Bridge Buddies Come for St. Patrick's Luncheon

I'm re-posting a luncheon that I served last March for my bridge buddies.  This is my contribution to Cuisine Kathleen's St. Patrick  Day's Party.  Isn't she sweet to do this? All of you ladies who take the time each week to host parties are heros in my book!

I rushed St. Patrick's Day a bit when I had my bridge group for lunch on Tuesday.  

I love a mix of high and low items with a bit of kitsch.

I started out with some felt placemats from Michael's.  There were three different patterns.

Then I used my plain gold banded Lenox for the underplate and this fern pattern china for the luncheon sized plate.  I found it at a tag sale and excitedly bought the service for twelve.  Then I proceeded to drop all twelve dinner plates and broke every one of them.  There wasn't even enough left to send to a restorer.  They were dust!

My favorite mis-matched silverplate and ivory handled knives were my choice for flatware.

The crystal was Waterford.  What else for St. Patrick's Day?  I placed the goblets on a sparkly foam cut-out from Michael's just to add some color and interest.

I wasn't serving bread today, so there was no call for butter, but I wanted to use these little butter pat dishes.   I settled on using them as individual salt and pepper dishes.

The centerpiece was very simple.  I used three blooming pots of shamrocks and stuck white carnations in them.

Don't you love the faux bois design on the porcelain basket?

I love to use a printed menu when we entertain.  I found a printed napkin ring that I downloaded from a site I found on Pinterest.  The white linen napkin from The Palm line of linens was folded into a pocket for the menu.

I used a silly little green dog as the image, also from Pinterest.  The quote at the bottom reads:

"May God give you....for every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise, and a blessing in each trial.  For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share,

 for every sigh a sweeet song and an answer for each prayer."  Unknown

A friend brought this to me at a St. Pat's dinner a couple of years ago.

More silliness:  the place cards were potatoes with a decorative ribbon and the names on flags.

The favors were dollar store garden gloves with tags that read, "I'm Lucky That We're Friends".  And I AM!!!

Appetizers were asparagus spears wrapped in puff pastry, herbed cheese, and prosciutto.  Just for today, I called them Leprechaun Wands.

These white ironstone footed bowls held the potato soup that I served with mini Reuben sandwiches.  (Corned beef, ya know?)

And dessert was super simple and pretty.  It was a pistachio parfait with crushed Lorna Doones in between layers.  Then I simply stuck a green plastic shamrock pick in the top.  These green depression glass plates and Juliska glasses made them look especially pretty.  I bought gold coins (from the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow) to scatter on the plates, but I couldn't find them for days.  Of course, I found them this morning.

I set up the coffee on a silver tray.  I used a lot of these elements for a St. Patrick's dinner party last year.  You can see that post here.

It is always so rewarding to entertain people who are appreciative, and these women are the best!  I would have them here every week.  We played a little bridge, but the eating and chatting were definitely the main event!

I'll share this post at the following parties:

Tablescape Thursday

Wow Us Wednesday

Home Sweet Home

Cuisine Kathleen

Seasonal Sundays