Decorate a Festive Table Without Spending a Fortune

Start With What You Already Own

Before you buy a single thing, empty your cupboards onto the kitchen table. Most of us already own the bones of a lovely festive setting: plain white plates, a stack of odd glasses inherited from somewhere, a few metres of ribbon left over from last year, jam jars at the back of the cupboard. A table looks considered rather than expensive when everything on it has been chosen with intent, and the quickest way to get there is to work with what is already in the house.

Pull out your best linen, even if it is only two napkins. Mix your everyday crockery with any inherited china you keep for special occasions — mismatched plates often look better than a matching set, especially when the colours are similar. If you own plain glass tumblers and a couple of wine glasses in a different style, line them up anyway. The eye reads unity from colour and shape, not from matching sets.

Set aside anything that needs a wash, a polish or a stitch. Ten minutes with a damp cloth on candlesticks and glassware makes a bigger difference than anything you can buy.

Forage a Centrepiece From the Garden

The garden is your best supplier in December. Snip sprigs of evergreen — ivy, bay, rosemary, skimmia, holly with berries — and lay them along the centre of the table in a loose ribbon rather than a tight wreath. Aim for a runner about 15cm wide so there is still room for serving dishes. Trim the stems to a similar length and tuck the cut ends under the foliage so nothing scratchy shows.

Look for texture as well as green: seed heads from hydrangeas, dried allium heads, birch twigs, rosehips, the silvery leaves of eucalyptus or the grey-green of olive. A few dried orange slices, threaded onto floristry wire or simply rested in place, add warmth and scent. If you have nothing in the garden, a supermarket bunch of eucalyptus or a bag of cranberries from the fridge will do the job beautifully.

• Keep it low. Nothing above about 25cm, or guests will be leaning around the greenery to talk.
• Condition first. Cut stems at an angle and soak them in water overnight so they last through the meal.
• Fake the volume. A handful of greenery looks twice as generous when you place it on a length of hessian, brown paper or an old linen runner.

Ribbon Does the Heavy Lifting

If you spend money on one thing, spend it on ribbon. A reel of wide velvet, satin or even a plain cotton tape in a deep colour — burgundy, forest green, navy — transforms everyday objects into something that looks properly festive.

• Tie a simple bow around the stems of your glasses, roughly a third of the way up.
• Wrap a napkin with a length of ribbon and tuck in a single sprig of rosemary or a small piece of cinnamon stick.
• Hide the joins in your greenery runner by crossing ribbon over them and tying loose knots at intervals.
• Bind a cheap pillar candle or a jam jar to disguise whatever is underneath.

Buy wider ribbon than you think you need — 4cm or more — because narrow ribbon on a large table looks mean. Haberdasheries, market stalls and craft shops sell it far more cheaply by the metre than the pre-cut bows sold in seasonal aisles, and you will use the leftovers for years.

Candles, and Getting the Light Right

Candlelight is the single most effective trick for making a table feel special, and it costs very little. Taper candles in slim holders give height without blocking anyone's view; tea lights in jam jars or small glasses give a low, even glow. Mix both if you can.

Group candles rather than spacing them evenly — a cluster of three at one end and two at the other looks deliberate, while one lone candle in the middle looks forgotten. Tea lights in clean jam jars, with a little ribbon or twine around the neck, are practically free and safe to leave burning through the meal.

Never place a candle directly beneath a low-hanging lamp or near trailing greenery that could catch. Keep flames at least 30cm from anything drapey, and always blow candles out before you leave the room. Battery-operated tapers and fairy lights are a sensible option if you have children, pets or a draughty dining room.

Layering the Place Settings Cheaply

Place settings are where small touches read loudest. A plain plate on a plain table can look flat, so add a layer underneath: a square of brown paper, a folded napkin, a woven mat, even a plain piece of card. Anything flat and neutral creates a frame.

Write guests' names on a luggage tag, a plain card or the back of a Christmas card, and rest it on the plate. A single clipped sprig, a few berries or a small salt-twist of dried herbs placed on top finishes the look. If you have fabric scraps, cut them into simple napkin rings or use ribbon ties instead.

Salt and pepper in small ramekins, a jug of water with a slice of orange or a few cranberries, and one decent bottle of something you actually like will carry the whole table. Resist adding more; space is a luxury in itself.

Budget, Shop and Reuse

Set yourself a figure before you start — £15 or £20 is plenty for a table of six if you already have candles and ribbon — and spend it where it shows: the centrepiece, one good ribbon, and fresh greenery. Cheap pillar candles, jam jars, brown paper and twine do the rest.

After the meal, don't bin the good bits. Greenery can be composted, but ribbon should be rolled and stored, jam jars washed and kept, and dried orange slices tucked into a tin for next year. Decorations that come out again and again are the cheapest of all, and by the third Christmas the table will have a look that is entirely and unmistakably yours.