Seder night is a challenge. There’s just so much to do and so many things to put on the table.
With so much “stuff” there, is anyone going to even notice those gorgeous new napkin rings or your gleaming flatware and crystal glasses?
Start with a formal setting: charger, dinner plate, appetizer plate, water glasses and wineglasses, four kinds of forks (salad, fish, meat and dessert), two knives (one for fish, one for meat), three spoons (appetizer, soup and tea) and dinner napkins.
Then there are the ceremonial foods and objects that need to be available to the seder leader — and sometimes making enough room means adding leaves to the table, putting two tables together or putting a round table at the end of a rectangular one.
Keep things as simple as possible. Use rectangular tables and get the smallest folding chairs you can find. You can get sturdy folding tables at home-improvement stores.
Here are some other tips:
Put candlesticks on a tray to catch melted wax and/or insert disposable aluminum bobeches into the socket of a candleholder to catch drips. After you light the candles, move them to the sideboard. It’s safer to keep burning candles away from a crowded table.
Some people use a three-tiered matzah holder that comes with a seder plate on top; others use embroidered matzah bags with dividers. In either case, they are placed directly in front of the leader.
For ceremonial foods, if you love your silver heirlooms, keep the horseradish, eggs and charoset in porcelain or glass bowls. Saltwater should go in a glass dish, too. You can put potatoes, greens and romaine lettuce in silver bowls, but you’ll work harder later trying to get out the water spots.
Remember to have a lot of bottles of wine, kiddush cups and matzah plates. It’s always better when everyone gets to make kiddush together. If you don’t have silver cups, small wineglasses will do nicely. Well-balanced, stable glassware is best. Stemware tends to tip over when the table shakes. Be sure to put a saucer underneath each cup to catch spills. There’s lots of moving around and the saucers help, but don’t necessarily prevent accidents — so keep plenty of cheap paper napkins or paper towels nearby.
Put the Haggadahs on top of the appetizer plate, under the dinner napkin, and make sure everyone has one.
Elijah’s cup usually sits right in the middle of the table, where your flowers normally go. Put the flowers on the sideboard or in the living room. Extra wine and the ice bucket can go on the sideboard, too.
When putting two tables together, make sure they are on the same level. If that’s impossible, use two separate tablecloths, or everything will tilt and fall if the cloth is pulled. Customize your tables by choosing yardage from your favorite fabric store. One family bought a brocaded stripe in red, gold and black, cut the cloth to the lengths needed, and it looked great against gold-trimmed ivory china and gold-plated flatware with ivory napkins.
Make a matching cloth for a small table to set up next to the leader. It can hold most of the ceremonial foods, extra matzah and some of the wine bottles.
And finally: Should you put a plastic tablecloth over the fabric cloth?
A good white linen damask tablecloth will be ruined forever by red wine. Stain-resistant fabrics are available, but you need another set for the second night, and you do spend time cleaning them. There are different grades of plastic, and you can sponge and wipe heavier kinds. Or use a thinner sheet, lift off, toss and replace.