How to style a Christmas table

The food is, of course, the main event at Christmas but that doesn’t mean it can’t look pretty. From scent and lighting to colour and cutlery, master of the Instagram shot Bre Graham takes us through her top tips

Start from the tablecloth and work your way up (Getty)

Piled high with fragrant fruit, topped with embroidered tablecloths and decorated with a collection of plates and platters, the food is the main event but that doesn’t mean that your Christmas table should be forgotten.

The table

Over the years I have collected a fair amount of Christmas kitsch and nostalgic things that I bring out once a year. From the handmade vintage lace with holly wreaths that I found in a Vienna flea market to the napkins embroidered with mistletoe.

Christmas to me is about excess and I want to fill my table with all of the most beautiful things so linen tablecloth topped with a bright red table runner and napkins is where I start.

The fruit and flowers

I’m not fussy about flowers – I like supermarket roses, carnations, tulips and big bunches of green eucalyptus, but for Christmas, I also like to add as much fresh fruit as possible.

For both a snack and as a spectacle, I find lots of leafy clementines and stud them all with cloves around the base of my candlesticks alongside delicate piles of physalis and pomegranates. They form the most stunning centrepieces you can create (and later cook with).

Clove-studded clementines for scent and face-height candles for lighting are essential (Getty/iStock)

Cut some of the clementines in half so the scent of clementine and clove scents the table and peel back the papery leaves of the physalis to create a blur of colour around the dishes on the table.

The candlelight

There’s something instantly calming about candlelight and we all need some calm at Christmas. No matter if it’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner that you’re setting the table, light some candles.

I like tall candles in candlesticks, so the light is at face height on the table, bathing you both in that quintessentially romantic glow: tall, plain white candles are effortlessly elegant and cost the least.

The cutlery

A fork, spoon and knife per person are all you need. I pick up old cutlery sets on eBay, at markets and in charity shops. Of course, there are fun pieces of cutlery, like cake and oyster forks, steak knives and soup spoons, but they’re not essential. Keep it simple.

The plates and platters

I have risked excess baggage charges on so many trips because I simply can’t walk past a plate or platter that I love and not bring it home. From the antique metal salad dish I found at a flea market in Athens to the plate from the hotel in Paris, where we spent a weekend eating strawberries.

Nothing matches in my kitchen or at my table at any time of the year but especially at Christmas, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. Find pieces that you love, and you won’t ever wish for a matching set of anything.

To start things off right, I get all of my favourite platters and plates out of the cupboard and put post-it notes on them labelled with what dishes will go on them. The biggest for the turkey and trimmings, deep bowls for my mountain of roast potatoes, and all my prettiest bowls for cranberry sauce, bread sauce and mustard.

Extract from ‘Table for Two: Recipes for the ones you love’ by Bre Graham, coming January 2023 (DK, £20).