Hello fun job! This holiday season, I’m working with BIG W on a series of Christmas themed posts. I had a blast looking at their fab Christmas range and my best pick this week is Battery Operated LED light set (20 lights). They are only $2 and brilliant for all kinds of festive decorations and especially the table because they set that magical tone, and don’t need to be plugged in.
When it comes to decorating the Christmas table, I start with an easy centerpiece and work my way out from there. For the middle, I like to couple every day items from around the home with festive decorations. Then, once I have the centerpiece sorted, I look at extending a theme to the rest of the table with items like napkins, name place tags and bon bons.
Decorating the Table in Three Steps
- Start with a table centerpiece theme
- Use everyday items around the home
- Introduce colour and styling through festive decorations and items
Below are ideas on how I bring these three concepts together.
1. White Christmas in a Jar
Concept: a mini fantasy world in a jar
Colour scheme: silver and gold with white highlights
Everyday items: glass cookie jar, salt, glass tumblers (or glass jars)
Festive items: gold table runner, mini Christmas trees, silver mini bonbons, small gold baubles, LED lights, candle
Tip: instead of trees, use an angel or snowman figurine inside the jar
2. Baubles in Glass (with a holly garland)
Concept: easy to bring a pop of colour and a garland ties it all in
Colour theme: traditional red and green with silver highlights
Everyday items: large vase or bowl
Festive items: red table runner, garland, baubles
Tip: bring out the silver highlights with silver napkins and bon bons
3. Stick Christmas Tree
Concept: celebrate with nature
Colour theme: natural tones with diamond (clear) highlights
Everyday items: vase or large jar, tree sticks
Festive decorations: gold table runner, potpourri balls, LED lights, silver birds, diamond tree decorations, small gold baubles
Tip: Make joke tags with paper and hang on the tree
4. Candle & Beads
Concept: bring romance, fun and colour to the table
Colour theme: pink & green with bright highlights
Everyday items: vase/candle holder
Festive decorations: beads, baubles, candle
Tip: Christmas doesn’t always have to be in traditional colours
5. Tea Candle & Glass Tumblers
Concept: Simple! 6 to 8 glasses with tea light candles lined up in the middle of the table
Colour theme: gold, gold and everything gold with glass highlights
Everyday items: glass tumblers (or empty glass jars)
Festive decorations: LED lights, tea light candles, small gold baubles
Tip: attach ribbon to mason jars and use instead of glass tumblers
6. Light Jar
Concept: sparkly lights add a touch of magic to any setting
Colour theme: gold & brown
Everyday items: large jar, bowl or vase
Festive decorations: baubles, potpourri balls, LED lights
Tip: use different coloured baubles to match any theme
7. Fruit feature
Concept: decorate the usual, because it’s Christmas
Colour theme: blue and orange with gold highlights
Everyday items: large glass bowl, oranges
Festive decorations: diamanté stickers
Tip: add eucalyptus leaves and gum nuts along a table runner and add a scattering of LED lights
8. Ice Sculpture
Concept: make your own ice sculpture
Colour theme: white, red with silver highlights
Everyday items: water, balloon, tray/plate with sides
Festive items: candle
Tip: add poinsettia or red rose petals to the balloon before adding water
Good-good times are coming.
Video
The White Christmas in a Jar setting took under 5 minutes to set up. Below is a speedy version.
Giveaway
Get organised early this Christmas with a chance to win a $100 BIG W gift voucher. (I’ll have another 3 vouchers to giveaway in the upcoming weeks).
To enter, leave a comment below to the answer to this question (and your answer could be featured as part of the BIGW_HintSquad):
What food item is essential on your Christmas table and why?
T & Cs – Must be over 18 year of age, Australian residents only, judged on merit. Please read full terms and condition in the link above
Congratulations Rebecca Roffman!
Items I used available at BIG W:
LED lights ($2), 12 silver baubles-60mm ($3), mini bon bons-8 ($4), bird decoration pack ($3), diamond drop decoration-12 ($5), bead garland ($3), table runner ($13), 20 small gold baubles-40mm ($3), 92 tree decorating pack ($15), tinsel holly garland ($5), mini tree table decoration-3 pack ($10), tea light candle-60 ($9), large pillar candle ($8), wave tumbler-6 ($8), potpourri balls pack ($18), large candle vase ($20), large glass bowl ($20)
Disclosure
This post is sponsored by BIG W. All views and materials (including photographs) produced are my own. You can read my disclosure policy here.
265 Comments
Ruth Laker
November 25, 2013 at 9:13 pmMandarin and Marshmallow salad…. its a family tradition… if its not there its not the same
Jessica Warnock
November 25, 2013 at 9:13 pmChristmas salad. Every single green and white and red salad ingredient! It looks amazing and tastes even better!
Deana
November 25, 2013 at 9:13 pmHome cooked bread because it takes me back to my childhood – the breaking of bread over a Christmas Roast looking for the coin baled inside
Nichole
November 25, 2013 at 9:15 pmMost essential food item is pork crackling – the local butcher provides enough skin to crackle for weeks, along with the shoulder of pork. Apple sauce is a side to dip the cracking in …. Yum scrum mum !!!
Amy
November 25, 2013 at 9:17 pmMy homemade gingerbread cookies! A Christmas tradition I started making when my daughter was born (she is now 2.5 and has twin brothers who are 10mths). They are yummy and a great baking activity with the kids 🙂
Jo mcpherson
November 25, 2013 at 9:17 pmI need ALL the traditional food – turkey, roasties, parsnips, carrots, peas, suede, beans, broccoli and Christmas pudding with cream, brandy butter and a mince pie. Yum yum yummy ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Jaimi Layt
November 25, 2013 at 9:17 pmDefinitely my Grand mother’s baked Ham. A Christmas tradition, our family favorite and the recipe has been in the family for over 5 generations.
Kerry Gilmore
November 25, 2013 at 9:18 pmAny food items on the table as long as we are all there together to share!!
Shannon
November 25, 2013 at 9:22 pmChristmas Pudding and custard! My dad’s family (he’s one of 11) get together every year and make them up together. Such a beautiful tradition that we all enjoy (plus they taste amazing!) 🙂
Amanda Eastment
November 25, 2013 at 9:22 pmMini Christmas Puddings – Arnotts Royals biscuits with white chocolate as the custard, red mini m+m for the holly berry and leaves made from a thin green slice from a lolly snake. These look so special and are super easy to make. I love to create little Christmas treats to enjoy.
Melanie Woodford
November 25, 2013 at 9:23 pmChristmas ham is the best food on the table at Christmas time. And Pavlova, nothing beats a pavlova!
Kirsty Bunyan
November 25, 2013 at 9:23 pmIn Tasmania we are spoilt for choice, fresh salmon, crayfish, strawberries and cherries grace my Christmas spread!
Brooke Griffiths
November 25, 2013 at 9:26 pmThe most important food on our Christmas table is the pudding. No only because it tastes amazing, but I love the preparation of making it with my 5 year old son and the joy he gets from not only helping, but letting everyone know that he made it 🙂
Cassie
November 25, 2013 at 9:27 pmChristmas ham! It’s not Christmas lunch without ham 🙂
Erin
November 25, 2013 at 9:29 pmIn our family, trifle!! Must have – happy day followed by happy food!
Jaime
November 25, 2013 at 9:29 pmCherries! They are pretty and just the very image of them say Christmas. And!!! They make for great decoration pieces! 🙂
Melanie Godfrey
November 25, 2013 at 9:29 pmI like to have a bowl of cherries on the table. They are only around at Christmas time and add a naturally sweet touch to the meal. They are even better when dipped in chocolate….. Mmmm.
Olga Klaassen
November 25, 2013 at 9:30 pmTurkey, Ham and Stuffing! It would not be Christmas Day without them!
Heather
November 25, 2013 at 9:30 pmPavlova – made from scratch, featuring with love and lemon butter. I grew up with white Christmases but my Aussie mum always made pavlova at Christmas – on a cold white Christmas it tasted like Summer and sunshine.
Claire Killeen
November 25, 2013 at 9:30 pmHam or prawns – just not christmas without either one.
Karen
November 25, 2013 at 9:36 pmMy Nannas Christmas pudding – she will be 98 years old on the 23rd of December, and she still cooks the pudding to perfection. My Husband, Uncle and Dad fight over the leftovers!
Samantha Jackson
November 25, 2013 at 9:36 pmI would have to say the christmas pudding. Nothing beats finishing off an amazing meal with a fruity sensation with vanilla icecream!
Terri Jackson
November 25, 2013 at 9:37 pmPlum pudding with brandy cream..ohh la la
Linda
November 25, 2013 at 9:38 pmTurkey!! A once-yearly tradition that must continue! Freshly cooked with stuffing, gravy and apple sauce… Yummm!!!
Marine Davidson
November 25, 2013 at 9:38 pmOysters! because i always had them on Christmas day since i am a very little child!!
Liz Paganoni
November 25, 2013 at 9:40 pmThe Christmas ham. The ham you eat breakfast, lunch & dinner for the next week. The ham that is a million times better than ham at any other time of the year. Christmas is all about the ham!
Krystine Keen
November 25, 2013 at 9:52 pmThe Christmas pudding. I come from a long line of Pastry Chefs a skill I unfortunately did not inherit. The pudding for me symbolizes all that family is, the traditions, the customs and the special time I spent with them as the process of creating the pudding took place; soaking the fruit,mmm laced with rum. The spices, the smell, the wrapping in cloth and boiling in the old copper that we use to wash in. Then the unveiling with a single snowman high on top a lighted candle, warm custard and of course the coins hidden inside just for the kids. I indulge just once every year and enjoy this tradition now with my own young family and for a moment those that have gone before can be seen sitting, smiling and “loving” once more.
Jessica Bonanno
November 25, 2013 at 9:43 pmPrawns is always an essential entree to keep the seafood tradition and we don’t have them as an entree other days for some reason. Merry xmas.
Jenny
November 25, 2013 at 9:44 pmHomemade Gingerbread!! 🙂
Kristina Cornelius
November 25, 2013 at 9:47 pmHomemade gravy! It’s just not Christmas without it.
Elizabeth Thornton
November 25, 2013 at 9:49 pmMy great-grandmother’s Christmas cake. I never met her but she taught my Gran to make it and for many years now, my Gran and I have made it together. Each year we bake the cakes (we make enough for the extended family) in October and leave them to mature until a couple of weeks before Christmas. When we unwrap them, it is time to decorate and we have fun coming up with new icing designs each year. The cakes are cut at Christmas and the flavour is incredible! I love this tradition in my family and I know that one day I will be able to pass on the recipe to my children.
Priscilia
November 25, 2013 at 9:50 pmMy mums homemade Christmas bread!! It won’t be Christmas without it!
Kim m
November 25, 2013 at 9:52 pmMy husbands family has to have lolloes on the table, lots and lots of lollies and they are loly snobs, only Allen’s, no homebrand allowed!!!!!
Amanda
November 25, 2013 at 9:53 pmA turkey cooked draped in bacon and chipolatas, stuffed with sausagemeat and onion stuffing and chestnut stuffing…. the smell means Christmas to me, it has been a part of every happy festive meal for as long as I remember. My family is far away but it brings them closer.
Julie
November 25, 2013 at 9:54 pmIn our family it’s trifle! Every year without fail 🙂
Isabel
November 25, 2013 at 9:56 pmRum balls – lovingly home-made using a recipe that has been passed down through many generations and it reminds us our roots. Christmas to us is all about celebrating family and it wouldn’t be complete without our family’s favourite treats.
Peta Masih
November 25, 2013 at 9:57 pmChristmas is just not the same without fresh prawns on the table!! Christmas is the only time of the year we actually eat them, so we really look forward to it as a special family treat!!
Rebecca Roffman
November 25, 2013 at 10:02 pmMy Nanas special Peppermint Malt slice. I make it now with my kids. Each time I taste it the taste not only delicious takes me back to many Christmas’ ago when I would help my nana make it and remember how special and exciting Christmas was as a child 🙂 I spent 364 days of the year counting down the days until i get to enjoy it 🙂
Christine Graham
November 25, 2013 at 10:09 pmI love my homemade sugar coated peanuts/cashews & the kids love the chocolate condensed milk balls that they have helped make! Nothing like christmas snacks!
Belinda
November 25, 2013 at 10:11 pmTraditional Leg Of Ham, nothing better than fresh ham cut off the bone for Xmas lunch 🙂
Kylie Thomson
November 25, 2013 at 10:12 pmChristmas Pudding! So many memories – my uncle pouring brandy over the pudding before lighting it and carrying it to the christmas table (us kids all ooohhhing and aaahhhing) and my sister now makes the pudding from my nana’s original recipe. Yum!
Adam McDade
November 25, 2013 at 10:18 pmYou’ll always find Chocolate and Vanilla Wafer Sticks from BigW soooo good and only $2.48 a tin!!
Summer Hinaki-McDade
November 25, 2013 at 10:22 pmQuality Streets tin of treats from BigW are never not on our table!! Cremey quity chocolate and somany flavours to choose from!
Nicole White
November 25, 2013 at 10:23 pm~Pavlova with Summer Fruit Salad~ it’s a sweet finish to a magical day!
Malissa Groome
November 25, 2013 at 10:43 pmA good bottle of Chardonnay. Something special. Gently chilled (but not too cold). No matter what meat you choose (and we like to mix it up between the traditional favourites of ham, pork, or turkey, from year to year) a well chosen Chardonnay complements all those holiday flavours. Not to mention it goes wonderfully with stuffing, roasted potato and pumpkin!
Tracey Duke
November 25, 2013 at 10:49 pmSomething special, that we don’t have in every day meals, is what I like our Xmas table to contain eg. turkey, duck, ham on the bone. It just depends on who we are feeding and what we can afford.
Janelle Robinson
November 25, 2013 at 10:53 pmChristmas for us means a lovely big leg of freshly smoked ham, you can’t beat it cut straight off the bone. Mmmmm yummmmyyyy!!
Irene caraccia
November 25, 2013 at 11:25 pmThe food item that definitely needs to be on a Christmas table is the stuffed Turkey with roasted potatoes. This can then be followed by dessert…the amazing pavlova topped with strawberry and kiwifruit. The colours would be so nice!
Caroline R
November 25, 2013 at 11:26 pmCherries – nothing says festive more than these little bites of heaven! (perfect with chocolate too!)
Renae Somerville
November 25, 2013 at 11:28 pmAbsolutely a mixture of prawns, ham and chicken on my Christmas table!
Followed by all the fresh stone fruits of the season!
Angela Dick
November 25, 2013 at 11:31 pmSmoked ham:) family tradition, had it every Christmas for 36yrs:)