Cooking TipsCreating the Perfect Christmas Dining Table
Food, friends, and parties are a joyous and wonderful part of the Christmas season. Christmas is the time of year when large dinners and festivities reign supreme. This is also the one special time of year that many people want to make their own dining tables look magnificent. Here are some seasonal ideas for you to use to give your own table a unique and dazzling festive appeal.
Traditional Touches
Use a tablecloth that is green or red to create the foundation for this look. Placemats should be plaids of red, green, and gold. Napkins can match the placemats or the tablecloth. You can even match them to one of the other solid colours in the napkins. The napkin rings could be gold coloured rings with a bit of mistletoe attached. Use gold chargers to anchor your place settings and make lovely pieces for this occasion.
Emerald and ruby coloured dishes can be used to make beautiful settings for each guest. Remember that they can be unmatched pieces and still create a wonderful look for the table. Choose some candles in golds, red or green as your centerpiece. A hurricane lamp with one large, gold pillar candle looks exquisite. Flank this with smaller candles on either side. Add mistletoe or small evergreen pieces around your candles for added polish.
Stunning and Elegant in Black and White
Using a white linen cloth for your tablecloth and napkins, you can set the base for this modern look. Placemats should be black, or you might opt for a less formal feel by incorporating a black and white design scheme with them. A great table look can be achieved if you use all black dishes for the settings. Other choices include using a black or white charger and then alternate the other two colours among the place setting. Napkin rings could be made of black and white beads or silver.
Top each place setting with a white orchid or poinsettia flower. At this time of year, a beautiful silk flower will also do the job brilliantly. You can use a black runner on the table and have several of these flowers used as decorations. Also include small bits of mistletoe and poinsettia leaves and flowers along the runner. For the centerpiece, a white poinsettia or orchid is a lovely focal point.
Blue and Silver Ice Motif
Two colours that make people think of the festive season are blue and silver and you can use these to create a lovely Christmas dining table. A crisp blue cloth will be your base and you can use a runner of silver to add sparkle and flash. Choose placemats that combine a geometric design of these two colours and let your napkins match the mats. If you are unable to find matching napkins, match them to your blue cloth.
Create your own napkin rings from ribbon and tiny silver snowflakes. Your glasses can be silver in colour and let your dishes be a mix of delicious shades of blue with a few choice pieces of clear glass as contrast. Use fake cubes of acrylic ice to create your own ice sculpture centerpiece, or use blue and silver candles to create sparkle and fantasy for your table. Place the candles at the center with pinecones and small evergreen branches at the bases. You might also consider a flat bowl that can hold ice and water as a centerpiece. You can add floating tea lights for a mealtime glow. Let some glitter adorn the tablecloth and runner and you have a beautiful winter table setting to charm all of your dinner guests.
Have a great Christmas!