3 Easy Ways to Set Your Holiday Table with Style
The dinner table is more than just a place to eat come holiday season, it is the heart of entertaining in your home. Give it the attention it deserves and create a setting that's as unique as the people seated there. We've gathered some unexpected twists on the traditional, to help make your table sparkle as much as the season.
1. Mix-n-Match
- Instead of using one large tablecloth, try overlapping several smaller ones of complementary colors, fabrics, or textures. If you have napkins that match the different cloths, mix them up on the table. Or find napkins that pick up one dominant color to tie all the elements together. Don't worry about fancy napkin-folding (unless that happens to be a skill you like to put to use!); simply fold into quarters, then in half into a rectangle or triangle.
- The "mix-n-match" approach can also work with dishes and flatware; if you have more than one set of china or flatware, make different place settings (an especially useful trick if you have more guests than you have pieces of any one service).
2. Peerless Place Cards
- Inexpensive glass ornaments can make lovely place cards. Simply attach a name card with a ribbon to the ornament's hanger. Place in the center of each dinner plate or in the salad bowl/plate, or hang from the rim of the glass at each setting.
- Small mesh-wrapped bags of holiday chocolates can also make unusual (and delicious) place cards.
3. Accent Your Style
- Group accent pieces in unexpected combinations; place Great-Aunt Martha's ornate silver candlesticks next to a rustic bowl of pinecones tipped with gold spray paint.
- If you are having a buffet rather than a sit-down dinner, try using small accent pieces among the food offerings to add some interest to the table. A pretty bowl filled with ornaments makes a lovely centerpiece that won't interfere with guests trying to serve themselves. Tack icicle lights to the tablecloth around the perimeter of the table.
- Nothing enhances a warm holiday mood like candlelight. Dim or eliminate overhead lights, then place candles in a variety of candlesticks among the food. (Get dripless candles so you don't have to worry about scraping wax off the food.)
- Do you have a collection of objects that might serve as holiday table decorations-for example, pretty bottles or boxes? Even a collection of whimsical animal figurines would work well for a more casual table.
- Weave evergreen roping or wired craft ribbon and strings of tiny white lights among the elements of your table. (But be sure to tape down electrical cords to avoid any accidents.)