Setting Up Food Decorations for a Christmas Get-Together

Create a mouthwatering array of Christmas foods.

The Christmas holiday season is a time of extravagance, delicious meals and good conversations while sitting at the dinner table or snacking on festive treats. Make the food at your Christmas party look appealing by decorating the table and paying careful attention to presentation. Plan your decorations at least a week in advance of the party to give yourself time to get your supplies and make everything look just right.

Decorating Themes

Start with a visual theme to tie together the foods you are preparing and the way in which you will display them. For example, you might choose a Christmas tree theme and arrange foods on tree-shaped platters, make foods that look like ornaments and decorate the table with a pine tree garland. Other ideas include a snow and snowman theme with white foods and a frosty blue and silver backdrop, or a presents theme with foods on square platters and wrapped boxes decorating the table.

Table Decorations

There is a big difference between putting food on a plastic folding table and setting it on an elegant tablecloth with a festive runner and decorative centerpiece. Use a tablecloth and table runner in contrasting colors so they stand out against each other. Create a centerpiece that uses food, such as a hurricane vase with a pillar candle in the center and fresh cranberries and whole walnuts poured in the space between the candle and the vase.

Buffet Spread

Bring out the best serving pieces for a Christmas party when setting up your buffet spread. Keep the table visually appealing by presenting food at different levels. Cake stands and other footed serving dishes help with this, or you can just set platters on sturdy boxes draped with festive cloth napkins. Spread colorful foods out across the whole buffet table so they are interspersed with white foods, such as bread and potatoes.

Festive Foods

Set out some edible decorations by forming some of your foods into recognizable Christmas shapes or characters. For example, use a toothpick to hold a small white cheese ball on top of a larger one and decorate them to look like a snowman with raisin buttons and facial features, a carrot stick nose and pretzel arms. Use Christmas cookie cutters and decorate each cookie with icing and decorator's gel for a festive dessert table. Make cream cheese pinwheels with red and green colored tortillas or wraps and arrange them in the shape of a Christmas tree.