Hop to it: Buy now or regret later Easter gifts to give hosts and hostesses that are not chocolate.
If you’ve been invited to lunch this Easter weekend, don’t ask what’s for lunch. Instead, offer to help out, either by setting the table, however simply, or by bringing a couple of bottles of bubbles, alcohol and non-alcoholic varieties.
Don't bring chocolate.
Let’s get fizzical
Rock up with some pink lemonade, some bubbly, and a set or two of Tjarlek cocktail saucers, 30 cl each, which feature mixed colour stems, and cost €19 per pack of four at Ikea.
What’s for dinner?
Serve primrose yellow soft felt cutlery holders, and you have instant Easter appeal.
A set of four costs €10 at Meadows & Byrne.
Hot plate protectors
Serve hot plates on these 30-cm Egnsnelle place mats, which come in muted green and fawn polyester prints that will protect dining tables.
Prices are €3.50 each in JYSK stores.
Pops of colour
Add a pop of colour to the guest w.c. that spells sprint.
These gingham terry hand towels come in green, blue, pink or ochre options. They cost €18 from Belfast-based Anthropologie.
Flexible, well-upholstered furniture
Brendan Courtney’s new home and garden range for EZ Living Interiors is luxe enough for use both inside and outdoors.
Pictured is Tripoli, an acacia dining set with well-upholstered seating, that is currently at an introductory price of €1,999.
It normally sells for €2,199.
Bag it and have it delivered.
Curtain calls
Welcome spring in with a window treatment refresh.
Choose Brera Arte, a squiggle of a stripe in fuchsia, €194 per metre or Osier Damasse, the bolder floral print, to the right of the shot, €123 per metre, from Designers Guild stockists.
Scatter colourful cushions to welcome guests
Having house guests? The very organised may have time to order and purchase a new bed, such as DFS’s Artio king-size, shown.
In the remaining tight time frame, scatter bolsters and squares to lift the look of existing beds.
Prices at DFS range from €39 for Barnstown and Darcy styles, while Jules’ Gilmorton costs €50 and Amanda Holden’s velvet striped Luvvie costs €69.
