How To Fold A Napkin: The Tree and The Tuxedo

Looking to impress guests at your next dinner party? Rick Mayhew, from Decorations by Rick, shows us how to fold napkins in a way that lends class, originality and memorability to your table setting.

To fold a napkin tree: 

1. Start by folding your napkin in half, and then in half again. You should end up with a square.
2. Rotate the square into a diamond, so that the loose ends are closest to you, then fold the top layer of the loose end up towards the opposite point. Don’t meet the top point completely; leave about half an inch of a border between the two. You should still have a diamond shape before you.
3. Repeat this step with the next loose layer, bringing it upwards towards the top point, but leaving about a half an inch between the newly folded layer and the layer before. Repeat this until no loose layers remain.
4. Flip the napkin face down.
5. Take the left most point and fold it so that it meets the right side. Do the same with the right most point.
6. Flip the napkin face up. You should have five V’s before you.
7. Take the top most V and flip it up. Take the second V and flip it up, also tucking it into upturned V above it. Repeat this step until no V’s remain.
8. You should have your tree at this point. Add a piece of licorice to make the stump.

To fold a tuxedo napkin:

1. Place your napkin like a diamond.
2. Take the top corner down and fold it towards you, leaving you with an inverted triangle.
3. Roll the top edge back twice, approximately half an inch.
4. Place your finger in the middle of the roll you just did, and then bring the right and left most points down, meeting them at the bottom most part of the triangle.
5. Turn the napkin face down.
6. Again, take the right and left most points towards the middle.
7. Fold the bottom half way up.
8. Turn the napkin face up.
9. You should now have your dinner jacket. Use macaroni pasta to simulate a bowtie.