Christmas flowers arranged horizontally for tables

When you think of Christmas flowers, you’re likely to imagine red, white and green bouquets. If you plan to entertain guests for a Christmas lunch or dinner, decorations will be one of your top priorities and flowers are undoubtedly a must. Whether you’re planning to serve a buffet or a plated meal, you’ll need to decorate your table. You can make the arrangement yourself or order the flowers from your florist. The latter scenario is obviously favourable, since you will probably be so busy cooking and cleaning that you won’t have time to decorate.

Choosing your flowers

When you think about the type of flowers you would like to decorate your table or tables with for Christmas, you most likely imagine red roses, red carnations, some white Christmas flowers or even poinsettias, hollies and mistletoe. If your table is round, you will need a round bouquet. However, rectangular tables are best decorated with horizontal floral arrangements as they will spread beautifully along the centreline of the table without taking up too much space.

Festive foliage

There are numerous flowers you can use and you are virtually not limited in terms of floral options. However, when it comes to foliage, you will need leaves such as ivy that can be used to trail along the table. Some long-stemmed flowers will also be useful, as they will accompany the ivy. Remember, these arrangements have a main centre point which is usually a block of floral foam placed on a waterproof base. The foam and base are hidden by the Christmas flowers and foliage, but longer pieces of foliage will also be secured in the foam. This is because the foam stabilizes each stem and provides the flowers and foliage with a source of water. When choosing foliage, don’t forget the importance of choosing more than one type of vegetation. Most florists understand the importance of using different textures which is why they usually include two to three different types of foliage. Pine, spruce, pistacia and ivy are excellent examples.

Holiday accessories

Some flowers and plants are particularly associated with the holidays, such as holly, mistletoe and poinsettias. Poinsettias are not actually flowers, but rather colourful leaves that give the appearance of a flower. These colourful leaves can be added to any Christmas bouquet to give it that pop of bright red. Remember to always ask your florist for information on seasonal flowers. Seasonal flowers are more available, which means they fetch a more reasonable price. They also last longer because they are not artificially grown or imported.

Once you have your Christmas flowers and foliage in place, it’s time to purchase some accessories! Accessories can really make a difference, so choose wisely! Some prefer a natural approach with things like pine cones. Others want to add a little sparkle, so they add glitter beads, spray-painted pine cones, and even spray-painted sticks. You could even use some of your favourite Christmas tree decorations and add them to your bouquet! If you want to add soft lighting to the room, consider placing a candle in the centre of the bouquet. Just make sure the candle doesn’t burn so slowly that it comes into contact with flowers or leaves.