Quick tips to style your Christmas party table

Guest blog by Georgia Coote

The party season is upon us! I don’t know about you but I am so ready for it! For me, the best parties aren’t the biggest or most luxurious, but the ones which have the most personality and fun in them - which generally comes from not spending too much time prepping for them! I’ve put together a few tips for styling a fun and creative Christmas party. I always find styling is my absolute favourite and getting everyone to join in is the best way to get some festive creativity started. So, turn up the festive music and get the family on board.

Paper snowflakes

I always think the best displays are a collaborative effort -  kids love being involved in planning and getting them to help gives them a sense of ownership over the event. Paper snowflakes are such a simple make, which can make any table, wall or mantel fantastically festive. With help, even a preschooler can make the simplest versions, and the little look on their face when they open out the paper is such a joy!  

Simply cut out varying sizes of circles, fold twice or more and then cut out little chunks, triangles or any other shape you can manage. You can use different papers, leftover wrapping paper, or even newspapers to make them. 

They look fantastic scattered all over your party table for the perfect splash of colour and add so much fun! However, if you fancy having the perfect Insta-ready photo backdrop, then they look great stuck simply to the wall (I used blu tack, but if you’re worried about greasy marks, masking tape is best). After use, they can be repurposed for thank you cards, gifts tags, or wrapping embellishments. 

Bring the outside in 

Another great way to decorate your party is to forage for natural treasures outside: twigs, pinecones and berries all last ages and look so beautiful on a festive table. A house on our street always has a box outside with all the trimmings from their holly bush and makes for so many festive makes. I love the pop of the holly berries against this dark blue daisy china. 

Products shown:
Japanese side plate in Petite Daisy, £8.95
Japanese dinner plate in Petite Daisy, £14.95
Gold stars Christmas garland, £2.95

I always think it's so lovely to have something that people can take away when they leave a party, so for place settings I gathered up a posy of twigs and berries (and one supermarket bunch of red roses, but it would be even more beautiful if they were from your garden) and popped them into these mini glass milk bottles. I then tied ribbon around the neck and made a little name label with my trusty dymo - if you don’t have a label maker you could tie a little tag in with the ribbon. These make fantastic place settings that people can then take home as a keep-sake. 

Product shown: Set of six school milk bottles, £9.95

Homemade Treats

Homemade treats always go down so well at a party - and any time really! But there is something so lovely about having a jar of treats you can either get out at the end to go with coffee or to give to people as little gifts.  This festive take on jazzies is so simple but such a cute treat. Simply line up some giant chocolate buttons on some baking paper on an oven-proof tray and pop into the oven on its lowest setting. Watch until they go shiny so you know they have melted (it will likely be minutes but it will depend on your oven) - watch them like a hawk otherwise your chocolate will seize. Once shiny and melty take them out the oven, sprinkle with festive sprinkles, and then leave to cool. I’ve used dark chocolate ones here as I love the contrast with the silver and gold sprinkles, but any will work.

Product shown: Party Train wrapping paper, £6.95 for 5 sheets

Use a clean jam jar and then place in the buttons. To finish, stick on some festive washi tape and then add a label on top. I wrote 'Christmas sprinkles' but you could put any kind of festive messages on.

Product shown: Nordic Christmas washi tape, £2.95

Go Retro

I’m such a retro lover, and at Christmas my vintage tendencies come out in full force! Retro games, charades, trivia pursuit and dominoes all go down well in our family. As do nostalgic drinks and snacks; I will forever remember cracking nuts with an actual nutcracker at my Grandma’s house, as well as Eat Me dates! This year I’m going to be sugar rimming the glasses for our snowballs and using these milk bottles for the kids - I love how retro they look with the stripy straw and red foil top.

Products shown:
Traditional school milk bottle, £2.95
Set of 50 foil milk bottle tops, was £3.95, now £1

Inspired to get creative with your own festive table this year? Be sure to share your shots with us using #RexLondon!