If you’re fortunate enough to be able to have family and friends over for a gathering this Christmas 2020, just like some of our neighbours who have put in extra effort with their Christmas lights this year, you may feel like of all years, this is definitely the year to make your guests feel extra special and loved with the attention to detail and effort to WOW them. With it being four days to Christmas, you might be stretched for time and expenses to find and purchase all the show stopping pieces to set the table with. We’ve kept this in mind this blog post – read on to find out simple ways to be the hostess with the mostess!

Tip 1. Simple white dishes are classic

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Every household’s kitchen cupboards are bound to have white dishware. An idea for dressing up the simple and classic white plating is by rolling up either a luxe serviette or simple napkins bought from your local variety store, and tying each rolled serviette/napkin together with your ribbon of choice and sprigs of rosemary or candy canes.

Tip 2. Forgo the name placement cards 

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If you do have a seating plan, we say: out with the old and in with the new when it comes to indicating to guests where they should sit. Instead of traditional name placement cards, you can perhaps consider obtaining gift tags, writing the names of your guests, and threading ribbon or jute twine through them prior to using the ribbon or jute twine to hold the napkin and rosemary together as suggested in Tip 1.

Tip 3.   A little delight on the side

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Party favours are not just for children parties! We recommend personalised sugar cookies, DIY Christmas crackers (or otherwise known as bon bons), or chocolate in goodie bags – they are always a good idea. Party favours don’t have to be super expensive, but they add a nice luxe element to the overall presentation of the table setting.

Tip 4. Preparation is key

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In this day and age, who has time to cook everything from scratch on Christmas? The modern hostess with the mostess knows preparation is key, and we definitely recommend that if there’s any dish you can prepare the day or night before, you should do so! Leaving everything to the day itself can be super stressful, unless you’re a brilliant cook (which we know some of you are), but for most of us mere mortals, spacing out the food preparation will save you some stress. Some dishes that are most likely able to be prepared or bought earlier are: salads, pasta, marinating process of meats, baked dishes, soup and dessert. On the day itself, this means all you have to worry about is making what you’ve prepared or bought presentable and worry about cooking the dishes that are best prepared fresh. 

Tip 5. Entertainment

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Other than a great Christmas playlist, there should be some interactivity for entertainment. This not only avoids potential awkward silence situations, but also keeps the focus on Christmas as an event in itself and the spirit of Christmas alive. If the wallet is a bit strapped this Christmas, we hope you have organised Secret Santa in advance and definitely urge you to do so for next Christmas if you didn’t this time round! If you want to switch things up there’s also Stealing Santa! Other ways of entertainment that encourage engagement are good old-fashioned card and board games that can be played at the dinner table or even a game of sport if you have the backyard for it!

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This is our last blog post of December 2020. We hope that you have enjoyed our blog posts and our little community in the last several months and found joy and inspiration from the curated images and ideas. Team TMS wishes you a very, merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We can’t wait to reveal what we have coming for 2021 and look forward to starting the new year with a refreshed mind and aspirational energy. 

Throwing an extra amount of glitter at your festive season, 

xoxo Miss Monday