Christmas table - centre pieces?

[monkeysmama]

I am belatedly turning my thoughts to things other than food and presents, namely the table on Christmas Day. We are having dp's family over and I want to make it look nice but not too fussy. We have beautiful plain slate place mats, coasters etc and decent plain white plates. What are centre pieces? Do most people buy or make them? Any ideas on how to make the table look pretty?

TIA

Serving dishes with lots of food are my favourite centre pieces :)

I find you need all the room for dishes with cranberry sauce, gravy etc.

Unless you've got one of those 20 foot banqueting tables there's probably not going to be much room for anything except the turkey, parsnips, sprouts, bread sauce etc.

You could concentrate your efforts on really beautiful crackers - either buy, customise basic crackers or make your own. It also looks good if the table is sprinkled with glitter or shiny confetti. If you really want a centrepiece, choose something with a small 'footprint', so maybe a tall church candle with ivy and ribbons tied around, or alternatively something suspended from the ceiling above the table.

Um, ketchup to make the food acceptable to DSs and a big box of cheap tissues to wipe up the mess

No help, am I?

I'm pleased that not everyone has an elaborate centre piece. Mil asked what I'd "arranged" and I was rather . We do have a big square table that seats 12. I might get some holly from the park and see what wonders dd can create for us.

Chuck some pine cones dd collects into a vase - with tinsel if so inclinded, put out some candles and some holly on mil chair some nice crackers.

How about clove studded oranges? I place them on a two-tier cake stand. Smell gorgeous and look festive without being fussy and is quickly removed when necessary. To make studding easier, make the holes with a skewer first (took me 5 Christmas' and very sore thumbs to work out this little trick!).

Alternatively, our local florist will make a simple holly, berries and candle centre piece for around a tenner. Perhaps you could get something similar?

what about a beautiful glass bowl filled with small-ish plain, round /shiny red/silver/green christmas ornaments? Then set a few tea light candles and/or green/red/silver candles on the table. Add in a bit of holly or fir boughs if you're feeling really ambitious!