluster were these cute Italian sparkling lemonade bottles that I found at World Market. (Yes, my family drank all the lemonade!) When I saw them, I thought they would look good alongside the tomato cans. When I got home, I was actually amazed at how well the colors went together. I used faux flowers in them. I would've like to use fresh, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find what I wanted at the last minute. I knew I wouldn't have time on the day of the dinner to go running around looking for flowers so I just went with the fake ones. I actually found these at the Dollar Tree so they were a lot less expensive than what fresh would've been too.

 

 



For the main food table I used an inexpensive chalkboard I found at JoAnne's and did this embellished 'Thank You.'  I found this great example here and used it for my inspiration. Have to give credit where credit is due.

 

I flanked the chalkboard with the plants, flowers, and a photo jar.

 



 

 

It  really was a lovely dinner. A bunch of people worked hard to create an evening to bless those who serve faithfully and selflessly in our church. My contribution was only a small part. I enjoyed putting it all together. It's fun when you can up with a theme and just go with it.