One of my FAVORITE things to decorate for the holidays (or any season really) is my dining room table! There’s just something about tablescapes that make me feel all warm & fuzzy! Whether I’m hosting for Christmas or not, I still love to dress up my table. Just makes the whole room feel so warm & magical!!
This year, when I was planning our table setup in my head, greens and garlands just kept poppin’ in there. So I went with it! That became the mental (and literal) centerpiece with which I designed everything around. Now, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel here! If you plan to replicate or pull inspiration from what I’m about to show, FEEL FREE TO USE WHATEVER GARLANDS YOU ALREADY HAVE!! No need to go buy more, trust me, I know how expensive they can be! Just use whatever you have lying around! And if it’s not full enough or “interesting” enough for you. I’ll show you some ways to dress it up, without breaking the bank! 😉 That’s actually exactly what I did with mine.
Now, I usually start with the centerpiece and work my way out, but you do you here! If you have a charger/placemat, set of beautiful holiday plates, set of napkins or napkin rings, that you’re pulling your inspiration/theme from, then by all means, start there and pull a centerpiece together once you’ve got the place settings nailed down.
Here’s what I ended up with for my centerpiece (actually more of a table runner lol) this year.
Not sure if you can tell from this close-up, but I actually have two garlands wrapped around the edges, and then in the middle I just used some floral picks & eucalyptus picks to thicken it up and give it some volume/density. That was WAY cheaper for me than buying additional garlands! I’m all about trying to use what we already have! Although I was tempted to just go buy two more garlands, lol. #resist 😂
Now, believe it or not, my garlands are just plain green. No pinecones, or berries, or snowflakes. I added all that stuff in! The snowflakes and berries are actually napkin rings! Can you believe it?? Again, I wanted to add some fun, interest, and color, but shopping for more “stuff” was not an option. So, I decided to put last year’s napkin rings to use and just started tucking & nestling away.
As far as the place settings go, the chargers and placemats are the same ones I use over and over again. I do my best, when making new purchases, to try and find items that can work for all seasons. The only item here that is very Christmas specific is the snowflake appetizer plate (but even that could be considered “Wintery” and stay on display through February). Other than that, even the napkins and napkin rings could be used for months, taking us into spring & summer! I’d just have to swap out the centerpiece.
Now, I’m not sure why, but for whatever reason I always do something slightly different for the place settings at the heads of the table. This time, I simply folded the napkins differently. Again, I don’t have a real reason, lol. I just like it that way!
Because I went with such a nature-inspired centerpiece, I thought the reindeer would be the perfect addition! Keeping things kinda woodsy and leaving the fun & whimsy for some of the other areas of my house. 😉 You can see what I mean here.
Well there ya go folks! That’s it! Super easy! That’s one of the reasons I love my table-setting so much this year. It looks WAY more complicated than it actually was! Just a little garland, some filler, and whatever place settings your little heart desires!
Do you guys normally do a tablescape? What theme/colors did you do? Let me know in the comments below!
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I also want to say in advance, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH for any and all affiliate links that you may use throughout this post. I appreciate MORE THAN YOU know when you support the brands that help to support this little blog & our little fam!!
Oh, and I know fall is waaaaaayyyy in the rearview, lol, but if you want to check out what I did for my autumn tablescape, you can see that here. You can also click here for a shot of my Halloween table from October. These were both so fun!
Talk soon buddies!!