First, decide on a color theme. Maybe it’s glittering gold, pine green, frosty silver or one of this season’s favorites—soft shades of royal plum and lavender.
Then, choose a style theme that incorporates your holiday table mementos. Perhaps they’re mostly vintage and would blend well into a more traditional, antique or Victorian theme. If your nostalgic pieces are mostly handmade, go with more of a homespun cabin theme. The wedding china and crystal may shine best in a more elegant, contemporary environment.
Finally, select one or more of the following suggestions to infuse your table setting with new life.
- Use that lace tablecloth, but add new napkins in your color theme, or employ an old caterers’ trick and dye less expensive white ones to match. (This also works with white dining chair covers.)
- Restaurant owners will tell you that food looks most appetizing when served on solid-colored plates, so consider investing in some simple white or color-themed dinner plates to mix with your other tableware.
- Special glassware adds sparkle to any setting. Spring for new wine or water goblets, perhaps with stems in your chosen color, leaving wine glass bowls crystal clear so your guests can appreciate the grapes’ true hue.
- Choose unexpected flowers and greenery to grace the center of the table, and set a single bloom or small arrangement at each place. Visit a wholesale florist supply house for ideas on out-of-season or exotic blossoms that can be ordered in advance.
Finally, in the spirit of the season, give each of your dinner guests a gift, something small, festive and inexpensive placed next to the bread plates. Holiday ornaments and napkin rings are great choices, as is anything you craft yourself. Whatever your choices, make updating your holiday dinner setting a relaxing and enjoyable part of the season.
