How To Set A Christmas Dinner Table

Your Christmas roast is looking crispy and tender in the oven while your family is snuggling on the couch watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. You're slowly placing the Christmas side dishes on the dining table one by one, taking in the marvelous smells of the food you've cooked up. You look at the beautifully decorated table topped off with incredible food when you call everyone in for dinner. Setting your table ahead of time definitely made the day that much simpler and full of Christmas cheer. 

Before you begin to set your table, it's important that you pick a Christmas theme for your décor and stick to it. There are a few options for this, including "classic Christmas" and "winter wonderland." You can create entirely different looks depending on the mood you're trying to set. 

A classic Christmas table should include red, white, and green colors. This table is more festive than others, giving it a fun and approachable look. Feel free to dress this table up with little Santas, stockings, and Christmas holly to make it look as if St. Nick had decorated it himself.

This table is a bit more elegant and sports a winter white, blue, and silver color scheme. You can use vases filled with silver and blue ornaments to achieve this look, or spray paint branches silver to look like miniature snowy trees for fantastic centerpieces on your table. 

Centerpieces can set the mood for any table. If you have a larger table and a lot of food to place on it, use smaller displays and spread them along the table so everyone can get a glimpse. If you have a smaller table, try one medium or large centerpiece to create an eye-catching Christmas look without taking up too much precious table space. 

Create a large candy cane centerpiece for the middle of your smaller table by filling a square vase with candy canes. Then, wedge in a red and white stick in the middle and balance a Santa hat on top. This will look adorable, and creates a playful Christmas mood. If you want to make smaller candy cane displays, take out the stick and Santa hat and just place bowls filled with candy canes on the table instead. 

Use fake winter snow, like ripped cotton balls, for the bottom and layer it with beautiful red cranberries. Place some pine branches on top of the cranberries. Alternate these mason jars on the table with ones layered with a burning candle on top of "snow" for a warm, glowing look. 

Coasters can be an in important, often overlooked part of setting a table. Have your kids cut out white felt snowflakes that go on top of a red circular piece of felt for an easy coaster for wine glasses.  

Adding simple decorations to chairs can add so much to a table. The chair is the first part of the table that anyone interacts with, making it an important accessory for decoration.

Try tying bright red bows around the backs of each seat for a simple decoration that really brings the holiday spirit to a Christmas dinner table. 

You could just simply lay out your plain white napkins on the table, but where's the fun in that? Try decorating your table with pretty red and green napkins or silver and gold napkins (depending on the color scheme you're going for). 

If you don't want to splurge on brand new napkins, cute napkin rings can add a lot to your place setting. Try looking for silver or gold Christmas-themed napkin rings, like reindeer or Christmas trees, to spice up the plain napkins. 

You could also take a note from Pinterest and create your own adorable napkin rings. With some string and cranberries, you can create a napkin ring that easily adds significant improvement to your table. Tying ribbons around your napkins is another easy DIY option. Use a ribbon that is compatible with your color scheme and tie a bow around your napkin for a cute, festive look. 

Even if you only have the family coming to dinner, adding place cards is a small way to incorporate more holiday decorations on your table. We've found some great ideas to create incredible-looking place cards from scratch. 

Three candy canes can create a place card stand by using the hooks as the base of the stand. Tie them together tightly with red ribbon so they don't fall over. Then, simply place a name card on the stand for each of your guests. 

Use a sprig of rosemary and tie the ends together with a string to create a wreath circle. Simply place a small piece of paper with your guests' name on it for a place card. These look great against light brown napkins for an earthy touch. 

While you may think just placing your finest silverware on the table is enough, dressing up your silverware adds so much decoration to your table. Try one of these cute DIY options to make your silverware more festive. 

Get some little policy envelopes and write "To Santa" on them and place your silverware inside the envelopes. This adds a Christmas element to your table. 

Buy miniature stockings and stuff them with your finest silver for a simple touch to dress up your flatware. Everyone will marvel at how nice your little red silverware stockings look next to their plates. 

Table runners are an essential piece of any holiday table. They set the scene and mood for the rest of the table because they are visible no matter where your guests are seated. With a Christmas-colored table runner, you can go with a classic holiday look. On the other hand, a snowflake table runner makes a more elegant winter impression.