Holiday Progressive Dinner Party: Entertaining Tips + Tablescape

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY! Please join us for a Holiday Progressive Dinner Blog Tour!

I am sharing entertaining tips and my first holiday tablescape of the 2018 holiday season with seven other talented friends!

I am the first stop during the Holiday Progressive Dinner Blog Tour, however if you’re coming from the last stop Sue and Teri of Wool and Vine Design, welcome! This talented sister duo is always inspiring me with their creative designs and vintage finds!

I’m welcoming you through our side door into our kitchen with merry and bright winter touches.  I love adding red, blue and white with greenery to our coastal blue and white home for Christmas!

Tartan plaid is one of my favorite styles, which is classic and traditional for the holidays and winter entertaining. I found the plaid table runner and napkins last year at Target and they have a great selection again this year. The Denver Plaid dinner plates and antler/ pinecone napkin rings are still in style and will be for years to come! Plus they’re on sale right now with similiar plaid napkins and table runner to the one featured here! Bonus, they’re dishwasher and microwave safe, which has been a time saver for me when hosting Christmas.

Add garland to your tablescape and angled it diagonal vs straight down the center so that its overflowing at either corner of the dinning table. I enjoy using faux garland because of my alliergies, but also because I can reuse it year after year while not worrying about a live one dropping needles and drying out before Christmas. Style with fresh flowers and fruits in season such as pomegranate and red roses.

You can style your tablescape with or without a centerpiece. However, I enjoy the height of this hollow log vase. I had planned to use amaryllis, but couldn’t find any that had bloomed this early in December. Instead I used “frosty” ferns, carnations, and red roses. I never use carnations, but the type I found look so beautiful and unique.  Another tip, don’t break the bank on expensive flowers, especially if they’re not in season. Instead go to your local grocery store, Trader Joe’s, or Whole Foods first, I’ve even seen penoies at reasonable prices here in the Charlotte area. If I really need a particular flower I will go to my local florist and order at least two weeks before my event in case they need to special order it.

Make your guests feel like they’re in a winter wonderland by adding mini wreaths with beautiful coordinating ribbon to the backs of the chairs. We used red tartan plaid and gold trim ribbon. You could easily add place cards to the mini wreaths for a more formal seating arrangement.

Mix and match fabrics and styles. You don’t have to have all the same tartan plaid pattern. I love the bright color of the tartan plaid ribbon on the backs of the chairs and on the wreath hanging on the back door.

Add simple touches to your kitchen and dinning room decor such as wreaths with big bows on windows and on the hood of your stove. Have a mix of healthy and speciality sweets for guests such as candy pecans, peppermint pretzels, seasonal fruit, Boom Chicka Pop Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn, and carmel with sea salt.  We also enjoy serving our Christmas Day family tradition Mama’s Coffee Cake to guests as dessert.

We love adding festive wood signs like this JOY to the World one from Old Time Pottery, fresh new candle scents like Hibiscus RE+NEW+ALL hand poured candle from our A Makers’ Studio shop, which is on sale now, our childhood handmade Santa cookie jar, and colorful advent tree calendar.

You might enjoy some of my most popular tablescapes and holiday parties such as our Winter Wonderland Party we styled exclusively for Shutterfly, Gingerbread House Decorating Party, Mom and Me Christmas Craft Party, and more!

Stop 2 on the Holiday Progressive Dinner Blog Tour is Amy Cuter Tudor! I love Amy’s style and how she’s decorated each room in her home differently for Christmas! Her Christmas tablescape is so festive and don’t you just love the fun hot cocoa bar behind the dinning table?!

Make sure you stop by all 7 other stops on the Holiday Progressive Dinner Blog Tour with lots of holiday entertaining inspiration and tips!

Sarah Sofia Productions | Cuter Tudor | Maui In My Heart

Worthing Court| Lemons To Lovelys

The Pickled Rose | Gratefully Vintage | Wool and Vine Design

If you missed our Merry and Bright Christmas Home Tour and Entertaining Tips last week, you can find it here!

Lastly,  today starts our 7 days of giveaways! Today we’ll be giving away one RE+NEW+ALL hand poured candle from our A Makers’ Studio Shop, which was made by a woman who we recused and restored from human trafficking. To Enter make sure you like and comment on our Instagram post tonight.

Stay tuned for more giveaways and holiday entertaining inspiration this week and next week!