Table Covering

• The base of the table settings will be the covering chosen for the table. This can be a tablecloth or placemats, depending on the type of table you have. Use woven placemats or substitute large banana leaves for the placemats if your table is for a casual gathering. Tape an artificial grass skirt around the underside of the table as a table skirt for casual affairs. Cover the table with a solid-colored tablecloth in a pale coral or orange color to add a tropical brightness to the setting.
  
  

Utensils

• Bamboo plates, bowls and eating utensils are both disposable and fitting for the tropical island setting. Other utensils to use are those with pineapples or tropical flowers on the handles. If you cannot find such utensils at housewares stores, create your own by using craft paints and stamps to decorate the end of the handles of the forks, knives, spoons and serving utensils.
  
  

Serving Dishes

• The serving dishes can set the tone as much as the other table settings. Use hollowed-out coconut shells nestled in bowls and surrounded by hibiscus flowers for serving dips or side dishes. Insert the pointed end of skewers into a pineapple for presenting a kabob dinner at the table. Garnish dishes with hibiscus flowers. Check that the flowers were grown without pesticides and are approved for food use. Some of your guests might want to try a nibble of edible hibiscus flowers.
  
  

Centerpieces

• The centerpiece of a tropical table is the focal point for the diners. Arrange tropical foliage with hibiscus and bird of paradise flowers as accents in the arrangement. Skewer whole pineapples onto a sturdy metal pole in the middle of the table and insert fruit kabob skewers into the pineapples to make an edible tropical fruit tower centerpiece. Fresh, whole tropical fruits, such as papaya, pineapple, coconut and kiwi, in a decorated wooden bowl lined with banana leaves is a centerpiece option that will last longer than a cut fruit centerpiece.