There are two key elements to 'dressing' up a takeaway. Dress yourself and dress the table! I think dressing yourself up is relatively easy to interpret - a nice shirt, some clean trousers, you don't have to go mad but at least make it obvious that you've made an effort!
Next, you might want to plan a little note and menu so that your girlfriend knows to dress up too, if she doesn't then she's going to be sat there feeling pretty uncomfortable. The best thing would be a nice handwritten note the morning of your 'date' telling her that you have something planned for the evening, nothing fancy, just a takeaway but that it might be fun if she dresses up. If you don't want to handwrite the note then you could use one of the borders/backgrounds below to match the menu that you're going to make!
Don't worry, I've made the menu nice and easy for you. Download the border that you like below and then write out your menu on top of it (either in Publisher/Word or if you have neat handwriting, by hand). If you want to make it a bit different you could print it on coloured paper, some thick paper or laminate it, depending on what you have available! The idea of this is just to add that extra touch to the evening. It doesn't matter whether you're having something as standard as a Chicken Korma, you can still make it sound really fancy! If you can afford it, it's always nice to get all the extra bits too. So instead of just buying your standard Korma, buy some naan breads, samosas and aloo gobi to go with it! To make it extra fancy you could buy some poppadums and chutney to make a starter! If you want to save a little bit of money you could always buy the extras (e.g. naan bread, chutney, doughballs etc) from the supermarket but that does mean a bit more work for you! If you're getting a Chinese takeaway then get some fortune cookies (or make them and add your own fortunes!) and chopsticks. If neither of you can use chopsticks then you could buy beginners' chopsticks. I've found two on Amazon, one more traditional looking, one black/red, but you may be able to buy them in local cookery shops as well. You could also buy some chopstick rests to go with them and really complete the look!
To give you an idea of how to jazz up your menu I've written a sample menu for a pizza takeaway.
If you can think of any ways to 'embellish' your menu then go ahead. For example on my menu I've written Vanilla Gelato instead of vanilla ice cream (although if you're going to be pedantic they are not exactly the same thing but for the purposes of this menu, I think you can get away with it). I've also written 'pizza topped with' instead of just American Hot Pizza. If you're going to order Bombay Potatoes, write them as Bombay Aloo instead! There are plenty of ways to get creative with your menu so go mad!
If you do have something like Vanilla Gelato on the menu then it would be nice to buy something more expensive that Wall's standard and some of those chocolate straws to go with them too. If you're having Pizza then you could some salad on the table (and on your menu!). Think about presentation too, don't just throw your curry on the plate, arrange it neatly - it's all of these little touches that will add to the night and make it amazing!
Here are all of the borders/backgrounds that I've designed for you to use for your menus. Hopefully you should be able to right click and choose 'save as'. Afterwards there'll be some funky fonts that you can download to make it look even better!
Hopefully you'll have found that at least one of the borders above will look really good with your menu or will at least have inspired you to create your own border. So next there are a few different fonts which you can download to make the text look just as good as the border!
Ok so we've made the menu. Next is the table decoration. If you've ever been out for a nice dinner, you'll notice all of the little touches that go into decorating the table and the restaurant to make it all the more romantic. Below is a list of all the things you'll need to decorate your table!
- A Nice Tablecloth - you can get these all over the place. If you have a Wilkinson or Argos nearby then you can pick up a few different colours in there for pretty good prices. I'd suggest a deep red, purple or black or if you're feeling brave you could go for a white tablecloth with all of the other accessories in red. Don't forget to check the size of your table before you go tablecloth shopping though!
- Some Placemats - to go with the tablecloth. You can either choose some cotton ones or some corkboard ones. Try and pick ones that will go well with the tablecloth that you've bought though! Argos do some low priced ones that would go nicely with red, purple or black tablecloths.
- A Bottle of Wine - easy rule, red should be served at room temperature and white chilled. No need to go crazy with the bottle. If you know your girlfriend's favourite wine then it might be nice to buy that, if not go with your best pick! If you go to a specialist wine shop instead of the local supermarket, they should also be able to advise you which wines would go nicely with different curries. If you're feeling really extravagant though you could even buy a nice bottle of champagne!
- Some Nice Wine Glasses - if you don't already own some then these ones from Argos look really pretty and would be a lovely addition to the dinner table!
- Napkins - to complete the look. You can either buy some really pretty patterned ones or some plain red, black or purple ones. If you get the chance to visit, Ikea do some really nicely priced, good quality coloured ones. You can usually find a small range in the supermarket or even sometimes card shops. If you want to make it extra special you could either buy some napkin rings, make some napkin rings or fold the napkins into funky shapes! To make them, just cut up a toilet roll into tubes of 1.5-2 inches and decorate. You could wrap them with ribbon, either straight around, or up and down around the tube. Or if you don't want to do anything too crazy, you could just buy a nice piece of ribbon (1 metre will be more than enough for 2 napkins) and tie it up. You could even attach a flower (from my last post) onto a toilet roll napkin ring or a pretty piece of ribbon and wrap it around the napkin. If you want to try napkin origami then take a look at this website.
- Scattered Rose Petals - ok so don't panic, you don't have to buy loads of roses and rip them up! You could buy paper or fabric petals (red or purple) online. You could also buy some party confetti to decorate the table or some pretty 'crystals'!
- Proper Place Setting - make sure all your cutlery is clean and laid out neatly next to your napkin. Correct setting is fork on the left, knife on the right and spoon either in the middle at the top or to the right of the knife. Simple!
- A Fresh Flower - one of the last touches would be a nice fresh flower. Depending on your girlfriend's preferences you could pick a single rose, a gerbera or even a freshly picked daffodil or something from the garden. Don't think you have to go crazy with expensive vases, it can simply sit in a glass of water.
- Candles - the final touch to your dinner table setting. Firstly, get a few lamps collected, plug them in, turn them on and then turn off the main lights. Then find some pretty candles that go nicely with your table setting. If you're somewhere with smoke alarms then you can buy some good 'fake' candles that don't have flames and therefore don't set off smoke alarms. Philips do some good rechargeable ones, a company called Mooncandles also have a range (although the reviews are quite mixed on Amazon) or the final option are these pretty hand crafted ones (in the picture below). If you have the luxury of no smoke alarms then some pretty candles, either plain or patterned would look really nice at the dinner table. You might want to avoid scented candles though as they might mess with the senses!
Hopefully the finished result will look something like this and your girlfriend will fall in love with it!
When your girlfriend arrives (hopefully after the takeaway delivery!) ask if she would like a glass of wine and ask her if she'd like to know what you have planned for dinner - this would be a good time to show her the menu you put together! If it's possible it would make it extra special if you could stop your girlfriend seeing the table until dinner is served.
Whilst you're eating your starters, don't forget that you can keep the main courses (in suitable dishes) warm in the oven - something around 140° should be enough. To make the difference between lazy takeaway and fancy meal, it's best to serve the food on (warmed) plates rather than serve yourselves from the takeaway cartons! If you're owed a favour by a friend you could also persuade them to be your waiter for the evening and serve you dinner at the table.
Whilst you're eating your starters, don't forget that you can keep the main courses (in suitable dishes) warm in the oven - something around 140° should be enough. To make the difference between lazy takeaway and fancy meal, it's best to serve the food on (warmed) plates rather than serve yourselves from the takeaway cartons! If you're owed a favour by a friend you could also persuade them to be your waiter for the evening and serve you dinner at the table.
Hopefully that should transform your evening and really impress your girlfriend! I just have one thing left to add - use your imagination, get creative and get romantic! Don't forget to send pictures or tell me how it went at lovefromlila@hotmail.com.
Love from lila xx
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