5 Ways to Dress Up Your Table for the Holidays With Paper

If the holidays have you feeling like you need to dress up your space a little before guests arrive, you are not alone. Luckily, you don’t need fancy tables or tablecloths to make an elegant impression with your tablescape. Turns out, all you need is paper.

The Power of Plaid

If you want to add a cozy, graphic touch to your table, just roll out an inexpensive plaid wrapping paper across the table. The pattern is the perfect backdrop for an evergreen garland or some gold candles and, when you’re done, just roll up the mess and toss it all in the trash. Does it get any simpler than that?

Walkin’ in a Snowflake Wonderland

This next idea will have you reminiscing of your childhood and is the perfect craft for you and your kids to do on a cold winter day. If you can’t remember how to make snowflakes out of plain white printer paper, let us remind you. Fold the paper into a right triangle and cut off the excess at the bottom. Continue to fold the paper into triangles until it is small, but not too thick to cut. Next, cut out your design in the triangle and unfold to reveal your beautiful snowflake! Make as many paper snowflakes as you need to create a beautifully textured table runner and finish the look by placing bottle brush trees and candles down the center of the table.

Chalk It Up

Add a personal touch to your place settings by rolling out a strip of black chalkboard paper down the center of your table, using a white chalk marker to hand letter names above each plate. Your guests will love the personal touch, and your table will look stunning! Stark white centerpiece decor with gold accents will look striking against the matte black table runner.

Circular Centerpiece

For a fun and colorful table backdrop, use a small paper plate to trace a circle on scrapbook paper and cut out the shapes using scissors. Pick multiple complementary colors of scrapbook paper (we chose red, green and white) and cut out as many circles as it takes to cover the length of the table with layered circles. To complete the look, simply place your desired centerpiece decor on top.

Craft Paper Christmas

PSA: If you have a roll of craft paper, you have a table runner. It’s inexpensive, it’s easy, and it’s beautiful. You can make it fun by setting out some crayons, or you can add an elegant touch to it using acrylic craft paint. We opted for the latter. First, we cut a large triangle out of each end to look like the end of a ribbon, then we simply stamped white polka dots all over the paper using a paint dauber. The end result is a beautiful table runner that you can create in 5-10 minutes. It’s a win-win, folks.