A Quick And Casual “Thanksgiving To Christmas Tablescape” (With Only A Couple Swaps)

I love tablescapes and I love styling, but I don’t love the pressure people likely feel to have different sets of everything for different occasions (perhaps exacerbated by people like me?). So for this shoot, I challenged myself to use mostly the same foundational pieces, only switching out a few elements, the more “holiday indicators” (like colors or icons). I partnered with Crate and Barrel on some social stories, but not this blog post, and decided to shoot it because I liked the challenge of making things easier while still looking festive and fun. I concepted this “Thanksgiving to Christmas” post with the pieces that I featured in the stories, but you could do this “move” with other basic pieces as well. The trick is only changing the “seasonal indicators” (especially if you are more casual like me).

As you can see, we have some fall motifs – the plaid runner, the amber candle holders (and candlesticks), one mustard napkin, some fall leaves and you know, THE HUGE CERAMIC TURKEY. But beyond that, it’s just white plates, with green napkins, glassware, and pretty silver flatware. All these things work year-round in my house (which leans green/blue modern farmhouse). Of course, you could add WAY more, but we were just shooting this quickly for a social campaign when I begged Kaitlin to throw her expert talented lens on it.

So much of entertaining comes down to vibe, and as you might suspect I lean hard into the “fun and casual” because I’m an Enneagram 7 and like to have fun (and not very into being a proper “host”). So regardless of the occasion, that is our tone. But the same principles could be applied if you lean a bit more traditional or luxurious – just with a different foundation and amped-up seasonal indicators.

I think it’s fun to think of some of these colors, patterns, and elements as “seasonal indicators”. Fall branches + mustard + a warm plaid + Turkey = Thanksgiving. Some scattered pine cones or wicker/wood elements for turkey day and you get the same “vibe”.

You want some color as to not look like a catering company, so I chose green as my foundation (appropriate for Oregon) but you could choose some other neutrals (like mauves, browns, ivories, blues) because when you have a burst of mustard and a big turkey there will be no confusion.

Ready For Christmas?

Now that I’m seeing them next to each other they don’t look THAT different, lol, but I suppose that’s because barely anything changed. And yet it does read as a casual, fun, Christmas day brunch.

Here’s what I did: I switched out the runner, added red candlesticks, a pop of red with the ornament, and those green trees. In person this felt appropriately “Christmas brunch” and you bet we put on Mariah Carey. This was our first holiday shoot (mid-October) and you know I was into it 🙂

I switched out the napkin into a ring mostly to show you a different idea, but you don’t need to do that. I think the pops of red (with the green foundation) are what indicate “HI I’M DOING CHRISTMAS NOW” to you and your guests.

I LOVE those trees (they match my dining chairs and my sofas perfectly so they are my new Christmas element this year).

The red candlesticks even make the amber candleholders look more festive. It tricks your eye. The red and white ticking stripe runner could be great on a buffet (or in our case our island where we put out all the food for our casual 30-person ornament exchange party).

And there you have it. A fast and dirty, fun and festive Thanksgiving-to-Christmas casual tablescape. Add more if you are up for it. Just switch out your turkey for a tree and call it a (holi)day. 🙂

*Photos by Kaitlin Green

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THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED HERE.