HANDOUT PHOTO

Need oven space for a big meal? Bed Bath & Beyond carries a three-tier chrome oven rack which is dishwasher-safe and folds flat for storage.

Entertaining season is upon us

Across the country, men and women are beginning to cast anxious glances at the calendar.

It's not the arrival of the snow, sleet and slush that has these hardy Canadians worried. Rather, it's the start of the unofficial entertaining season that's causing brows to furrow.

These would-be hosts relish the idea of time with friends and family, but often think they don't have the proper dinnerware, cooking skills or confidence necessary to pull off a successful soiree.

The apprehension isn't necessary. With a little bit of planning and just a few tools, entertaining can be a breeze.

It's easy, for example, to set the right tone from the start by not rushing guests to the table as soon as they're through the door. Instead, offer drinks and nibbles (which the French call amuse-gueule, or roughly translated, mouth amusers).

Bowls of seasoned olives, nuts or tapenade work, as does a cheese tray, although cheese is traditionally served at the end of a meal, followed by palate-cleansing fruit.

Consider picking up a few of the many terrific Canadian cheeses now being made and serve them on a simple board. PC Home has an affordable and attractive Acacia wood tray for $25, while Trudeau's pretty new oval Zebrawood tray, which comes with two knives, sells for $45. For retailers, go to trudeaucorp.com. To learn how to select cheese for a tray, go to dairygoodness.ca/en/consumers.

If the notion of cooking for a crowd makes you nervous, look to your local supermarket for prepared alternatives. Many now have a range of very good salads, entrees and desserts, or offer full catering options.

Longo's, for example, has a Thanksgiving meal kit that includes a pre-cooked four to six-pound turkey (vacuum-sealed for freshness), mashed potato, squash, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy for $89. Call 1-800-9-LONGOS for more information. For other recipe ideas, go to my blog.

For those who do love to bake or cook, there are new appliances that can help. KitchenAid just launched a limited edition 90th anniversary mixer (kitchenaid90.ca). Candy apple red, it features a glass bowl with pour spout, 10-speed side control and three accessories, and sells for about $400.

Hamilton Beach has a new 20-cup rice cooker with pre-programmed and timed settings for rice, soups and hot cereals. Useful for a large crowd, it sells for about $70. For availability, go to hamiltonbeach.ca.

For healthier fried foods, T-fal has just launched the ActiFry fryer, which cooks over two pounds of French fries with just a spoonful of oil. It sells for about $350. Go to nutritious-delicious.ca for more details.

A lack of oven space needn't stop you from preparing a large meal. Pick up a three-tier oven rack from Bed Bath & Beyond to increase cooking capacity. This dishwasher-safe chrome rack folds flat to store, and sells for $25 online and in-store. Go to BedBathandBeyond.ca for details.

Because of its low energy consumption and long life, LED lighting has been turning up in more and more consumer products.

Now it's come to tabletop decor, such as the fabric runners shot with LED "thread" from Sylvania. A 12- by 68-inch LED fibre-optic sheer table runner (about $100) with silky black ends can bring a special sparkle to a holiday table.

A small battery tucked inside one corner offers about 10 hours of light on a single charge.

There are also 11- by 16.5-inch placemats in black or burgundy with starry effects. A package of two sells for about $25 at Home Hardware stores or online at sylvania.com.

Having a well-dressed table doesn't require a pantry full of heirloom tablecloths and napkins. Home Hardware's latest Home at Home magazine, available in stores or online at homehardware.ca, has a fun idea for creating a rustic look that's durable and inexpensive. They're suggesting using as a table cloth a simple paint drop cloth (unused, of course!) in coarse cotton that sells for about $20.

Just be sure to wash it a couple of times before you use it to get rid of the "new drop cloth" smell. I think it looks fantastic with rough linen napkins, vintage plateware and a centrepiece made from colourful seasonal produce.

You can also add instant glamour to a plain white table cloth (in a pinch, use a flat bed sheet) by running a length of leftover wallpaper or wrapping paper along the table length.

I recently used a gorgeous gold and green wallpaper with a lush pattern of foliage and pheasants called Phoenix from Shand Kydd on top of a slightly frayed but still beautiful linen cloth to create a rich backdrop for my china.

I'll be sharing more entertaining ideas on the Planning Stage of the Fall Home Show today and tomorrow at 2 p.m., Better Living Centre, Exhibition Place. I'll have some fun giveaways, and would love to see you there.

Visit Vicky's blog at yourhome.ca or email her at vswriter@sympatico.ca.