Part One
Ever looked at the glossy mags of gorgeous Christmas tables adorned with glitzy decorations and beautifully folded napkins and wished you could get the same look? But then decide that it would probably cost a bomb and give it a miss?
Well I'm here to show you that you CAN achieve a beautiful Christmas table that will not only serve a feast for your family, but also a feast for their eyes! And you'll have them talking about it for months later. The only thing you need worry about is raising the bar so high that you'll soon become known as the "Hostess with the mostest"!
As I mentioned in my earlier blog, "Decorating the Christmas Tree", it all starts with a theme. Either colour or feel. Example: red & silver or perhaps an Aussie feel or tone. You're only limited by your imagination. And the brilliant thing these days is that there is so much available at bargain prices if you bother to go searching for it. And the colours in decorations has moved on from the reds and greens and now anything goes! Also, I'm the kind of person that if I can't find what I'm seeing in my head, I will happily make it. I will expand on that later.
In the picture above, is my Christmas table from last year. I begin thinking about my theme very early on and actually mentally plan my Christmas sometimes a couple of years ahead (only because I only host Christmas every 2 years). My theme for last year was chartreuse green and gold. I had seen a Christmas bauble in that colour and fell in love with it, and so that became my colour scheme. If you can't think of a colour scheme, take a walk around the shops. Get inspiration from the decorations isle, or from the Christmas fabrics available. Spotlight is a great place to go to get inspired. And be sure to take someone with you who won't quell your enthusiasm.
If you don't own one already, invest in a long plain white table cloth. I bought mine years ago and I use it VERY often and although it was on the pricey side when I got it, it has been well worth what I paid for it.
If you don't have the cash to get one right away, I like the Chinet brand paper with plastic back table cloths that you throw away after you use them because they don't look as cheap as a plastic table cloth, but not as expensive as a linen table cloth. Get a couple if you need extra length and overlap them.
Now I will explain to you my table in detail, and you can use that to get your table planned in your mind. I find it helpful to write my ideas into an exercise book, complete with diagrams, pictures and even swatches as this helps me get a feel for the end result.
I need to seat 12 people at my Christmas table, but I only have a 6 seater. So we covered the top of our table with some board big enough to seat 12 and used 4 chairs from our other table, and 2 fold away chairs. To disguise the ugly look of mis-matched chairs at the table, I decided to cover the chair backs. But how to do it cheaply??? I discovered that a standard pillowcase slipped perfectly over the backs of my chairs, hiding the different backs at the table. But I needed 12. A shopping trip to The Reject Shop and I found pillowcases in packs of 2 for $2-$3 per pack, so there was a very cheap solution to that issue. Also at The Reject Shop I found some rolls of cheap ribbon to use to tie bows around the backs of the chairs to give them an opulent feel. And yet this all cost about $20.
The table runner was bought from Hot Dollar and cost about $3 for a roll of organza that was about 50cm wide and about 3m long. It was the right colour and gave the table a bit of sheen. You could also use wrapping paper in a design that you like. This could even be the basis of your theme. Or (as I've done before) you can cut the paper or fabric into placemats and omit the runner. It's up to you and your imagination.
The napkins I used I got from IKEA. If you have an Ikea store near you, they have napkins in all sorts of colours in huge packs at a bargain price of just a couple of dollars. I wanted to have my napkins folded in a way that was unique, so I used the most valuable tool any of us have...Google! On there I found some napkins folded to look like bows. They were rolled up on the diagonal and then folded in such a way they looked like bows, then tied with ribbon in the middle. I then added an ornament hook through the back and hung them on my glasses, but again, let your imagination prevail.
Christmas crackers. I LOVE crackers that look beautiful and decadent, but when you go shopping for them, the price of the nicest ones will near give you a heart attack! When I went shopping for my crackers, I wanted plain gold ones that wouldn't break my budget and I found...nothing. So, like I said earlier, when I can't find what I'm looking for, I make my own! I started collecting toilet rolls until I had 12. I went and bought the cheapest crackers I could find ($2 for 6, got 2 packs) then took them home and deconstructed them to get the cap, snap and motto out. I then got some gold tissue, ribbon and some decorations to make my own, using the stuff I extracted from the bought ones. And presto! Crackers that look beautiful and were CHEAP at just $10 for 12!
Next, decorating the middle of the table. I'm a bit of a pack rat. Pretty things that I come across in my travels have value to me, and I lovingly keep them because one day, I know they will be useful. I filled a bowl up with bead garland, bought some cheap tealight candlas and arranged them onto a paper plate in a circle, stuck them to the plate, then wrapped gold ribbon around the outisde to keep them all togther. I also bought 2 big brandy balloons from The Reject Shop and filled them inside with white lilies.
In my next blog, I will continue with the rest of the table decorating as already this is quite lengthy. The next part of this involves using food to make an impression. But NOT difficult. So stay tuned :)
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