Holiday Table Decor Sends a Welcoming Message
This nature-inspired holiday table combines Spanish moss, flameless candles, trinkets and personal notes
Decorating your table for the holidays doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. It can even be a fun activity done with the kids. In this tutorial, we show how to create a nature-inspired garland accented with personalized touches. A painter’s canvas drop cloth makes a great stand-in for a tablecloth.
You can go homemade with this look — using chalkboard-painted charger plates, hand-molded napkin rings and even moss gathered from your yard, if you have it. Or you can buy most of the items at a craft or hobby store or website.
What you’ll need:
Decorative accents
- Spanish moss, from the yard or store-bought
- Scissors
- Hot-glue gun and glue sticks (optional)
Decorative accents
- Flameless battery-powered pillar candles
- Toy animal figurines or ornaments
- Kraft paper and pen
- Glass test tubes or vials with cork stoppers
- Dark charger plates or chargers made from dollar-store pizza pans painted with chalkboard paint
- Twine
- Modeling clay
1. Start by arranging the moss in the center of the table, cutting it as needed. When the moss is the way you like it, consider gluing the pieces together for more stability.
Make the garland as wide and as long as you like. It can run the length of the table or be an extended centerpiece.
2. Place battery-powered pillar candles in and around the moss for mood lighting.
2. Place battery-powered pillar candles in and around the moss for mood lighting.
3. Accent your garland with figurines found in your toy box or ornaments like this little deer.
Add a few extra touches to your place settings to complete the look.
4. Write Thanksgiving wishes or things you’re grateful for on pieces of kraft paper, then roll each one up and insert into a glass test tube or vial with a cork. Place one next to each plate.
5. Use contrasting charger plates to make the place settings and the centerpiece stand out. Or go with chalkboard-painted chargers that you’ve made ahead of time. On these you can write holiday wishes or guest names.
6. Finally, corral each napkin with twine and a decorative wishbone. I made this one from children’s modeling clay.
Show us: Are you making your own centerpieces this year? Share a photo in the Comments below.
See more holiday decorating ideas
See more holiday decorating ideas