With all the fun and festivities that go along with the season, the holidays can definitely be an expensive time of year! Between crossing of your Christmas shopping list, attending events, and filling your cup with some of that good holiday “cheer,” sometimes our budget can be spread pretty thin. Luckily, you don’t have to empty out your wallet on lavish decorations and table settings to impress your guests this year—with our DIY holiday centerpieces, you can have all the beauty at a fraction of the cost!
Making a Traditional Centerpiece
Whether it’s the kitchen table or the coffee table, centerpieces are integral parts of your holiday decor. They’re the focal point of the room and the place everyone gathers around, so it’s only natural to want yours to be beautiful and impressive—especially if you made it yourself. You can’t go wrong with a traditional centerpiece made of fresh evergreen boughs, like cedar, spruce, and pine.
Just like cut flowers, you’ll have to provide your fresh greenery with a source of water to keep them fresh for longer. If you’re not building your decoration from a container or vase, you’ll need to use a block of floral foam to start. Before getting started, soak the foam in water and place it on a dish. Throughout the holidays, keep adding water to the dish to keep your greens from drying out too fast. Cut the end of each stem diagonally so that the branches have an easier time pulling in water. Trim off the needles at the end, too, so the stem can sink deeper into the foam.
When you’re ready, begin to arrange the branches at the bottom of the foam block, moving in circles and working your way upwards. If you’re using more than one species of evergreen, start with one and leave enough space to mix in the others afterward. As you build, keep the overall silhouette in mind. Keep it relatively short and compact, so you don’t block the view of your guests, and make sure to leave enough space for all of your delicious holiday dishes!
Once the body of your centerpiece is complete, make sure you fill in any open gaps with some smaller evergreen pieces, and then you can finally add your decorative accents. Holly, pine cones, and other outdoorsy features are classic additions to evergreen decorations. Holiday floral, like poinsettia bracts or amaryllis blooms, are gorgeous additions, too. You can also add other festive features like pretty bows, ornaments, tree and reindeer decorations, lights, or candles (just make sure the flame isn’t too close to the greenery). Decorations will look more centered and balanced in odd numbers, so keep that in mind.
Easy Holiday Centerpiece Ideas
When it comes to table decorations, the options are endless. If the tree is enough greenery enough for you, there’s no shortage of other beautiful items to embellish your table. You can spruce up just about anything—jars, bowls, vases, wooden trays, wicker baskets—with ornaments and other accents to make them more festive. Here are some of our best holiday centerpiece ideas:
Glass Centerpeices: Glass bowls, vases, and even terrariums are great foundations for a gorgeous centerpiece. Filling a vase with twigs and greenery (real or artificial), or a wider glass dish with colorful Christmas balls, is about as simple as you can get. You can even add a string of lights to brighten it up a little.
Mason Jar Centerpieces: Like bowls and vases, you can fill mason jars with decorative accents, such as pine cones and lights, or paint them different colors, like red, green, or white, to match the rest of your holiday decor. Tie a single string of twine around the neck to add to this simple, rustic look. You can even fill the bottom with fake snow and add tiny trees or figures for a cute DIY snowglobe!
Wooden Centerpieces: Wooden accents never go out of style, matching the wintery, natural motif of many Christmas decorations. Keep that cozy, country feel in your home by swapping out your fancy dishes and glass vases for wooden trays and small wooden boxes to house your boughs, mason jars, candles, and other decorations. You can also opt for bark-inspired ornaments and candles.
Not only are DIY holiday centerpieces perfect for reflecting your personality and decorating your own home, but they also make perfect gifts for your friends and family—especially those that like to host! If you’re interested in more DIY projects to spruce your home up with, check out our blog on making winter porch pots! And if you need any evergreen or red twig stems for your Christmas crafts, don’t hesitate to stop by Meyer Landscape & Design, located in the Quad Cities.
