Decorating Ideas for Low-Country Boil Parties

A Low-Country boil is the quintessential southern outdoor dinner that is not just for southerners anymore. It is a delicious self-serve meal made with shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn. The Low-Country boil has its roots in the rural, coastal regions of the South. When decorating, think simple, coastal, and rustic.

The focus of the serving table should be the food. Cover a large table with butcher paper and serve the cooked food in the center of the table. One serving idea would be to line a large aluminum tub with butcher paper, place it on the table, and pour the food into it. Surround the food with large wooden bowls filled with whatever bread you are serving. On one end of the table fill a large aluminum tub with ice, beer, sodas, bottled tea, bottled water, or other beverages. On the other end place a large vase filled with fresh flowers.

Provide tables for sitting and eating near the serving table. Cover the tables in burlap. Set each place with a red-checkered plate and a small plastic pail. In the pail place flatware that has been wrapped in a large napkin and tied with raffia. Include individual packets of salt, pepper, and other condiments as well as packets of hand wipes in the pail. Guests can use the pail for shrimp peels while eating. In the center of the table, place a low bowl filled with water and float hydrangea, azalea, or camellia blossoms. Surround these with small mason jars lined with sand and place a votive candle in the sand.

Tie battery-operated paper lanterns onto lengths of rope and string all around the serving and eating area. Add strings of white lights that are intermingled with the lanterns. Lanterns and lights can be hung in rows or a crisscross pattern. The pattern will likely be determined by the availability of tall posts on which to secure the lights.

Place old fish traps or lobster traps on top of bales of hay that are randomly stacked around the entire area. Drape these with old rope, floats, fish nets, and dock buoys. Lean an old wooden boat against a wall or post and secure it. Add a pair of old white shrimper's boots on one of the hay stacks. Anything boating or marine oriented can be used.