Open the storage room on November 28 and count what is left. If most of it is printed leaves and turkeys, you bought the season instead of the quarter. If most of it is deep red, green and ivory, you can put it straight back on a table in the second week of December.
That is the whole argument for thinking about autumn colors as a carry problem rather than a styling one.
The carry test
Before anything goes on the order, ask one question. Would this item look wrong at a corporate December dinner? If the answer is yes, it has to earn its place in November alone. If the answer is no, it can be bought deeper because it has a second season.
A printed turkey plate fails the test. A burgundy plate passes it. So does hunter green, so does ivory, and so does black. Almost nothing in a seasonal print collection passes, which is exactly why the Thanksgiving range here sits at about seventeen products and the solid color range sits past six hundred. The depth is deliberately in the part that carries.
Burgundy is the strongest carry color you can buy
It reads harvest in November and it reads formal in December, which no other warm color manages. Burgundy sturdy style 8.75 inch paper dinner plates ship 240 per case and 6.75 inch dessert plates match that. The 3 ply beverage napkins run 500 per case and the 3 ply dinner napkins 250 per case, with 2 ply luncheon napkins at 600 per case for higher volume service.
For linens, burgundy plastic table covers ship 12 per case at 54 inches by 108 inches, paper covers come 6 per case, 82 inch round plastic covers run 12 per case, and the 100 foot plastic banquet roll at 40 inches wide handles a long line. The 81 foot burgundy crepe streamer ships 12 packages per case.
Buy burgundy deeper than you think you need. It is the one autumn color that will still be moving in the third week of December.
Hunter green does the same job from the other side
Green is the underrated half of the pair. In October and November it reads woodland and harvest. In December it stops being autumn and starts being Christmas without you touching the order.
Hunter green covers the full range. Sturdy style 8.75 inch dinner plates and 10.25 inch banquet plates at 240 per case each, 6.75 inch dessert plates at 240 per case, 3 ply beverage napkins at 500 per case, 3 ply luncheon napkins at 500 per case, and 3 ply dinner napkins at 250 per case. Table covers come as 54 inch by 108 inch plastic at 12 per case, 82 inch rounds at 12 per case, and a 100 foot banquet roll. Sixteen ounce plastic cups ship 240 per case.
Pair hunter green with ivory in November and with red in December. Same cases, different room.
Pumpkin spice and ivory, and where each one stops
Pumpkin spice is the most autumn specific color worth stocking, and it is also the thinnest. The range here is about seven products, mainly the 100 foot orange banquet roll at 40 inches wide, 54 inch by 108 inch plastic table covers at 12 per case, and sturdy style 8.75 inch paper dinner plates at 240 per case. That is a strong accent and not a base. Buy it for the November tables and expect it to stop there.
Ivory is the opposite. Around twenty two products, and it carries into absolutely everything. Ivory paper table covers at 54 inches by 108 inches ship 6 per case, plastic covers 12 per case, 82 inch rounds 12 per case, and 2 ply beverage napkins run 1200 per case. It works under burgundy, under green, under gold, and it works at a January wedding.
What does not carry
Printed harvest tableware, and it is worth being blunt about it. Leaves, cornucopias and turkey prints have a hard stop on the fourth Thursday of November. There is nothing wrong with buying them, but buy them to a number you will genuinely use, because they will not be worth carrying twelve months.
The mistake is not buying them. The mistake is buying them at the same depth as burgundy plates.
Weight the order toward burgundy and hunter green, keep ivory underneath everything, and use pumpkin spice as the November only accent.
Placing a first order with us? PARTY10 takes 10% off, one use per customer.