by Susan Hibberd

Created on: May 26, 2009

Throwing a buffet is a great way to celebrate an event or get to know your neighbours better. Because people are getting up and walking around they have much more opportunity to interact than at a traditional sit-down meal.

You can make your buffet even more exciting by the addition of great decorations around the room and on the buffet table itself.

Firstly, choose a color scheme, and find a cloth that matches this. If you don't have a large enough cloth, use a bedsheet.

Now, consider your theme. Choose something that is dear to the heart of you or your person you are throwing the party for. This can be taken on into many different areas of the wedding. See my other articles on non-traditional weddings.

If they don't have a particular hobby, choose flowers or additional decorations in an accent color. Pick out one or two matching colors and make everything match. Accent the arrangement with witty reminders of your hobby. Find some miniature golf clubs, tennis rackets or surf boards to add to the arrangements. Try a gardening theme and add in tiny flowerpots and child's gardening trowels. Pick a car theme and add in car polish, a chamois leather, and some driving gloves. For a sporty theme, just add things to do with the sport - try golf, with socks, gloves, balls, tees and a scorecard. Just one or two little things stuck in the arrangements will look funky, too many will just look odd, so hold back!

Next, think about the type of guest you will be having at your party. Will they be mainly children, families, or older people? If your guests are older, you can opt for a more sophisticated theme. If there will be a lot of children attending, you can emphasize the lighter side of the celebration.

Where will the decoration go? If you have unlimited space, you centerpiece can be as large as you like. If it has to fit between the dishes on your table, you need to take this into consideration in your design. Make sure that your theme is followed through to the plates you use, the napkins and any labels you use for the dishes of food.

If you are going for a classic theme, for a wedding anniversary, for example, use a fabulous flower arrangement, and arrange small items around the central block. Use other flowers, faux flowers, tiny cakes, small presents etc.

You could take food as your theme and use a big basket of goodies, surrounded by oranges and nuts. These can form part of the buffet. Find a chef who can make you flowers out of vegetables and fruit for

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