"The centerpiece is important as it gives a focal point to your table, you might go with a vase of beautiful flowers or a candle arrangement."
You’ve got your tree up and its decorated in all its glory, the lights are twinkling, the wreath adorns your front door, presents are wrapped and the stockings are hung but what about your Christmas table?
Food and sharing it with those you love is at the heart of Christmas as you gather to celebrate and overindulge in your favorite festive delights why not take this opportunity to decorate your table with a bit of festive cheer as well. Here are some key points to consider when you style your dining table for the holiday season.
- Firstly, you will need to establish a clear theme or color palette or both. For instance, you may choose a minimal Scandinavian theme in classic white, wood, and natural elements pinecones or bark covered wood with a hint of silver, or a nature inspired theme. A beach theme with shells and driftwood and colors of navy and white and stripes that emulate the typical American Hamptons style with wicker placemats, or a Kiwiana theme inspired by NZ fauna and flora, or you may want a more sophisticated traditional vibe. Whatever you decide, choose something you like and that reflects your own personal style. Pintrest is a fabulous resource and a fantastic way to collate pictures that you love and that can inspire your own table creation. You can even look at what you already have at home in the cupboards and see if that can be a base for what theme you have chosen.
- Once you have your theme sorted the next step is to decide on a centerpiece, each step of the way keep referring to your given theme and make sure the elements you choose are innkeeping with your theme and your colour palette. The centerpiece is important as it gives a focal point to your table, you might go with a vase of beautiful flowers or a candle arrangement. Make sure it is either something low lying or relatively high that you can still see your guests across the table or position your guests to the side of your centerpiece.
- Decide on either a tablecloth or table runner. Placemats or no placemats. This is like the base of your canvas to your finished artwork. This is another way you can incorporate aspects of your theme and or chosen colours. I personally love table runners as I find them more versatile and contemporary than tablecloths. You can choose a piece of nice linen or cheese cloth or get a strip of your favourite fabric or a piece of wrapping paper down the centre of your table can be just the ticket! Your table runner might not be fabric either you may choose to create this with natural pieces from your environment or fresh or dried foliage. As you continue make sure you have a good balance of colour and texture overall.
- The plates you choose will also be significant. If you are going for a more casual relaxed look you may choose paper or recycled bamboo plates there is an amazing range available in assorted colours, wood printed plates or metallics, and the best part is no washing up! If you want a more up market look you can’t beat some nice tableware, something with a decorative edge or rim would work beautifully. If you are going for a natural, beach or Scandi look some organic pieces of stone ware. If you want to use what you have, plain white is perfectly fine too as white goes with everything and you can easily adapt it to your theme with the additional decorative elements.
- Your glassware will add some sparkle and along with your centerpiece this creates different heights down the table. This is crucial to create a nice composition and is more pleasing to the eye then keeping all elements at the same height. For something a little extra, why not try creating some special ice cubes, you can get giant ice tube trays or Xmas shaped ones, and you can put edible flowers in or berries and mint leaves.
- There are several ways you can display your napkins too. If you want a more formal look you can opt for linen napkins with traditional napkin rings or for a more modern feel you can go without the rings. You could even create your own napkin rings with ribbon or tie your napkins with a decoration, candy cane or a sprig of rosemary and cinnamon stick if it suits your theme. You can fold and place your napkin on top of your plates and then add a decoration or a Christmas cracker. The way you display your napkins is another opportunity to get decorative just make sure again that it fits your chosen theme.
- I love metallic cutlery you can get so many different shades gold, silver, brass, copper or pearl you can’t go wrong as you can always incorporate metallics into whatever theme you use so can continue using it year after year. Depending on your theme black or white cutlery is lovely also and again equally as versatile.
- Last but not least, you will require some form of lighting to create ambience or decorative components this may be simple decorations, fairy lights, tealights, or confetti or a mix or all of the above! These can be positioned down the centre on top of your runner to add to the look and style of your Christmas table.
No matter what you decide, have fun with it! Let your creative juices flow and the only limit is your imagination and it needn't be complicated either sometimes the simplest of ideas are the most effective. So with these top tips enjoy and wow your guests with your styling prowess this Christmas!