The holiday season is the perfect opportunity to unleash your creative side with a beautiful, thoughtful table setting that will make your cherished guests feel extra welcome and appreciated while setting the tone for cosy, festive celebrations.
But what makes a Christmas table that people will remember? Is it the lighting? The crackers? The centrepiece? We have spoken to six of our favourite design insiders to uncover their top tips to help you transform your style for the big day.
Alex Eagle
Whether hand-selecting fashion for her store in London’s Soho or picking out the finest homeware and furniture, this stylish retailer knows how to pull together a look
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Less is more, more or less! This is a special time of year, as you are surrounded by family and friends, and you can indulge and spoil your loved ones. I usually love a minimal table setting, but it’s that time of year when you can get away with a bit more.
I would say lighting is key. This time of year, you can get away with just using candles during the day – they always create a warm and inviting atmosphere. I also think there’s nothing like festive scents, so a lovely, scented candle or oranges and cloves can go a long way.
Alex’s top tips for setting your Christmas table
Put everything you’ll need and would like to use on the table and then edit - remove where needed. But remember, Christmas is a time of year when you can really have fun with it.
Use nuts and longer-lasting plants and flowers to decorate, as you tend to do a few different meals over the festive period.
Matilda Goad
Inventiveness and individuality are essential ingredients for this designer, whose party style includes homemade decorations and a well-stocked drinks trolley
Last year, I made decorations by gluing velvet bows to clam shells which was fun and felt less traditional, adding a fresher element to the jewel-tones of my tree. I love a nod towards tacky Christmas decoration; candy canes in different colours for your tree are also beautiful.
For the table, there’s something quite elegant about glass plates in bright colours. I’ll be serving food on vintage platters. And don’t forget the drinks trolley – it’s always a nice touch. It not only looks great, but as a host, you want people to feel at ease and help themselves.
Matilda’s top tips for setting your Christmas table
Making your own crackers is great. Last year, I collaborated with Tart London. We put spices and a recipe in each one, to use with the leftovers from Christmas day.
Buy plants instead of cut flowers as they last longer. I lean towards white and greens and use helleborus and hyacinths a lot. Also, paper-white narcissi are really scented.
Bowls filled with an abundance of nuts and ruby red pomegranates can themselves be really great decorations for the table.
Fiona Leahy
If it’s theatricality you’re after, look to the globally-renowned creative events designer, whose ultra-glamorous affairs have real impact
Entertaining at home is completely different to work. For a start, I’m using my own money. It should be relaxing and stress-free. If I’m doing an amazing table at home, you’re probably going to be served pizza for dinner.
For a seasonal winter table, I like tortoiseshell glassware, red accessories and cut-crystal. Anything that sparkles is a great addition. Then, when it comes to tree decorations, the camper the better. I collect baubles from around the world. Russian egg ornaments, tin robots – anything goes. Don’t forget to decorate the fireplace too, with lots of fir, pine cones and ribbons. Vary the theme each year – I’ve done everything from pastel to Lucille Ball on acid.
Fiona’s top tips for setting your Christmas table
Scent is important. A tradition I learnt in Italy is studding oranges with cloves. I also love to light frankincense – it smells like three wise men have just left the building.
Candlelight is everything – place hundreds around the room. Create symmetry on your table with groups of three or four tall candles and low-level tea lights.
For your tablescape, work out what resonates with you. If it’s paisley or floral, make your tablecloth, napkins and other table textiles from the same fabric.
Personalisation is a great way to make people feel welcome. Soho Home has the cutest trinket jars as an alternative setting, which you could engrave with the person’s initials, put a treat inside and add a bow. Put a bow on everything!
Samantha Picard
One of London’s go-to experts are curating the look for supper clubs and private events (see @tablescapeluvr), she also runs her own bakery business, Sam’s Coolkies
I celebrate Hanukkah during the holiday season, so highlight traditional Hanukkah staple foods like challah, latkes, jelly doughnuts and chocolate babka while curating a sleek but cosy feel for my table setting.
Aesthetically, I integrate elements of white and blue, the traditional two colours of Hanukkah. However, in the past I haven’t really enjoyed how harsh blue and white can look together. I decided to use off-white instead to complement the blues on the table with warmer palettes of green, brown, and sage. It’s still very recognisably a Hanukkah table setting, that I believe instantly invokes a universal holiday warmness that is so important during the cold December months – my favourite time of year.
Samantha’s top tips for setting your Hannukah table
I always set the table at least one day in advance, something my grandmother taught me, as it never quite looks right on the first go. It allows people in your household to get really excited about the upcoming celebration!
If it’s for more than six people, do a seating plan - even if its close friends or family. If there’s no seating plan, there maybe an awkward lull before the meal when everyone takes their seats, which can lose some of the joyous momentum built during cocktail hour.
If you don’t have a full set of glassware or tableware for the number of guests attending, mix and match your different sets while following some sort of theme or colour palette. Create a welcoming and festive hodgepodge look.
Luke Edward Hall and Duncan Campbell
Go kitsch this season with a 1970s-inspired tablescape from this dynamic designer duo, complete with retro canapés, bold blooms and vintage crockery
A party shouldn’t need a huge amount of planning. We send an invitation about a month before. It’s nice to design it if you can; I might doodle something simple, or Duncan will design the invite. Make sure to build the evening up. Music should be gentle to start with –some lovely carols and then, as the night goes on, it can progress to jazz. Finish with 1980s pop – it always gets people dancing.
A sketch instead of name placement cards can be a nice touch and will help make guests feel special. We’re keen on a 1970s-esque canapé spread... devilled eggs, chipolatas, breadsticks, cheese straws, devils on horseback. It adds a kitsch flavour to the whole evening. Remember, Christmas isn’t the time for subtlety!
Luke Edward Hall’s tops tips for setting a Christmas table
Mixing napkins against a bare wooden table can be very effective. We collect them and love to combine, say, block-printed designs with chintzy floral ones.
Mismatched cutlery and tableware look organic, add originality and steer your table away from looking contrived. We collect ceramics and glassware, so it’s fun to use vintage bits and bobs we’ve found along the way.
We love to add a bit of fun with pieces that look like something else –whether that’s bowls in the shape of cabbages and lettuces or fish decanters.
Huge bunches of flowers add drama to any table. Lots of foliage, such as eucalyptus, is great around the festive season, but we also love tulips or giant delphiniums. Don’t forget to add greenery elsewhere too, mistletoe above doorways is a must.
Faye McLeod
Director of Luis Vuitton’s Ideation Studio, this powerhouse creative is responsible for some of the luxury brand’s most memorable window displays. Her home is similarly stylish
My mum collects amazing old cutlery sets from vintage stores and markets for me and that’s always my Christmas gift. I then use them for our lunch. When I start planning a table, though, I begin with the flowers, normally from Scarlet & Violet. I prefer a very opulent country garden style.
For after the meal, I have a mirror ball in my front room! It’s pretty big but means that it’s perfect for a house disco. It has LED lights shining on it. I don’t want to go out after eating so this way we can just stay home and dance.
Faye’s top tips for settiing a Christmas table
Arrange your flowers or foliage in 10 or 12 low vases down the centre of the table. It’s important not to block people’s view of each other.
I use vintage napkins which I have dyed to a specific colour, I also get my tablecloths dyed to match. It makes a table setting look unique and your own.
I was in Mexico last year and returned with bags of pom poms – I attached them to all of my Christmas presents and used them on the table.
