A Colorful and Classic Christmas Tablescape

The Christmas decor around our home this year consists of mostly garlands, greenery, neutrals and small pops of light blue. While our home looks festive and cozy, I remember the whimsical and color filled decorations I loved as a child during Christmas time. Creating magical moments and memories for my boys is so important to me. When I decided to go with simpler decor this year, I knew I could incorporate plenty of color in other ways.

I had heard of lash eggs before, but I had never really seen one, so I kind of recognized what it was when I found mine. And Grumpy Goldie, I knew for sure who had laid it. She was really good for the first year or so of her life, and after that, well, she was just "off." She hasn't actually laid an egg in years. Her age is almost five years old. I assumed she was egg bound a few years ago, but I found no impediment when I soaked her in warm water and inserted my finger into her vent. Since she is the Alpha hen and has been keeping everyone in the coop in line with her full wings, I didn't really care that she wasn't laying eggs.

Aside from decorating Graham and Harrison’s room with cheerful Christmas colors, I wanted to also incorporate color and whimsy into some of our Christmas traditions. I put together this fun tablescape packed with some of their favorite colors. While I love simplicity in decor, I wanted to be sure and pack tons of fun into this table. My most favorite childhood Christmas pieces were the ones with plenty of details to examine.

My inspiration for the color scheme came from these MeriMeri Christmas plates. I grabbed these for just a few dollars at HomeGoods. They tie in perfectly with Christmas decor I’ve used in the past, making this very budget friendly. The only thing I purchased were the paper plates, red and pink striped candy canes and a few spools of ribbon for the “Christmas candy” on each place setting. Because I mostly shopped my home for this, it only cost about eight dollars and now I have ribbon and candy canes left over to use for other Christmas ideas.

After purchasing the plates, I looked through all my stored Christmas decor to create a pile of coordinating items. I ended up using red and aqua ornaments, ribbons and mugs. Ribbon can be expensive depending on the type. The past few years, I have taken the time on Christmas Morning to set aside pretty ribbons from unwrapped gifts that can be re-used later. When it comes time to pack up our Christmas decor, I iron them and fold them nicely in a ziplock bag so I can use them the following year if desired.

I used a leftover piece of coordinating fabric I had on hand to create a table runner. No sewing involved, I simply trimmed any frayed edges and ironed it before draping it across the table. Wooden cake stands in different heights were perfect for displaying the mugs in the center of the table.

I went out on Saturday night with my friend Anneliese. If you are friends on Facebook, I have already shared some images there. After taking a leisurely stroll around three lakes, we had dinner at a really wonderful restaurant with a view of one of the lakes (here is the link if you are interested). Had a great time chatting.

I paired outdoor acrylic tumblers with these red polka dot straws I pulled from my Valentine’s Day box and added a candy cane filled with Pixy Stix powder. Such a fun little surprise! My boys were delighted when they saw all the bright and colorful ornaments and immediately ran over to show me their favorites.

In the center of each plate, I placed a DIY toilet paper roll candy. These are so easy to make and perfect for holding candy and small treats. These would be the perfect replacement for little gift bags for classroom parties etc. You could also leave them empty and string them together to make a candy garland.

These are a great craft to use up leftover gift wrap from years past and small scraps you have sitting around.

Supplies:

-Empty toilet paper rolls

-Hot glue gun

-Scotch tape

-Wrapping paper to cover rolls

-Ribbons

-Cellophane wrap or cello treat bags

-Scissors

1. Fill your empty rolls with candy, small trinkets or leave them empty if using as decor or garland.

2. Using scissors, cut pieces of wrapping paper (or any craft paper) to completely cover each roll. Hot glue or tape into place.

3. Cut pieces of ribbon to wrap around the rolls, creating stripes. You can use single, double or however many strands you like. I used single against my patterned paper and double strands against the solid. Hot glue ribbons into place. Use Cellophane to wrap each piece of “candy”. Glue or tape to secure at the seam.

4. If you’re making a garland, you’ll want to thread a long piece of twine through each roll, connecting them, before tying the ends of your cellophane. Otherwise, use ribbon to tie ends of the cellophane as close to the toilet paper roll as possible, creating a candy wrapper effect.