As the official holiday season has begun, thoughts begin to turn to the excitement of cherished times with loved ones. While your guest list may be a bit shorter than in years past, nothing beats the memories made while gathered around the dinner table, cheering on your favorite team, or dozing off in solitude enveloped in the comfort of a sofa after having one too many second helpings. If you’re like many people, your holidays tend to center around meals and you may have already begun creating a mental checklist of all the things that go into crafting the perfect culinary experience. A beautifully browned turkey, an impeccably glazed ham, or your other favorite central dish is likely to be the star of the dining show, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set the table stage to really make it shine.
Since the delicious food you will be laying out is going to be the main attraction on the table, the first step to creating a beautiful tablescape is knowing how much room you actually have to decorate. If you have a large table, then you can get away with more décor versus a smaller setup. If your meals tend are a more buffet-style affair, then your tablescape can be fully dedicated to ornamental design and eating space.
Pick a theme
Selecting a theme allows you to easily bring together cohesive elements for your tablescape. If you’re a haunting host for a Halloween feast, it would make sense to center your focus around creepy additions like spiders and witches hats, or a less spooky theme like grinning jack-o-lanterns and colorful candy corn. If you are hosting Thanksgiving or another fall-centric meal, you may want to incorporate quintessential autumn décor accents like leaves and pumpkins. For winter meals, bringing in freshly picked pine branches and cleaned pine cones is a great way to add a festive and organic feel to your holiday dining. It is okay if your theme simply centers around decorative items you have on hand as long as each piece complements the overall feel you are trying to create.
Select a color palate
After your theme is selected, color can be one of the easiest ways to set a tone and imbue the feeling of the holidays into your tablescape. For a spooky holiday like Halloween, the use of oranges, blacks, and purples instantly bring your table to a ghoulishly celebratory place. Pair festive tableware like webbed-look purple placemats with black linens and orange spiders to hold your flatware together make your array fit for any monster mash. For a harvest-themed meal, think of the colors of fall and bring them to your table. Gilded runners with flecks of gold paired with golden placemats, deep red linens, and small orange pumpkins used as name card holders will effortlessly bring your fall feast to the next level. For Christmas mealtime cheer, marry red, green, gold, and white for immediate yuletide ambiance.
Sort out the details
A tablescape can be as simple or as complex as you wish. Some of the most beautiful layouts are simple and combine color with small but festive elements like the aforementioned pumpkin name cardholders, or a single flower neatly gracing a plate. If your style is bolder, and you have the space to add more, then you may consider ornate tabletop accessories to bring your dining experience to life. At the end of the day, your tablescape is only limited by your imagination.
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