Wait, what?!? Back to school? Labor Day? How did summer slip by? Say goodbye to summer, if your family honors the holiday, with one last cookout. Shake off the doldrums and send summer off in vintage style.
ike the Fourth of July, there are no pre-determined color cues for Labor Day. Checks and plaids lend themselves particularly well to the look vintage look, but anything goes for mixing and matching outdoors.
Cover the table
No one wants a sliver from the old picnic table, or to eat off the plain beige blah of a folding table. Anything fun or colorful will do to cover them, including beach towels or throw blankets. You can find fab vintage BBQ-themed tablecloths online. The beauty of vintage tablecloths is that some are “pre-stained” for your convenience, but you could always use a clear vinyl protector if you don’t want to worry about adding to its patina.
Or try a vintage vinyl one, like this cutie from BoldFashionedHome on Etsy, $22.
Mix new and vintage if you MUST
Despite our VU motto of “friends never let friends use fake vintage,” I confess to using paper napkins, though I try to find them in themed designs. I also use plastic utensils, as my past attempts at reusable tableware resulted in too many winding up in the trash. I wrap the utensils in the napkins, and I like to think that perching them in a cute recipe card box redeems their lack of flair a bit.
Speaking of recipe boxes…
They are great and colorful helpers on the buffet table! I used them here to hold napkins, utensils, and corn cob holders. I’ve also used them to hold small necessities like sugar packets, toothpicks, and swizzle sticks, and have scattered them on side tables filled with nuts and candy. At setup time, I close the lids if I can, stack them on a tray or in a picnic basket with jars and bottles of condiments and haul them outside in one easy swipe. I have so many ideas for recipe boxes, I can feel another VU article brewing. Though some of my collector friends regularly find these gems in their local thrifts, I have bought most of mine on eBay and Etsy. Here’s a Facebook group devoted to collecting them.
Melamine is one of the most useful party helpers ever!
My melamine plates are over 20 years old – not quite vintage, but well on their way! They are so much nicer to eat from than paper plates, and so much better for the environment than disposable plastic. Find them in thrift stores and vintage shops. Mother Earth might even approve of buying new, if you promise to reuse them forever!
These cheery yellow cups from one of my VU hosts AuntHattiesAttic on Etsy will serve hot or cold for years to come, $54.99.
Carry and store with style
After the fun is over, a picnic basket (wicker or metal) is a convenient place to store your summer BBQ décor after the fun is over. They are easy to stack away, while we all dream of the smell of grilling hot dogs and the sound of summer laughter to come next year.
Here’s one from ShadeTreeClassics on Etsy, $28.
Need more vintage style for your cookout? Try these useful and oh-so-vintage finds available from my VU hosts!
Guest author Jennifer Speed is a long-time friend of the blog, the queen of vintage Christmas and an avid collector of Betty Crocker books, recipe boxes and vintage tablecloths. She’s active in a number of vintage collecting Facebook groups and is a whiz at getting stains out of things. And yes, she uses her vintage like a vintage lover should.
3 comments
I love all your ideas for celebrating Labor Day in vintage style, Jenni, especially the clever ways you’ve used your recipe box collection. Thanks for the inspiration! I’m impressed with your ingenuity.
Jenni, I also enjoyed your post and think the idea of using those great decorated recipe boxes in different ways is a good way to show off a collection and also to put them to good use. What I particularly liked was the idea of throwing a clear plastic tablecloth over a more precious one in order to save it some wear and tear as well as staining. I have a Vera spring flower tablecloth that I just love and I know if I keep washing it, the colors are going to fade. .
You have given me a whole host of ideas… this could be a recipe for elevating my decor or just collecting more ‘things’. Love the vintage squares in your photo too.