Formal and Casual Holiday Table Settings

I love setting a pretty table for our holiday gatherings. There’s always something special about pulling out my holiday china. Every year I start with the same basic pieces, but I try to come up with ideas on how to give our tables a new look for the holidays. Today on the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop we’re all sharing our holiday table settings. I’m sharing our Formal and Casual Holiday Table Settings, a casual breakfast nook table and our formal dining room table. I enjoy giving them both very different looks. 

Welcome to the third annual 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop!

Stop by every day from December first through the twelfth for new ideas you can use to make your season brighter!

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They have all been busy as Elves creating, decorating, cooking and crafting tons of new ideas for you to try this holiday season!

Shirley~Intelligent Domestications I Alli~An Alli Event I Michelle~Our Crafty Mom I Marie~DIY Adulation 

Erlene~My Pinterventures I Beverly~Across The Blvd. I Debra~Shoppe No. 5 I Victoria~Dazzle While Frazzled

Megan~C’mon Get Crafty I Michelle~Michelle James Designs I Amanda~Domestically Creative

Deborah~Salvage Sister & Mister I Jeanie~Create & Babble I Sherry~Olives & Okra

Jenny~Cookies Coffee & Crafts I Emily~Domestic Deadline I Bonbon~Farmhouse 40

Leanna~Of Faeries & Fauna I Pam Larmore~P.S. I Love You Crafts I Kelly~North Country Nest I Marie~The Inspiration Vault

Gail~Purple Hues and Me I Lynne~My Family Thyme I Karen~Dragonfly and Lily Pads I Trisha~Blowing Away Out West

 Lorrin~Embrace The Perfect Mess  I Terri~Christmas Tree Lane 

Sam~Raggedy Bits I Cyn~Creative Cynchronicity

Valeria~Val Event Gal I Yami~The Latina Next Door  I Tania~Little Vintage Cottage

 Lauren~Wonderfully Made I Vanessa~DIY 180 I Kimberly~A Wonderful Thought I Kim~Everyday Parties

Dru~Polka Dot Poplars

Formal and Casual Holiday Table Settings

 

Casual Holiday Table Setting

Our breakfast nook area is often a gathering spot. I use traditional green and red with touches of silver in this space. To add more color to the area, I use a red tablecloth most years. The holly patterned plates are ones that I’ve had for longer than I can remember. I’m sometimes tempted to buy new place settings for this space, but I think I would miss the holly plates.  I was happy to find holly glasses at the Dollar Tree the last couple of years. They match wonderfully with the dishes. 

I opted to use this red sleigh for the centerpiece for this table. It’s filled with small gift boxes. The holly candle holders are ones that I’ve had for years, too. 

I love all kinds of napkin folds and one of my favorites to use on this table is a simple tree fold. I noticed as I was taking these photos that I should have ironed the napkins! But, I try to avoid ironing. Once the fold has been completed, the wrinkles aren’t noticeable. 

I topped the napkins off with a small red ornament.

Formal Holiday Table Setting

In our dining room, I like to have a more formal table setting. I love our Christmas china. It was a Christmas gift from my husband after we moved to Charleston.  To complement the china, I use a color palette of burgundy and gold in this room. 

We’ll have nine people for our Christmas dinner.  I can squeeze in eight, but not nine. I brought a card table into the room and moved the dining table to accommodate the additional table. Unfortunately, they aren’t quite the same height. To give the two tables some cohesiveness, I added some floral picks at the spot where the two tables meet. 

 

I used more of the same picks throughout the table. I have burgundy pillar candles on pedestal plates, burgundy tapers and gold tapers to give a bit of height to the table setting. 

 

I made the easiest place cards for the table. I found these pretty white gift tags with snowflake designs at the dollar spot at Target. Using a gold paint pen, I wrote our names on the cards and tucked them into each napkin.

I love how all of the pieces came together for our formal holiday table setting and I’m glad I found a way that we will all have some elbow room for Christmas dinner!

I enjoy having two spaces that can be decorated so differently for the holidays. I have a lot of fun and whimsical decor throughout our home, but for the dining room and parlor, I prefer a bit more formal look.

Looking for inspiration for your holiday table setting? The 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop has 30+ ideas. I'm sharing both our casual & formal table settings. #12DaysofChristmas #HolidayTablescape #Christmas Click To Tweet

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Formal and Casual Holiday Table Settings

 

We’ll be sharing at lots of these great parties!

Be sure to visit our fellow 12 Days of Christmas Bloggers below for even more creative ideas this holiday season!