Ina Garten's Best Tips For An Elevated Holiday Tablescape

Setting the table for a big family meal is a timeless holiday ritual, but it comes with some challenging decisions. Should we use white plates or red this year? Is there such a thing as too many candles? And where does the turkey fit into it all? For dilemmas like these, it can help to turn to the experts. Also recognized by her business name, Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning TV host known for her beautiful and mouthwatering recipes. After decades of honing her passion, she's learned a thing or two about filling a table with delicious foods — and ensuring the tablescape looks fit for a holiday party. When it comes to arranging an elevated, classic, and functional holiday tablescape, Garten recommends simplicity over frills, and she applies this rule to dishware, floral centerpieces, and the serving setup itself.

Simplicity is at the core of many elegant and elevated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's table decor trends. Plus, several of Garten's holiday tablescaping tips won't just elevate your dining room; they'll also put guests at ease and make life easier for you as a host. If visions of sugarplum parties are dancing in your head already, check out Garten's advice for a flawless and festive tablescaping.

A full table has its merits, but Ina Garten recognizes that a buffet-style serving setup can actually be more elegant at times — especially if you plan to linger at the table. "That way no one has to pass around heavy platters of food and the table isn't crowded with half-eaten serving dishes. When I've gone to the trouble of setting a pretty table, I want it to stay pretty!!" she wrote on her blog, Barefoot Contessa. When you don't have to consider food placement, you can be more creative with the tablescape itself.

When drinks are flowing, guests are laughing, and elbows are reaching, it's inevitable that a few vessels will be knocked off balance. Before setting the table for holiday meals, Ina Garten lays a waterproof runner under tablecloths to protect the table from any accidental spills. The foundation for an elegant tablescape, a neutral-colored tablecloth with a subtle pattern or texture, will work for most occasions and decor styles. Garten also gets creative with partial table coverings and parallel sideways runners to offer a more layered feel.

Novelty plates look fun for displays and simple desserts, but when it comes to the dinner table, let the decadence of the meal speak for itself. Nearly any simple, solid dishware design will do, but according to Ina, you can't go wrong with classic white. "I personally love white dishes. I just think it shows the food best, and then you can put fresh herbs on it," says Ina Garten (via YouTube). For a more interesting and modern touch, white square plates are one of Garten's go-tos, but she'll also mix fine china with affordable basics.

While her recommended buffet serving style may be more casual, Ina Garten does prefer an assigned seating arrangement for an elegant tablescape. Aside from helping guests avoid any social awkwardness, assigned seats also present an opportunity for the host to get creative with personalized place cards. Repurpose tree ornaments or add charm to a friendsgiving tablescape with DIY pumpkin card holders. Garten has even used edible cookie name cards to help guests find their seats — and whet their appetites with a sweet treat.

Ina Garten doesn't shy away from pretty blooms in fall and winter, especially in an appropriate colorway, like orange tulips for Thanksgiving. "It's not so easy to do a flower arrangement, but if you do lots of bud vases, you can move them around until they're perfect," she explained in a segment with Today (via YouTube). For table settings, Garten prefers to work with an odd number of vases — usually three or five — and complements her flowers with folded napkins in the same hue. 

A traditional holiday color palette like white and red will always be timeless, but it can risk feeling stale without playful shapes and textures. "People think that in order to have a beautiful table setting, everything needs to match perfectly," Ina Garten wrote on Barefoot Contessa, "I actually think it's much more interesting to mix things up — but you need to mix them up thoughtfully." For a holiday tablescape, try giving everyone a slightly different wine goblet or use a brilliant folding trick to turn dinner table napkins into festive trees.

In many of her holiday tablescapes, Ina Garten opts for small votive candles interspersed between her flowers and bowls of fruits or other finger foods. "They really add sparkle," she said (via YouTube). Along with shorter bud vases, votive candles also keep everything low, so you aren't blocking guests' view across the table, but Garten has one big rule. "I never use scented candles," she warns (via YouTube), "They compete with the flavor of the food, and they overpower the aromas."

As an award-winning television cook, perhaps it's no surprise that Ina Garten recommends letting the food itself take center stage — especially desserts, whether they're delightfully simple or visually decadent. In a YouTube video shared by Food Network, she described her choices for one holiday tablescape. "On beautiful pedestals and footed plates, I arranged beautiful red sickle pears, plump clementines, bunches of grapes cascading over cake stands, and some delicious chocolate salted caramels," she said, "It's enough to make you want to skip the main course."