Christmas often rhymes with gatherings with family or friends: long festive tables where meals linger over lively discussions, stories, and sharing. You hear glasses clinking, bursts of laughter... you wish it would never end. Certainly, the 2020 festivities will be a bit different, but that's no reason not to go all out and decorate your Christmas table with care. Besides the traditional checkered tablecloth, matching napkins, and special occasion cutlery, how can you create a wow effect for your guests?
Integrate plants: guaranteed success!
There are several ways to incorporate plants into your Christmas table. Of course, you can set up poinsettias, cyclamens, and evergreens as table centerpieces. A few candles throughout and the impact will already be there. But what if we stepped off the beaten path this year to create something different? Here are a few ideas that will leave no one indifferent:
Mark places with elegance
Often, we like to position our guests in a defined order. We spend long minutes crafting the perfect seating plan to maximize discussions and everyone's enjoyment. Consider incorporating greenery to create elegant place markers: attach a small pine branch to the card on which you have previously written your guest's name so that everyone finds their assigned seat. For variety, use a branch of rosemary, eucalyptus, or birch. You can also take a poinsettia flower, for example, natural or synthetic, and write directly on a petal with a white ink pen. Be delicate and show off your best Sunday handwriting!
What if your centerpiece became a table runner?
Stores offer all sorts of thematic centerpieces to adorn festive tables. What if we thought big and let the centerpiece take up the entire length of the table, becoming the main feature? You can create a table runner that will beautifully match the theme you've chosen for your Christmas decor. More or less wide depending on the available space and not too high to avoid obstructing the view across the table, your runner can be composed of different plant varieties: tree branches intertwined with LED lights and a few balls and ornaments for more minimalist decors, or evergreens mingling with poinsettia flowers, holly branches, garlands, and candles for more traditional settings. You could also opt for indoor plants by aligning different varieties of cacti, for example, of various shapes and heights. Insert a string of lights through your arrangement, add some pine cones, colorful balls for sparkle, and why not some bright red apples or slices of orange that you've candied in the oven?
Do something different!
Do you want to change your habits and make an impression with your holiday table? Why not incorporate succulents? Available in different sizes, you can give them various roles at the table:
- Place them in glass containers with synthetic snow and small LED lights to make miniature terrariums.
- Integrate them into a hollow log as a centerpiece or add them to your branches on the table runner for a punch.
- Make small wreaths to mark your guests' glasses.
- Stick them into a floral foam cone, like an oasis, to recreate a new kind of Christmas tree. Give them to your guests as gifts; they will surely be delighted.
A touch of edible?
Some herb plants closely resemble small conifers and can therefore adorn your table beautifully. This is the case with rosemary and lavender, among others. Plus, they smell wonderfully good! Use the branches to decorate plates and napkins or braid them to hold utensils together. Whole, you can adorn them with lights and mini decorations and get creative with pots well-coordinated with the decor. Use them to flavor your cocktails or create an edible tree by covering a floral foam cone with rosemary branches through which you can stick cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, or grapes. Add some crackers and biscuits at the base of your composition, and you're all set with the added bonus of a light rosemary aroma on your food.
With these few ideas and all the creativity we know you have, your Christmas table will surely stand out. Don't hesitate to experiment and adapt your table setting to your decorating style so that everything is harmonious and provides a complete experience from the living room to the dining room. Remember that we eat with our eyes first, and this also applies to everything surrounding the delicious dishes you will lovingly prepare for your guests.
Tips and advice
