Napkin rings: not just for fancy schmancy dinners

We use our napkin rings every day at our house. Lots of people feel that napkin rings are only for setting the table for a festive dinner, but their real purpose is to tell you which napkin belongs to whom. Because if you use cloth napkins, you usually use them for a few days – or at least a few meals – and no way you want to use someone else's napkin! {Somehow I can't imagine using paper napkins anymore, except for the occasional picnic or snack on the road.} Cloth napkins are so nice, and so easy to care for. I have piles of them in cotton and linen. Both wash up beautifully and just get softer and nicer with age (just like me).

We just got in a shipment of my favorite pewter napkin rings, and it may be the last of them. We bought up what we could from a company that, sadly, is going out of business. We got a good deal, so we're passing it on. They're all 50% off this weekend at Pomegranate, along with some other wonderful pewter pieces, from candlesticks to vases (great gifts, by the way).

Here's a fun dinner party trick. It only involves some serious collecting first, and some oversized glasses of wine with dinner. I love to find antique napkin rings with engraved names. Since many of these date back to the early 20th century or before, some have sweet, old-fashioned names on them. Give each person a new identity with their napkin ring alter ego, and have them make up stories as Mabel, Herbert or Bessie. At our house, Robert is also known as Three-fingered Louie. His antique silver napkin ring is engraved with "Louie:" that, combined with the accident he had awhile back in his woodshop, gives us the nickname. Pretty good for an aspiring blues musician...