Dressing the table

[Scarydinosaurs]

I have a table to dress! I’m very excited to be hosting Christmas for the first time in our new house, and I’m looking for a table cloth and placemats to make it look smart and festive.

I’ve looked on Pinterest but I can’t find something suitable- it all seems a bit OTT and busy.

Has anyone got any good suggestions for where to look? Thanks!

Dunelm are good- lots of choice and I've just seen they do nice red or gold charger plates for £1

We also use charger plates rather than mats as we need all the room on the table we can get! Think about whether you'll need lots of space for the food. Used to have some lovely round felt mats but they were expensive and ruined quickly with spilt gravy, wine, cream etc as they couldn't be washed. We have a big family so the charger plates at £1 each were perfect, they look effective with our white plates.

A plain white or cream cloth is great as that can be the basis of all sorts of combinations all year round.

I have gold charger plates and red round sequined place mats (both from Dunnes Stores some years ago) with plain white china and plain but good quality glasses.

I normally put some tealights in clear glass holders, or else do a small red roses, berries and greenery arrangement around a pillar candle.

But by keeping the main items plain, you can change them different years - silver and turquoise another, or yellows and blues for Easter, re-use the red for valentines as it's not too Christmassy etc.

Get nice paper napkins to get the more Christmassy element, or some table confetti or similar.

Fab! Off to buy charger plates now. I need a new white table cloth anyway, so will search for one big enough now.

I love the red roses idea!

Thanks!

Apart from a tablecloth, there is no decoration on our tables as we cannot put anything else on the table for all the food / drink etc.

We just go for a plain tablecloth but we have chair decorations instead as per the below.

www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/359795457705599016/
www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Chair-Covers-Santa-Reindeer/dp/B00OF9LUEW?tag=mumsnetforum-21

In the end I bought gold charger plates, coasters and napkin rings from Amazon. £20 for a set for four. I thought £5 each wasn’t bad for matching- I was really struggling to find a coasters that I liked.

I saw some lovely table dressings in Next Home the other day. Beautiful plates and bowls too, the bowl had a rose gold 'stunt' pear in each, looked very festive!

I wish I could dress out table, instead we are off to the Mothers who will use the same old tat from years gone by....!

We have a gold table runner down the centre and then use either gold charger plates with white China or table mats. I have festive table mats or these ones but round:
www.denbypottery.com/monsoon-accessories/tablemat-coaster/151011506
I have a lovely candle holder called “table stories” and a Christmas scented candle.
I get colour matched napkins and crackers. I also have a set of bauble place card holders.
I love setting the table for Christmas.

I usually do charger plates, crackers, table confetti, candle/floral arrangement in centre and I hang baubles from our lights which are centrally over the table - it usually looks pretty festive and fun!

One year I got my son to draw placemat pictures for each guest on those washable placemat settings and pen sets you can get which went down well

I could never find table mats that I loved so for the past few years I've covered my usual place mats in gorgeous Christmas wrapping paper cover it with cellophane if your worried about keeping them nice for boxing day etc. It's really cheap and looks great !

OP - Ikea has fab 100% linen table cloths in right now for £25 - 320cm long! In red or white

They also do great placemats and napkins too - all v cheap but do the job well

Here:

www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/christmas/holiday-textiles/vinter-2017-tablecloth-white-art-20364099/

Whatever you do, don’t do this
juliapalosini.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Christmas-Table-Decorations-17.jpg

I had actually never heard of charger plates until this thread. Actually though they might be a good present for my mum as my kids always spill their dinner on her tablecloths!

G&T I think that is brilliant - feck charger plates I want snowman plates might be annoying to have to flick the bits of carrot out of the way before serving though!

I have no idea what a charger plate is?

poppycat - am imagining carrot flicking fun.....a new Christmas tradition perhaps

yes and we could try and catch the blueberries in our mouths (are they blueberries?).

Apparently Charger Plates are an elegant and practical table dressing item, used instead of a placemat they catch bits of carrot spilled food whilst providing a decorative anchor for the tablecloth.

I'm not sure why they are called charger plates, before I googled I was imagining they had batteries and were warm to keep food hot!!

www.webstaurantstore.com/article/13/what-is-a-charger-plate.html

Gosh.....all that extra washing up!

At Christmas i bring out the Royal Albert Old Country Roses China plates that were my mother's. They are red and gold on a white background and look fabulous on a white cloth. This year I have a red table runner for the centre of the table picked up in Dunelm in a clearance bucket for 50p.I

I use ivy from the garden laid along the table for effect and it doesn't get in the way as it can handle a serving plate resting on it.

Those snowmen!!

I haven’t got my table runner yet- but my amazon gold charger plates plus napkin rings plus coasters arrived and they’re lovely. I need to extend the table and try the tablecloth I bought to check it fits...and then hunt out a nice gold runner.

Today I’m going to trial run the ivy decorations by getting the kids to pick and then wash some ivy. That should keep small ones occupied for at least an hour...right??