There’s an easy recipe for a beautiful festive tablescape that carries through all the coming holidays! Cloth or no cloth, your choice. Place a runner down the center, cover it in greens, and then pop your favorite holiday items in between them — plus a few candles. Then formally set the table; by which we really, in our wonderfully informal way, mean pull out all the dishes and layer them; the whole set of silverware and place them; add some rolled, tied, and herbed napkins, plus pretty glasses. And then place all the fun seasonal things you already own, just so. Tablescape gorgeousness, voila!

How To Decorate A Holiday Table For Both Thanksgiving and Christmas

First, Start With A Base of Greens

Shop Greens: Collect them from your own yard, or a gracious neighbor’s. Snip a few while on a hike, follow the arborist truck around town, visit your local florist, or order them!

Then, Set the Table With Black and White

Black white and grey are my favorites for a table b/c depending on how you layer them, and which you choose, some items can be arranged to look super-modern and clean, friendly and informal and inviting, or formally like a super-fancy event! And candles! As many candles as you can fit without setting the table ablaze! I particularly love the WE hurricanes because they can stand on top of the greens, and then the other smaller candles can be placed throughout them.

Next, Add Thanksgiving Touches

For Thanksgiving, add Gourds + Leaves + Notes of Thanks. And anything else you have laying around leftover from Halloween and Fall general decorating. Even just the already orange things we all seem to keep in plentiful supply, like clementines, are lovely when you pop them into the greens. Roll the linens, just make the front side look pretty, and tie them with ribbon, or pop a napkin ring on them, and then tuck a cinnamon stick or some rosemary or whatever extra green you have on hand into the ribbon or ring.

Last, Transition The Table To Christmas

The very same table base transitions right to Christmas so easily! We grabbed all of our Fall, Thanksgiving accoutrements right off the table, and replaced them with sparkly balls and sparkly stars, and added a special mini LOVE ornament to each place! Dig through your boxes of ornaments and find the ones that are already missing their hooks, or ones you have in sets and use those!

Shop Our Holiday Tables

Dishes and Glasses

We love white dishes almost as much as we love white linens! Rimmed in gold is just the tiniest of special details. Find a piece or two that work for you, or sets are available too.

Runners

The easiest and most beautiful way to define the tablescape. Here are a few of our favorites!

Tablecloths

Sometimes just a runner is lovely. If you need to pad the fancy table, or hide the not-so-fancy table, or if you prefer a more layered look, here are a few beautiful options.

Sparkly Things

You probably already have tons of sparkly things on hand: think ribbon from gifts in long strands you can curl with your fingers, or cut the gold and silver beaded necklaces from your last Mardi Gras celebration into strands and drape those. But, if you happen to need more sparkly things, here are a few we love:

Special Details

Christmas Crackers, Thanksgiving Crackers, Jars+Gratitude Notes, and little LOVE ornaments were our choices! The Crackers are especially fun! They each contain a little gift, toy or puzzle, and of course a crown. This was a tradition that my amazing South African Sister-in-Law shared with us and we’ll continue to keep forever!

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