Tour of Tables - A "Fun"draiser

Where can you celebrate Christmas in October, salute our fighting men and women in the armed forces, have a fiesta and raise money for a worthy cause all at the same time?

You can do that, and more, at the Tour of Tables, a popular fundraising event that's held annually in my town.

For the past fourteen years, the Tour of Tables event has been held each fall to benefit the local medical center. The current recipient of the funds is the medical center's hospice program.

Between twenty and thirty people volunteer to be table hostesses. It is then each hostess' responsibility to create a theme table and sell eight luncheon tickets to fill her table. The hostess also names her table and writes a description for the program.

The evening before the event, the venue is buzzing with preparation. Hostesses carry in box after box of china, glassware, linens and table accessories and set up their tables, adjusting every little detail until the table is picture perfect.

On the morning of the fundraiser, the doors open at 9 a.m. People may purchase viewing tickets and have a cup of coffee and a donut, and leisurely take in all the interesting tablescapes.

At 11 a.m., the luncheon ticket holders come in to see the tables and often take photos. The hostesses mingle with their guests until the food is served.

Lunch begins at noon. Clear plastic plates are placed on the elaborate place setting, minimizing clean up.

After dessert is eaten, there is a program. The program features an inspirational speaker. There have been some good speakers through the years, people who have brought tears to the eyes of listeners often followed quickly by giggles.

The day of the Tour of Tables, attendees sign up to host a table for the event in the coming year, and the preparations begin anew.

I have hosted a table for the past decade, first with the help of my mother and later with a friend and also with my sister. The hospice program is a good cause and, in fact, benefited my family greatly during my mother's final illness 7 years ago.

Creating tablescapes has become a hobby of mine. It's a challenge to come up with a new theme and figure out how to execute it each year.

These have been some of my favorite table themes during the past ten years:

Colors of the Caribbean - This was my first table. My mother and I co-hosted. We used my Fiesta dishes in shades of turquoise, periwinkle blue and seafoam green. We hot glued small sand dollars to the place cards. There were mirror tiles on the table to simulate water and sand and seashells sprinkled down the center. We used shells as votive holders. We also used small sailboats and seagulls to decorate the table.

September Splendor - My friend, Sandy, and I collaborated on this tablescape. We found some beautiful fabric with a leaf design in fall colors and made a table cloth from it. We used my white on white wedding china and mixed it with thrift store salad plates I'd found in different leaf patterns. We repeated the leaf motif on our place cards and found leaf shaped cookies to put on each plate. We placed a long fall leaf garland down the middle of the table. The large centerpiece on the table consisted of branches, wildflowers and weeds I found along the road.

My Little Punkin - A happy jack-o-lantern tablecloth I saw in a sale catalog inspired this theme. I used my dark green Fiesta plates on the orange, green and purple tablecloth. I found large candy corn-shaped candles and candy corn candy dishes which I, naturally, filled with candy corn. Place cards were small plastic jack-o-lanterns upon which I'd written the guests names. The centerpiece was three real pumpkins which I'd hollowed out. I put the table sign in the center of one. I placed a large candle in one pumpkin and in the last pumpkin I put a pot of yellow mums. I served my guests a pumpkin dessert.

Apples and Chalkdust - I'm a first grade teacher, and in one years' time I received three copies of the same book from students and friends. It was entitled "Apples and Chalkdust". I knew that would be a great table theme. I used my dark green and deep red (cinnabar) Fiesta dishes along with apple-themed everything! It was a good opportunity to use the many apple gifts I've been given over the years. Each guest received an apple-shaped candle for their favor. I found small chalkboards in the Oriental Trading Catalog and used them as place cards, writing each table guest's name in chalk.

White Christmas - I used my white china once again and, in fact, the entire table was clothed in white accented with touches of silver. I had practiced this table theme several months ahead as I first used the theme at home when we hosted my husband's family's Christmas Eve celebration. I hid a CD player under the table which was set up to play Bing Crosby's holiday classic, White Christmas, over and over. I served white Jordan almonds to my table guests.

Some other table themes seen at the Tour of Tables in past years are "All Decked Out" (featuring playing cards), "A Salute to Our Soldier", "Bunny Rabbit Land", "Oh, You Beautiful Doll!" (using the hostess' doll collection), "Nothing Runs Like a Deere" (John Deere plates) and "Tropical Paradise".

For me, the Tour of Tables is a fun opportunity to join the "ladies who lunch" and satisfy my creative side at the same time. Supporting a worthy cause is just the frosting on the cake.