Chinese New Year Festive Table Setting

For Year of the Dragon, I wanted to show you easy ways to dress up your table so you can enjoy a Simple Chinese New Year Dinner At Home.
Use lots of “red” which symbolizes good luck and anything you can find that has Dragon or Asian theme on it! This includes red packets with money in it to give to unmarried folks or kids.  I put little buddhas in red packets to give to Wok Stars or friends!  Tangerines, clementines, oranges represent good luck and prosperity. Give them as gifts to friends. The gold and red character paper is what Buddhists burn in their prayer ceremonies and can be bought at an Asian market.

This is my favorite Dragon plate and red mat I use for styling my dishes!

If you have access to an Asian store, buy those table mat and chopstick, napkin sets!  They’re all color coordinated and ready to go. I was given this set as a Chinese New Year gift by a chiropractor, who is also a  speaker and all round wonderful mom of Sophie and Wok Star, Dr. Maritza Paz.
Maritza’s lovely table mat & chopstick napkin came in very handy when I went on NBC Miami yesterday to show how to set an easy Chinese New Year festive table setting and cook up a Sizzling Shrimp dish!  More about the show here. Don’t forget to add some orchids if you can get them or any bright colored flowers would also be a wonderful addition.

If you can’t get to an Asian store, throw a Chinese New Year party (you have 2 weeks to do this in!), you’ll end up with nice gifts from friends!  That’s how I scored this beautiful handbag and a Monkey painting with lots of Chinese calligraphy.  It’s created by a dear friend, Marguerite Gil who’s a French ceramic artist, writer and radio show host!
Many Wok Stars who have my Dragon themed wok mitt set can use their mitts as a display when you’re not using them for cooking!
Here are a few of my table settings using ‘Dragon’ dishes I thought you might enjoy!

I didn’t realize how many Dragon dishes I had till I pulled things out for this post.
Well, have fun with your table setting…
Here’s one more Chinese New Year post with decorating ideas!