Tips and Ideas for your Winter and Holiday Dining Table

One tablecloth – four styles. Mixing and mingling plates, napkins, and chargers is as easy as one, two, three, and four.

Let me just say this! Playing with place settings is sooo…much…fun! I mean…it’s a blast to create and discover new styles. With most of us eating the majority of our meals at home, setting a beautiful table is not as hard as it looks. But the secret is to have enough salad plates and chargers to create the different looks. I will show you four examples of place settings using the same dinner plate, napkins, tablecloth, flatware, and glasses. The only items I am changing are the chargers and salad plates.

How to Mix and Match Plates and Chargers

Our kitchen table is being used every single day since the pandemic started. Back in the day (like February) we would use the kitchen table only for dinner. These days with the whole family being home, we eat all our meals at the kitchen table. It’s been really nice having everyone home, we have never had so many meals together and I’ve never done so much cooking!

Most of the year, we don’t use a tablecloth in the kitchen – but for the holidays, I like to bring out festive and colorful linens. My linens aren’t fancy, more practical for a family with children. Easily washable and no ironing required is a must for an everyday tablecloth.

In my kitchen these days, I am using a decade old simple holiday tablecloth with red poinsettias..I’ll link a few other festive clothes I have my eye on HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Example #1 – I fell in love with these tartan patterned chargers the moment I laid eyes on them, and at $2 a piece, I snatched them up. They are so fun and go with so many different holiday plates and bowls. I added colorful salad plates (SIMILAR HERE) to create a very Christmasy look.

Tip #1 – Invest in an everyday set of plates that you can add to and mix with chargers and napkins. When it comes to setting a holiday table, I purchased versatile plates with a gold rim.

Example #2 – This is another setting where I am using the same chargers and dinner plate, but added a different holiday/salad dish.

Example #3 – Still using the basic plate as my base but adding a matching plate on top and changed out the base to an all gold charger.

Tip #2 – Create different looks by placing the napkin on top of the plates as opposed to the side of the plate or flatware.

I am using the same napkins in all these examples but placing them in different areas of the place setting.

Example #4 – Same basic plate, new wood charger but I have turned the napkin around and placed it on the side of the plate, creating a new look.

Tip #3 – The more layers you have, the richer the place setting will appear. A tablecloth, plus place mat, plus charger, plus dinner plate, plus holiday plate, plus napkin, etc….you get the idea. Loving my poinsettia place mats!

Tip #4 – It’s okay to mix and match gold and silver. I matched gold chargers with silver flatware and it looks pretty darn good.

Tip #5 – Adding candles to a table always makes it look magical.

Tip #6 – There are no rules! Mix and match to your hearts content! Bring out grandma’s china pattern and mix it with a recent thrift shop find or your everyday plates to create a look you never imagined!

Tip #7 – HAVE FUN! The dinner table is where we gather to chat and create new memories…it’s more about the people and conversation than the place settings but a beautiful table setting doesn’t hurt 😉 and adds to the ambiance of the fabulous company.

Happy Dining! Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday dinner!

Denise

XO

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