Feeding a Crowd? Trays for Eating on Your Lap

Elizabeth Passarella
Elizabeth Passarella
Elizabeth Passarella is the author of the essay collection Good Apple and a contributing editor at Southern Living. A former editor at Real Simple and Vogue, she has spent more than 20 years writing about food, travel, home design, and parenting in outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Parents, Martha Stewart Weddings, Coastal Living, Airbnb, and The Kitchn. Elizabeth grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and now lives with her husband and three children in New York City.
Follow
published Nov 5, 2010
pinterest
comments
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Growing up, we had these lightweight woven trays that we used at family gatherings when there wasn’t enough room for everyone at the table (a big stack of them sat on top of the refrigerator). With Thanksgiving approaching, we went looking for them. Turns out, they’re hard to find! But we found something similar, plus a few more good options.

1 / 5

Some of these are more expensive than others; ideally, if you’re handing them out to a big group, you want something inexpensive. But a couple of fancy ones might do if you live in an apartment and use trays during small dinner parties.

• 1. Square wood tray, $22 from West Elm.
• 2. Polywoven Tray, $5.98 from Amazon.
• 3. Bentwood Tray, $12.95 from Crate & Barrel.
• 4. Brown Bamboo Serving Tray, $9.99 from Party City.
• 5. Natural Bamboo Tray, $5 at Pier 1. (Tiny photo, but this is what we were looking for!)

What do you use when you have people on every couch, chair, ottoman, and stool? Paper plates? Nothing—just let them juggle their dinnerware?

Related: In Defense of Watching TV While You Eat

Filed in:
Entertaining & Gathering
thanksgiving