I LOVE those plates--so colorful and pretty! And I love how you used the different colored placemats with them too.

Did you make the pretty paper flowers yourself? They are perfect for this table along with the little hats and votives and that perfect silverware! Great job, OA.

Have an extra margarita and enjoy!

Luvs

Ohh OA...I love your new set of dishes, and I like the different colored centers. So many possibilities!! Wherever did you find them?
YOu hit the 'Fiesta Theme' right on the nail with this great color scheme. The bright colors of all your table linens are wonderful, and your flatware is just perfect with it all. Love the little Mexician hats..are they S&P?
great job.
jane

Ha..Ha...Luvs, looks like we were posting at the same time with the same thoughts!

OA,
What a fun table!! Love all the details - the flowers, the mexican hats and all the colors you have pulled together!

Enjoy your mexican fiesta. :)

Mo

What a great table setting, the plates are perfect for a fiesta. Is that your dining room or a dining area? It's wonderful! Does the table fold out of the cabinet? I'd love something like that. - Gail

Luvs, Yep. I did make the flowers. Years ago, when I taught second grade, I had my kids make dozens of them around Cinco de Mayo. Some they took home, but the majority I saved for the End-of-the-Year Party.

Slinkey, You guessed it. The hats are salt and peppers. You're so nice to mention my flatware. It's new too!

Ncnana, Gald you liked the fiesta table. Here's the story on the pullout table: Some years ago, when we became Empty Nesters, we had a bar built in the area where our family room dining table stood. This was a mutual decision, but I did miss the regular table, as I like to set up different table settings (as you might have guessed from my attendance here on the Forum). I still set up little place settings, but I like sitting in a REAL CHAIR once in a while. And I like sitting across from the person with whom I'm sharing a dinner. (Even when we were dating, I preferred sitting across from my future husband rather than snuggling next to him in a booth.) In addition, our formal dining table is always set up to seat at least six, so it felt funny to use it for just the two of us. I suppose that's more information than you really wanted to know. At any rate, I called a carpenter and had him retro fit a cabinet in the family room with a pullout table.
I have pictures I sent to the carpenter for his album.
{{gwi:1406031}} xx {{gwi:1406032}} xx {{gwi:1406033}}

OA, great tablescape! Very festive-fiesta looking! Those plates are wonderful and I can see why you fell in love with them. All the other accessories coordinate well with them. That pull-out table is a terrific idea, gives you a nice intimate area to eat (& decorate!)yet you can put it away and have just the built-in look. The shelves also give you a special place to display pics and pretties! Thanks for giving us some more eye candy - you seem to be the ambitious one around here lately!

DD

OA, NOT too much info. Your cabinetry is a neat as I thought it was. We don't have a family room, just a small den, but I once had something similar, on a smaller scale in mind. Look at all that dish hiding storage to boot. Thanks for sharing. - Gail

Wow, what a nice setting and choice of dishes. Sweet! I Love 'em too and your table is the best idea. Now I have the rest of the story on the flowers you were talking about in your last post. Amazing that you've been able to keep them looking so good for years. Must be fun to have this area with all your dishes to play in. Punk

I love your Cinco de Mayo table, OA! The new dishes are wonderful . . . very Mexican/Southwestern (out here, we'd say " very New Mexican)! I especially like that the centers are all different. I keep seeing all of you with your colored-handled flatware and, now after seeing yours today, I'm determined to get some of my own. Yours look wonderful with the new dishes! Your dinner sounds like it was very yummy . . . BUT the thing I'm most impressed with is your pull-out table!!! Brilliant idea and the entire built-in cabinet area is wonderful!
OK, now I'm off to download my own Cinco pics.
Lynn

Beautiful table! I love the dishes.

I just bought a set of the colored handled flatware myself. I found a set that was multi-colored handles at Penney's and almost bought it but the green was not quite a lime color, which I needed. Then I found a set at TJ Maxx that was much better. I will be using it this weekend on on Fiesta party. Pictures of it will be during the weekend. We have had so much rain---again all night. So, my decorating and finishing with the screened porch might not get done in time for my party! We will go ahead with the party---rain or shine and with or without the decor being done. We may just have the inaugural porch party with only the furniture and a table.

I found some great fiesta looking material at Hobby Lobby that I bought for a tablecloth and have everything ready to go. I would love to have some of the paper flowers. I have made them in the past, but can't remember how. I looked everywhere for them to buy. Oh well. I have a very festive party planned---it is just not until the weekend.

However, I did do a table yesterday for dinner in honor of Cinco de Mayo. I used my existing Southwest dishes. They are in a lighter subdued peachy color. They are the color of my kitchen and although they are Southwestern in pattern, they don't have the punch that Cinco colors have. My battery died in the camera, so I will have to take photos after it charges. I will share those later today. Again, it is not an authentic looking Cinco table due to the color scheme, but was my tribute to May 5.

I hope others have photos to share. Our large Cinco celebration was canceled on campus due to the flu scare. We have numerous school distrist around us shut down including Fort Worth ISD, which is only 90 miles from us. We have a professor who is sick with a flu and is not allowed on campus due to the scare. They are waiting on testing to know if it is the H1N1 version. The school where my daughter works has several cases of the flu that they are also waiting on testing to determine what type of flu.

The Cinco campus celebration is always a big community wide event. I hated to see it cancelled. It was just too big of risk to have hundreds on campus at this time with finals being next week.

PD,
Check these out. Three pages of colored flatware. Very pricey for occasional use, but would be fun to be able to set out. Great luau/tiki ones.

Here is a link that might be useful: Multi-colored flatware

Thanks for the link. I will check it out. I found the set for 4 at Penney's on clearance for $15, but the green was not the color that I wanted. DD has a placesetting for 4 in both lime green and also one in bright orange. She is living at home and I rooted around in the boxes stored in my garage and found it. I planned to use it until I found some. I got a setting for four at TJ Max for $10!

I will use it with my DDs this weekend when I need a enough for 12.

That is so colorful! And I love your little hats too..
Very festive table for sure..I love it..
I like the table you had done! Very clever!

Here's my Cinco de Mayo table. Like I said, we don't care for Mexican food, so no refried beans here!

We had soft burrito filled with chicken strips, lettuce, cheese tomato, etc...very mild!

For thoe of you who don't remember, that parrot plate was part of the Pfatzgraf Bird of Paradise place settings I got for 86 cents for the whole place setting. Godd for cinco de mayo..

I thought we were putting all the Cinco tables in one thread? Hope I didn't make a mistake! ( beside the typo on good above..) :)

I thought we were going to do that too. I vote for doing it from now on. Makes it easier to look up a year later too! Plus, I like scrolling through all the previously posted settings again while making my way to the newly posted one.

What does everyone else think?

Kathleen,
I looked high and low for mini maracas too use for napkin rings. Anything I found looked too plastic. Yours are great - and they come with the ring ready to thread the napkin through.
I paid FULL PRICE for my new dishes. I did shop, and bought at the lowest I could find, but they weren't on sale. And then you go and display your place settings for 89 cents. OUCH. I'm feeling the error of my ways. I got caught up in my addicition. Yours are great plates by the way.
OA

Kathleen, your table turned out so pretty and colorful too! Love your mini maracas and especially the ones on the napkin ring. The little details really do make an impression, don't they? Love those bird plates and your placemats too, and the yellow flower just makes the whole thing pop! Luvs

I'm saving the Cinco de Mayo Tables in our Tablesetting album, ladies. So colorful and pretty. I've tried to figure a way to "move" this album to our Inspiration albums instead of it being on my front page, but it won't move. I'd have to redo the whole thing. Darn it.

OA, your neat dishes look patterned after Mexican serapes.
Very neat dishes you found. And that huge cabinet with the pull-out table is GREAT.

hugs, Karen

Kathleen, very festive table! Those plates just "make" it, love the bird on the branch. Great napkin rings! Your menu sounds yummy as well!

DD

Kathleen, I love your napkin rings and the dishes. The chili pepper plate holding the meat is wonderful. Very festive and inspiring table.

OA, the big maracas are from the dollar store..
The napkin rings are wood and from Pottery Barn as are the placemats,,and I didn't have any margaritas before I typed that..please excuse the typos..oh boy!
Thanks, Ladies..your kind words are always appreciated..
And Karen, you are very appreciated for doing the albums..really! Thank you!

The Bird of Paradise place setting was .86 cents, OA, 3 cents is 3 cents, LOL..And really, I can see why..They are a bit gaudy, but fun for Cinco and some other time when it will raise eyebrows...:) and who could NOT buy 4 place settings for less than 4.00..not me!
Here they are toned down a little with blue..the bowl is huge and had that parrot on it!

There's a blue line around the plate..