Thanksgiving and Christmas Centerpiece Ideas For Every Holiday Look

To begin with, you need some plaid. This All Roads Charleston tablecloth in Bailey print does the job and then some, with orange, mustard, and indigo hues that suggest both autumn leaves and moody but cozy nights somewhere in the vicinity of a taxidermied moose head. Made of cotton and handwoven in Mexico, it’s a beautiful marriage of practicality and style.

A perfectly autumnal tablecloth demands complementary napkins, and for that job, we love these terracotta ones from Hawkins New York. Something of a ground-zero for table linens, Hawkins makes machine-washable napkins that can not only take a beating but also happen to come in eight very attractive colors. 

And, of course, taper candles demand a candle holder. These butternut wood candle holders from East Fork are perfect for that task. Handmade in Québec, they lend a touch of sleek but homey understatement to any table.

No hunting lodge dinner is complete without some sort of hearty, vaguely rustic board situation — you want a pile of meat and cheese, or bread, or all of the above borne aloft to the table. This carbonized ash wood number from Serax will carry all that and more, and its raised edges will prevent any part of your spread from slipping off in transit. 

If you’re going to pretend you’re dining at a hunting lodge, overhead lighting is an absolute no-go — you want atmosphere, not last call at the club. That’s where these Floral Society taper candles come in. Designed to burn clean, smokeless, and scentless, they also last a long time and come in an array of nature-evoking tones like moss, clay, and petal. 

Again, the tablecloth sets the mood here: you want something that will evoke seaside living without turning your table into the equivalent of a Chatham Airbnb. This Feast of Burdens Moondance tablecloth understands the assignment: its wavy lines and rich shades of blue, pink, and green suggest some kind of well-appointed underwater fantasia. 

With their scalloped edges, these Schoolhouse napkins supply both a nifty visual pun and low-key elegance. Made of cotton and linen, they’re machine-washable and come in four different colors, but the green is our pick for effortlessly channeling a wintry seaside retreat. 

It wouldn’t be a seaside cottage in the winter without some candles, the more the merrier to beat back the briney chill. These twisty tapers from ESH come in a variety of colors and are made with soy wax and recycled wicks. They’re also unscented, and if you squint at them in low light, their twisty shape suggests a tidal whirlpool.

We highly recommend pairing the candles with these crystal candle holders from MoMA, and not just because the petrol, pink, and peach one makes a beautiful pairing with the tablecloth. The true genius of these holders is that they’re reversible: one end holds a taper, and the other can hold either a taper or a tea light. 

If you’re going to play Winter Seaside Cottage you need some sea glass. This Mosser colored glass dinnerware isn’t sea glass, but it is gorgeous, and comes in aquatic shades like jadeite. It’s also microwave- and dishwasher-safe, and made at a family-run factory in Ohio that’s been employing local folks for over 50 years.

The Family Stone is a 2005 holiday family comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Diane Keaton, but more importantly, it is the movie that gave us one of the most iconic home kitchens in cinematic history. It’s big, homey, and looks like people actually use it, making it infinitely more relatable than anything Nancy Meyers has given us, sorry, Nancy. To channel its spirit, start with some mix-and-match vintage patterned china, the kind that Diane Keaton’s Sybil Stone keeps in its own attractive hutch. Etsy is a great source for old china, along with almost everything else. 

One of the best things about The Family Stone kitchen is its realistic level of clutter: there are mugs and bowls and tchotchkes everywhere. Moser’s beauty of a lidded glass turkey dish — its name is Trish — feels like something that would be right at home there, or, really, anywhere.

The Stone family’s kitchen leans traditional, with lots of creams and wood. What it lacks in flash it more than makes up for with low-key class and comfort, two qualities that this Block Shop squiggle tablecloth has in spades. It’s easy to imagine the Stones gathered around it, making their guests feel uncomfortable.

Included in the Stone kitchen’s clutter is a lot of food — which, again, relatable. It’s in bowls, it’s on the counter, it’s everywhere. To bring some of this to your table, you could, of course, make a centerpiece of real food, or you could opt for something that you can use over and over again and won’t decompose, such as these artificial grapes from Michael’s.

As a woman who owns a lot of serving ware and also knows her way around a whimsical ceramic, Sybil Stone seems like she’d have a classic cabbage bowl lurking among all her bric a brac. This one from Bordallo Pinheiro is made in Portugal, and is both beautiful and sturdy enough to bear any kind of salad or family drama. 

Are you the kind of person who smiles cheerfully through months of 4 p.m. sunsets and chronic post-nasal drip? No? Allow us to help you pretend to be, starting with these Dusen Dusen striped placemats, which are like the table linen equivalent of a light box. They come in four vibrant spice-themed colors, like this rather stunning paprika. 

Dusen Dusen makes matching napkins that, like its placemats, are machine washable and made of 100 percent cotton. We love the way these thyme ones look with the paprika placemats.

Like the table linens, Yinka Ilori’s Oorun Didun serving platter radiates good cheer. Ilori, a London-based artist of British and Nigerian heritage, named it after the Nigerian expression for “sweet sun,” which seems wholly appropriate. It’s perfect for serving many kinds of food, but would also just look nice on its own, bringing good vibes to your home.

It’s rare that a pepper and salt mill can double as an instant mood elevator, but this pink, red, and yellow one from Alessi is just such a mill. Designed by Ettore Sottsass, a legendary 20th-century architect, it is, admittedly, quite a chunk of change. But think of it this way: you’re getting a pepper, salt, and spice grinder all in one, along with a decorative object that can convincingly double as a sculpture on or off your dining table. 

These sunburst coasters from Atelier Saucier are an effective way to let the sunshine in, and also happen to be stinking cute. Made in the U.S. from 100-percent reclaimed wool, they’re perfect for protecting wood surfaces, and also for remembering what the sun looks like.