As the days grow shorter and the nights get chillier, there’s a special charm in hosting a dinner party. Whether centered around a family holiday or simply enjoying a cozy evening with friends, nothing compares to the warmth and intimacy of sharing a meal at home with loved ones.
If you’re planning to host a dinner party this season but aren’t sure where to start—be it setting the table or creating the perfect ambiance—these hosting tips from local design professionals will inspire your next gathering.
Play With Flowers
While holiday blooms like amaryllis and poinsettias are timeless, you don’t have to limit your table decor to what’s conveniently stocked at Home Depot. Jami Block of Floral Frontier encourages reaching out to local floral professionals, who can help you find unique, in-season blooms that you might not expect in cooler months—like amaranth, celosia and even sunflowers.
“Sometimes you can even find those transitioning sunflowers with a merlot center and buttery petals,” Block says. She also recommends adorning tables and floral displays with dried blooms in place of or alongside greenery. “I love using dried hydrangea as a base for an arrangement. It adds so much depth.”
Make It a Sensory Experience
Aside from great conversation and delicious food, there are plenty of ways to engage guests’ senses around the table. Consider setting a scent-enhancing simmer pot in the kitchen filled with cloves and fruit peels or, as Block suggests, adding aromatic live mint or rosemary to your table’s floral arrangements.
Don’t forget the music, either. Curate a playlist that will complement the atmosphere. Just as you would pair wine with a dish, music can enhance—or take away from, if you’re not careful—the entire dinner party experience. Start the night with some more upbeat tunes as guests arrive, then gradually lower the tempo and volume to encourage conversation. If energy begins to lag before the night’s over, switch back to those lively tracks.
And last but not least: Turn off the “big light.” Subtle lighting is key to creating a cozy ambiance. Incorporate candles along the dinner table and surrounding furniture, and minimize overall lighting with soft lamps or dimmed overheads.
Think Outside the Table
The art of tablescaping extends beyond the table itself. “I always like to create a floral entryway piece and a bathroom arrangement,” Block says. “I add arrangements in areas with the most foot traffic, which usually includes a kitchen piece that ties in with the rest of the tablescape.” This thoughtful and curated approach ensures that the festive spirit flows throughout your home no matter where your guests may be.
Invite the Outdoors In
When designer Jill Tilton is going to entertain, she first looks at ways to make her guests comfortable. “I want guests to feel at home,” she says. “A comfortable table setting is one that is special but not ostentatious, and that’s always a thing of beauty.”
Tilton likes to have a setting with dimmed overhead lighting and use unscented votive candles, as the diminutive candles elevate any setting “with their soft, bouncy glow,” she says.
Tilton, who can be found on Instagram @curatedhomebyjilltilton, looks to nature for inspiration when setting the scene for a dinner party. To create a natural, wintery scene, Tilton likes to use cranberries, oranges and evergren foliage as a way to decorate and bring the outdoors in. Natural elements are a great way to change things up without breaking the bank, she says.
Mix and Match Textiles
Combining different textile patterns and textures can be daunting, but Katie Laughridge, owner of home interior shop Nell Hill’s, assures that it’s not as scary as it seems. When selecting linen patterns for your table, she suggests starting with stripes: “[They] are a great place to begin because they’re a pattern without being overly intimidating,” she says. “If you want to go a little further, mix in a stripe of a different strength, a floral or another geometric pattern.” Play with pattern scales until you find combinations that harmonize.
Laughridge also encourages pairing fabric textures that, at first glance, might not seem to belong together. For example, you can soften a contemporary table setting with a traditional texture like lace or velvet or contrast a rustic tablecloth with a refined placemat.
Get Innovative With What You Have
Laughridge is a strong advocate for using treasures you already own to create the perfect tablescape. “Get out your grandma’s old tabletop items and mix them with some new pieces you have,” she says. “Or use your everyday plates and serveware, then incorporate an interesting ramekin, party plate or appetizer plate.” Have a decorative sleigh that you bring out every Christmas season, only to let it collect dust on a shelf? It can easily moonlight as a festive floral arrangement holder.
If you find it in your budget to invest in a few new pieces this season, Laughridge recommends looking for versatile items. “Can it serve champagne? Can it hold ice? Can it display fruits? Can it be used in a guest room?” she asks. “Always find more than one way to use things.”
Go Big
Zach Keyes, co-owner of J’adore Home and Garden in Brookside, says that extravagance is king this season. Table settings are canvases for creativity, and people aren’t skimping on anything that contributes to a curated table—whether tablecloths, placemats, chargers, dish stacks, goblets, glasses or silverware. The more embellished a table looks, the richer the experience.
Scour the Color Wheel
Instead of sticking to traditional colors such as greens, reds and golds for Christmas, sprinkle in fun pops of color around the table. “There’s a huge appetite for color, like pinks, oranges and blues,” Keyes says. “People are using a lot of untraditional colors during the holidays.” Incorporating these vibrant hues through transparent vessels like glassware or candle holders is a great way to introduce livelier tones without fully diving in.
