DIY: How to Create a Gorgeous Christmas Table

You're nearing the end of your Advent Calendar, the Christmas Tree is up, the lights are on, the Christmas Cookies are baked and gifted and the Christmas Presents are wrapped - now it's time to start thinking about your Christmas Table! 

As a family who love Christmas, the Christmas table is very important and now that Katrina and I are older, each year we spend quite a bit of time thinking up a theme and how we're going to style it. 

This year, keeping with our red, while and silver theme you saw on our tree and presents - we decided to do the same with our Christmas table!

So let me share our tips with you and show you our table! >>

Now, I bet you're wondering how I'm showing you our Christmas table before Christmas, right? Well, even though we've watched way too many episodes of Doctor Who, I haven't quite figured out how to time travel so this is actually our test set up! 

Each year, we test out a scaled down version of our Christmas table before the big day to ensure we have/can get everything we need before we're racing around at the last minute trying to find the plates we thought we had or that centre piece we all thought was in the linen mpress but actually got thrown out three years before - and that leads me to my first tip!

Tip Number One: Be prepared and do a test run! The best way to have a gorgeous Christmas table is to know what you're doing! Before Christmas, do a test run of your Christmas table so that you can make sure you have everything you need - and be sure to make a list of anything you need to get. 

You'll want to ask yourself;

• How many people are coming?
• Do I have enough glasses/plates/cutlery/serving dishes?
• Who is bringing what? 
• How do I want to decorate my table?
• Will we be having placecards?
• Is the food going to be on the table or somewhere else?
• What tables/chairs are we using? 
• Are there any family heirloom pieces you need to incorporate?
• Who will be sitting at the table? Kids? Adults? Both?

To help you in preparing your list of what you need, here's what we used on our table!

For each guest: 

• 1x Dinner Plate (we're only having a main course with no separate entree so you may need extra plates depending on your menu!)
• 1x Side Plate 
• 1x Set of Cutlery 
• 1x Napkin (from the party section of The Reject Shop) 
• 1x Water Glass
• 1x Wine/Champagne Glass 
• 1x Name Bauble (see the printables and instructions below! Clear plastic baubles are $2.50 each at The Reject Shop) + a candy cane to hold it in place ($2 for a pack of 12 at The Reject Shop)
• 1x Menu Card (see the printables below!)

For the table:

• 1x Tablecloth (we used a white table cloth with metallic silver embroidery - $16 at The Reject Shop) 
• 1x Table Runner (we used a red table runner from The Reject Shop which was just $15)
• 2x Glitter Reindeers (purchased from The Reject Shop - $5 for a set of two)
• 4x Candle Holders ($5 each at The Reject Shop) 
• 4x Battery Operated LED Candles ($2.50 for 4 at The Reject Shop - you can also use regular tealights!)
• Enough Christmas Crackers for everyone at the table plus a few extras ($12 for 30 at The Reject Shop) 
• 1x Medium Christmas Tree Centre piece

Tip Number Two: Figure out the details! Now that you've got an idea of how you're going to lay out the table and who will be joining you, it's time to think about the food and who's sitting where! 

This year, we've come up with two free printables for you to make putting together you placecards and menu cards super easy - and we've designed them to match our red and white theme at The Reject Shop's chevron Christmas crackers!

You can download them here (you'll find the PDF files {with each piece all ready to print in the right size} and an individual JPEG file for the Menu Cards and Labels) and you can either print them at home or get them printed on card-stock. 

 

The Menu Cards are ready to fill in with your Christmas Menus and the Place Cards are ready to print and right on and place into your baubles. 

The Reject Shop have made creating your own place card super easy and super cute this year with their clear plastic photo baubles ($2.50 each). All you have to do is print and cut out our circle templates, write on them and then pop them inside each bauble. 

Once your Christmas lunch/dinner is over, your guests then have an ornament they can take home and use on their tree or use to create their own custom baubles for next year! We held each bauble up with a candy cane which matches our table theme and tastes delicious too ;) 

Tip Number Three: Set up early. Give yourself a chance to relax and set the table up well in advance (if you can!). Try and set it up the night before so that you can focus on cooking and enjoying yourself the next day - it might mean eating breakfast outside or on the couch, but it will all be worth it for that extra time you have on the big day!

But tell me, how does your Christmas Table usually look?
Is your Christmas Day usually formal - or more of an informal, casual get together?