Four stylists reveal what their Christmas table setting will look like

For some families, tradition is everything, but trying something different with your Christmas table setting can be a lot of fun.

It can be a conversation starter, and it will certainly make your guests feel especially welcome.

This Christmas, Alex Walls of Alex and Corban has come up with a new theme for her family’s Christmas, sparked by a house sale.

“The family home I grew up in was recently sold and the annual family dinner, held there every year, is now up for a rethink”, Walls says. “It’s sad to see this tradition come to an end, with all the amazing memories made in the home we shared together, but on the bright side, it means, as a family, we now have an opportunity to start fresh and create a new way of doing Christmas.

“I can’t say I’m too sad to say goodbye to mum’s favourite purple decorations (sorry, Mum!). Instead, I’m welcoming a lighter and brighter palette of glowing golds, yellows and fresh green for the dining table. I’m also forgoing the old tradition of the huge Christmas tree, and instead bringing in some festive wall hangings with a gold wreath and olive branch.”

Walls’ new Christmas table setting features handmade ceramics and woven placemats on a bare wood table, with a small decorated pine tree in a pot and large sprigs of fir. For a personal touch, she has added a beautifully wrapped gift of chocolates to each place setting.

Stylists Jenni Greenfield and daughter Sarah-Jane Hamilton of Ses and Jen have also blogged their planned Christmas table, calling it a “splurge and save” setting.

“Putting together a luxe-looking Christmas table is all about choosing where to splurge and where to save,” says Hamilton. “We are currently loving rust, pink and gold tones, so used these colours as the main theme for our table.

“Fresh flowers can be expensive, so we stuck with greenery for our table swag, which was made with fresh magnolia leaves, wired onto rope. We tried to show off the lovely rust underside of the leaves too, by wiring them in upside down. For a pop of metallic, we sprayed some of the leaves gold and placed them in last.”

The crockery, cutlery, glassware and placemats all came from discount homeware stores. The pair also made gifts for each place setting.

“We bought hessian bags and craft tags from the dollar store and filled these with Lindt balls (splurge). The gold tree decorations came in a pack of four from The Warehouse. Christmas crackers were bought at the end of last year from Farmers when they went on sale.”

The pair splurged on Moet, but saved on the gold bucket, which was also from The Warehouse.

Stylist Tracey Strange Watts kept it simple when she styled an outdoor Christmas table setting recently.

“Christmas is about nostalgia,” she says. “Mismatched chairs, cutlery, glassware and crockery do help create a more informal setting, and Christmas is the perfect opportunity to bring out all those special items handed down through the family – Gran’s linen tablecloth, Auntie Sue’s silverware.

“To me, Christmas is a time for old memories and for creating new ones, for remembering family members who are no longer around and celebrating those who are. Special occasions, in general, also give me the opportunity to pull out a super-cool 1970s earthenware dinner set donated by my mum and dad. But, being a stylist, I can’t help myself and I’m likely to also theme the meal with 1970s-style food – shrimp cocktails etc. I think the main reason for that is that I remember as a child in the 1970s the effort mum and dad would make to entertain their guests.”

Strange Watts says her “must-haves” are fairy lights and candles. The stylist also says any colour goes, but she recommends including a metallic, such as gold, silver or bronze.

Stylist Sandra Kaminski says it’s flowers that really make a table setting. “Look at a table like a garden,” she says. “Well-designed gardens have layers and a table needs layers too.”

Last year, Kaminski’s Christmas table was red and white, while the previous year she opted for a green, white and silver theme. “Colour is really important,” she says. “Everything needs to be co-ordinated.”

The stylist says flower arrangements should be in tight bunches, in varying shades of the colour scheme. It’s also important flowers are not too high – you need to be able to talk to and see the person sitting opposite.

Kaminski puts four crystal glasses at each place setting – a red wineglass, a white wineglass, a champagne glass and a tumbler. “Everything should be clean and polished, and no plastic cups.”
And don’t forget napkins, crackers and decorations, including candles, all of which can be colour co-ordinated.

Kaminski likes to leave all food dishes off the table. “It may start off looking pretty, but once everyone has started feasting, these dishes just look ugly. Plus it’s good for people to get up and move around a little bit.”

• This story originally appeared on stuff.co.nz