Brush up on these 5 easy-to-remember etiquette basics to be faux pas free for the holidays.
The holiday season is here and with it comes all the parties, celebrations, and traditional family dinners. Before heading out dressed in your holiday best make sure your table manners are as stellar as your outfit. Even if you’ve learned it all before, a quick manners refresher course is always a good idea. Use these five holiday table etiquette tips to feel confident and in control while breaking bread with your boss or your politeness-obsessed great aunt this season.
1. Place Your Napkin on Your Lap
As soon as you sit down, put your napkin in your lap. Napkins are usually folded in a basic square shape. Unfold it to make a rectangle and place it on your lap. If you need to leave the table during the meal, lay your napkin on your seat (not on the table) until you return.
**It is tradition for ladies to place the napkin over both legs while men drape it only over their left leg. This is so gentleman can stand up to greet someone coming to the table with a handshake while still holding onto their napkin.**
2. Find Your Bread Plate and Drink
The easiest way to find these on a formally set table is to use your hands. With palms facing down, connect your index finger and thumb to make a circle. Your left hand forms a “b” meaning the bread plate is on your left. Correspondingly, your right hand forms a “d” so you will find your drink glass on your right.
3. To Wait or Not to Wait to Eat
I am a traditionalist and a firm believer in waiting until everybody is served to eat. Especially when you are out to dinner. For meals at home, it is good manners to wait for everyone to be served or until the host or hostess has encouraged the table to start.
4. Salt and Pepper are Always a Pair
If someone asks you to pass the salt, make sure to pass the pepper too. This is an age old tradition with conflicting stories of how and why it came to be. No matter the origin, be sure to always pass this tabletop duo together.
5. Which Way Is Right?
The most important thing to remember when passing food at the dinner table is that all food should be passed in the same direction. Modern day customs encourage passing dishes to the right in a counter-clockwise direction. This is because most people are right-handed (sorry lefties) and because guests of honor normally sit to the right of the host and are served first.
**Second helpings can be passed in whatever direction is most convenient or practical.**
It really is the most wonderful time of the year and these five holiday table etiquette tips will help you celebrate the season with good manners and good cheer.
