One of my favorite ways to entertain in the summer is to throw a Seafood Boil!  This is something my husband and I do often. It’s so easy to pull together and most of the work can be done in advance.  At the end of our cocktail hour, we boil the shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob and sausage.  In a separate pot, I steam the crab legs.  More on that in another post.  Today it’s all about setting the table for a seafood boil.

Setting the Table for a Seafood Boil

Setting the table for a Seafood Boil can be as casual or fancy as you like.  Following are the essentials I use in my tablescapes.  Links for some of the products can be found at the end of this post.

Paper Table Cloths

Some people use newspaper to set the table but I prefer either brown craft paper or white butcher paper.  Have your guests put their empty crab and shrimp shells directly on the table.  After everyone leaves, you just have to roll the paper up and discard!  Love the easy clean up.

Tools to Open Crab Legs

Other essentials for the seafood are tools to open the crab legs.  You can use kitchen scissors and shellfish crackers.  However, the best tools we love are ones that a friend gave us.  They are these fabulous crab zippers, pictured above.   They turn a difficult task into an easy one.  You just insert the crab zipper at one end of the crab and zip up the crab leg.  It’s a great tool and a nice pop of color at the place setting.

Butter Warmers

Butter warmers are a must.  I just heat the butter in a large glass measuring cup and pour into the butter warmers right before serving.  You don’t want to light the candles for the butter warmers too early as the butter will over heat and start to splatter.

Towels for Napkins

Eating crab legs can be messy.  I have found the best napkins are kitchen towels.  You can buy them in bulk at discount stores such as TJ Maxx.

Wet Towels for Hands

At the end of the dinner, I pass around wet towels that I have rolled up and warmed in the microwave.  I also serve then with a slice of lemon which helps to get the seafood smell off your hands.

Intimate Table for Four

We recently had some dear friends over for an intimate evening of great conversation and delicious seafood.  For this seafood boil I just placed the brown craft paper as runners across the table.

I love the candlelit table at the end of the evening.

Seafood Boil for Eight

The other night we hosted a Seafood Boil for some of my husband’s clients.  It was extremely hot outside so I decided to host it in our screened in porch where we could enjoy the ceiling fan to cool us off.

My table only seats four.  When we want to seat eight, I use table pads as extenders.  It makes my 48″ round table a 60″ round and I can seat 8-10 people around it.

When I use my table extenders for a seafood boil, I always cover them with a plastic tablecloth before placing the paper on the table.

Supper Club Seafood Boil

A couple of years ago we hosted a Seafood Fest for our Supper Club on our lower deck.   I created menus on my computer which added a nice touch to each place setting.

I used portable plastic tables from Costco as we needed to seat 12.  I covered them with white plastic tablecloths and white butcher paper.  

Products for Seafood Boil Tablescape