It’s the most important meal of the year – so make sure you create the perfect setting this festive season with carefully considered table decorations, says interiors writer CAROL BURNS

You’ve probably spent days and weeks planning and preparing the perfect Christmas dinner – but too often the table setting is a last-minute affair and can let you down on the big day. Perhaps you drape a festive tablecloth, find the matching napkins, sprinkle some crackers, add unlit candles to the centre and let the turkey and trimmings provide the wow factor.

But after the presents, your Christmas lunch is the biggest event of the festive season – long after you’ve forgotten who bought who what, you will remember the Christmas dinner, whether the wine and conversation flowed, and how it all tasted. So, no pressure.

Dress up before the big day

Build anticipation for the big event with a beautifully laid table just waiting to be sat at, the best thing is doing it early means you can spend the day on other things, knowing even if the gravy needs sieving or the Brussel sprouts are a tad overcooked, no one will probably notice.

Colour

Start with a sharply ironed tablecloth. Your table linens are easiest thing to change each year. Choose a colour to match your taste and the rest of the table decoration will follow.

Colours should be matching and probably muted: reds, greens, whites or creams, but your taste should dominate here as much as it should match the patterns of your tableware. Are you a fan of mismatched vintage crockery? Or do you dust off the family Wedgewood?

Consider the lighting when choosing colours. White might glare at midday but dark red might make it harder to find your wine glass in the evening, especially if it’s been refilled a few times. Which brings me to…

Coast Christmas gift guide 2024

Lighting

Few foodstuffs (or guests) look their best under harsh ceiling lights, so surround the table in diffused table and floor lights (this where sconces come in handy). Borrow from the rest of the house and test out the festive ambiance.

Don’t be tempted to throw scarves over brighter lights, it might look like you’re calling up your dead relatives to join you for dinner. Swap the bulbs for lower-intensity light instead. Avoid eating by candlelight, we eat with our eyes, so you want people to appreciate your beautifully presented food.

Centrepiece

If you favour polished silver candelabras, watch the length of your tapers to avoid blocking eye lines. Be careful of sleeves when handing out serving platters for tealights and lower-lying naked flames.

For easy table décor that has a wow factor, denude your garden’s greenery and team it up with the heads of seasonal blooms like winter roses, azaleas and amaryllis to create a trail of seasonal flora and fauna down the middle of your table (no vase required).

Bank it up as big as possible and use leftover flowers to tie around napkins or cutlery. A row of prettily potted poinsettias down the middle of the table can also make a quick and simple alternative.

Place settings

There have been plenty of crafty ideas for creating interesting place settings in recent years featuring fruit, glitter, baubles and brown craft paper labels tied up with string. Liven it up with a handwritten menu at each place setting to get mouths salivating. And consider prettily wrapped table presents in place of Christmas crackers if you want to be proper grown-up.

Few things look as good as the full silver service table setting. If you want to create a fully formal affair brush up on the rules with – who else – John Lewis which has a handy illustration of what fork goes where, plus which glass to use for which liquid. It’s a Christmas parlour game in its own right!

The room

You don’t have to overdo the table, if your room looks suitably festive. Consider a tree with twinkling lights in a corner if you have space and add Christmas wreaths on the walls or back of the chairs.

And repeat…

Now you know how to do it brush off your expert table decorating skills for the New Year. Add a tartan touch, track down a haggis (Waitrose does a great vegan one) and see in Hogmanay with style.