Tabletop & Mantel Christmas Decorating
Christmas is a time to gather with your loved ones for drinks, dinner parties, gift exchanges and general merriment, and if you are entertaining in your own home, you'll want your decor to match the jolly mood of your celebrations. Since the dining room table and areas around the fireplace are common spots for entertaining, festoon your tabletop and mantel with festive decor to lift your spirits and enhance the holiday experience for your guests. Does this Spark an idea?
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Features
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Christmas tabletop decorations are usually comprised of a strong centerpiece statement surrounded by smaller accent decorations. Christmas mantels sometimes follow the same concept, with a strong center decoration flanked by candles, cards or holiday figurines, although decorating along with mantel with similarly sized pieces or two large symmetrical objects on either ends of the mantel are also visually pleasing arrangements. Match your mantel and table decorations to give your home a cohesive holiday look, especially if you have a combined dining and living area.
Types
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Some of the most beloved styles of Christmas decorations include Victorian, traditional and modern. Victorian Christmas table and mantel decorations use a lot of elements to create an extravagant look, such as layers of ornate ribbon, gold and silver accents, real evergreen garland, porcelain Santa and angel figures and tapered candlesticks. A traditional Christmas mantel or tabletop features the classic elements of Christmas: white snowscapes, tabletop trees, red and green color schemes, glass ball ornaments, beads and holiday-scented pillar candles. Hipster types looking to create a modern mood around their Christmas hearth and in their dining room favor black, white and silver Christmas color schemes and often shun greenery and candles altogether, choosing instead a single statement piece, such a vintage dove sculpture or a grouping of white-painted branches.
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Decorating Ideas
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Christmas tabletop decorations need a strong centerpiece. Instead of purchasing one, create your own. Hot glue candy in Christmas colors to a topiary form or fill a clear vase with sparkling ornaments. If you'd rather buy something, look for a sculptural candle holder in gold or silver, decorated, a small-scale tabletop Christmas tree or pre-made ivy and poinsettia centerpieces. For your mantel, go with garland, a holiday classic. Lay a long piece over the top of your mantel, allowing both ends to drape over the sides. Arrange cards, candles, bells, ornaments and other holiday ephemera around the garland, or just let the garland stand on its own or with a single centerpiece, such as a vintage gold clock.
Considerations
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Tabletop Christmas decorations verge away from fun and into fussy when they encroach upon eating and serving space on the table. When planning your tabletop layout, leave ample empty space for platters, salad bowls, place settings and other essential serving tools. While tabletop Christmas trees are lovely, if you want your guests to see each other from across the table, scale down the size or remove them altogether before beginning the meal.
Warning
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If you are incorporating candles into your tabletop or mantel display, always extinguish the flame before leaving the room. Never leave candles to burn unsupervised, especially around flammable items such as paper Christmas cards, dried-out evergreen garland and other combustible Christmas décor. Despite persistent myths, poinsettias are non-toxic to both humans and their animal friends, so don't be afraid to incorporate them into your design schemes.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit christmas image by Horticulture from Fotolia.com
