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How To Create A Stunning Christmas Table Setting In 5 Easy Steps
Preparing the dining table for a fabulous, festive lunch or dinner is the perfect excuse for getting creative with your Christmas table settings. With a little bit of imagination and a hint of Christmas magic, your Christmas table can be a feast for all the senses and be one that is sure to make your family and friends feel as special as they should at this time of the year. Creating a beautiful festive table is easy when you can find everything you need in one place.
We invite you to take a seat at the Spotlight table and follow our step-by-step guide for getting all the elements of your Christmas celebration in order. Follow us to a tee or use our Christmas table setting ideas as a template for adding your own embellishments.
Begin With A Beautiful Christmas Tablecloth
Given the importance of Christmas, a festive Christmas tablecloth provides a formal, elegant feel that is fitting for the occasion. It also acts as the foundation of your Christmas table setting, which means you'll want a cloth that hints at the fanciful but doesn't distract from the other Christmas table decorations you'll be placing on top of it.
The kind of Christmas tablecloth you'll choose should depend on the colour scheme you are going for. An elegant gold and silver Christmas table setting should start with a white or cream tablecloth with subtle metallic detailing that will allow your luxurious tableware to shine. On the other hand, a more traditional or simple Christmas table setting will benefit from a rustic red and green checked tablecloth, or a plain tablecloth in any of the classic Christmas colours.
If you have a tablecloth, there's no need for Christmas placemats - but the option is there if it works with your overall design concept. Or perhaps you would prefer to show off the colour of your table - a deep, rich brown wooden table looks lovely at Christmas, but make sure to protect it with the right placemats and coasters!
Decorate With A Garland Or Table Runner
The best place for adding ornamentation to your Christmas table is down the middle. Not only does it ensure all your guests will get a good look at your decor, but it leaves plenty of room at the edges of the table for plates, cups and other necessities. A runner or garland not only adds a lovely point of interest but can mark out space for where your other decorations can sit too.
A table runner provides a soft, flat surface that you can place other Christmas decorations on top of. Candles, snowglobes and small Christmas figures can all stand securely on a table runner, but make sure not to overload it, otherwise you'll make the table look too busy.
A garland provides gorgeous texture and natural colour down your table, and you can accessorise it with tall taper candles, small faux berries and fruits, and even sprigs from other plants.
Think of fir trees, mistletoe, ivy and pinecones when it comes to creating a Christmas wonderland (winter or otherwise) down the middle of your table. You may like to trim some runners from any vines you may have in your garden and drape them along the table as fresh foliage. If you don't want to use, or don't have access to, natural plants for your garland, look to faux plants instead. A faux garland will look just as good as the real thing, and you don't have to worry about it turning brown, carrying bugs or catching alight.
Add Elegant Crockery, Cutlery And Glassware
It's very rare for Australian families to entertain in a formal way these days, but Christmas is the perfect exception to the rule. Your Christmas table setting will look extraordinarily polished and refined if you lay it out with a full dining set of porcelain crockery edged delicately in gold for that festive flavour.
When it comes to cutlery, why not think beyond your average run-of-the-mill silverware and up the luxe factor with beautiful gold matte knives, forks and spoons? Top it off with Christmas-themed, embroidered fabric napkins (definitely not the disposable kind) that can be caught and twisted in glamorous napkin rings. Then keep the golden theme going with glassware, both highball glasses and stemmed wine glasses, that is metallic-dipped to complement the rest of your dinnerware.
Ensure that your glassware looks its best by giving it a good clean when you get it out of whichever space you keep your special-occasion glassware. A final polish using hot water, vinegar and a soft cloth will give them a bright shine and get rid of any sneaky fingerprints or lipstick stains remaining.
By laying out your Christmas table formally, you not only give your crockery, cutlery and glassware the showcase it deserves, but you will really impress your guests with the extra effort you've put into your Christmas table decorations.
Include Delicate Serving Trays And Bowls
Little serving bowls for your petit fours, canapés and cranberry sauce should match your plates and bowls to ensure nothing is out of place on your Christmas table. Choose suitably fancy serving trays (not rustic baskets or plastic receptacles) for bread, cheeses, antipasti spreads or to serve your seafood sharing platters (as is often the preferred dish at Australian Christmas celebrations).
Servingware made from white ceramic, smooth marble or polished metal will all suit your elegant Christmas theme and will keep your food cool and fresh. If you have several large platters on the table, ensure any decorations you have are well out of the way of reaching arms and hands! You may also like to choose trays and platters with handles, which can help if people are passing them around the table.
Don't Forget The Little Christmas Details To Elevate Your Table Setting
The really fun part is choosing the Christmas table centrepiece, which functions as the crowning glory - the pièce de résistance of your Christmas table setting.
While it may be tempting, it's best to avoid anything too large or high that could dominate your Christmas table. Not only will a grand display take up all the room, but your guests will find it impossible to talk across the table if your Christmas decorations are in the way.
Instead, think about small items that you can sit along your table runner or mingle in your garland and add points of interest to the setting that evoke the feeling of Christmas. Ornaments like baubles, gold deer statuettes, little bottle brush trees and flames flickering through candle holders with festive etchings are small but effective, especially when grouped strategically down the length of the table. And don't forget a Christmas bonbon or two for all your guests to share!
The precision of your Christmas table setting is likely to be destroyed by the end of your feast, but it will be well worth the effort to see the smiles on the faces of your loved ones when you unveil your Christmas table setting on Christmas Day. Make sure to take a picture at the start to remember all your hard work, as well as to provide inspiration for next year's Christmas table setting ideas. Find more amazing Christmas ideas and inspiration on our blog, such as How To Decorate A Christmas Tree Like A Professional In 6 Simple Steps and How To Decorate Your Home This Christmas.
Season's greetings from all of us at Spotlight!
