There’s Gnome Place Like Home especially at Christmas. A fun play on words as well as a easy table setting you can create for Christmas. Gnome elves take center stage from paper dinnerware and napkins to sitting around wrapped packages down the center of the table. I hope you will enjoy this festive table, it is perfect for Christmas eve dinner or brunch on the big day. Your family will love this simple setting plus you will enjoy not doing dishes.

How to set this table..think paper dinnerware

When you think about Christmas tablescapes you normally don’t think about paper plates. However, I found these cute gnome paper dinner & salad plates from sophistiplate .com., that I had to have. Besides with all the hustle and bustle of holiday making, using decorative, sturdy paper dinnerware sure made things easier and festive.

What caught my attention with these plates was the little gnomes and the color scheme. Gold and red, with touch of green in the paper napkins set the stage. All I needed was a white tablecloth, chargers, flatware, beverage glasses and table centerpiece.

Who needs a charger.. what is a charger anyway?

You don’t always need a charger, however I really like making them sometimes. This is a perfect example of when to use a charger since my dinnerware was paper, having something extra special under the plates made the place settings stand out.

Chargers are great for added support for the dinner plate.

How to make these paper straw chargers.

The round charger is 15″, cut from a grocery bag. 100 paper straws were cut into 3″ pieces and hot glued to edge of paper. To do this, draw around a dinner plate with pencil on your paper pattern. The drawn line will be your guide for gluing. There is no need to fill the entire pattern, for your plates will not sit flat if you do.

To add interest to your place settings, alternate chargers. I only made two gold & white straw chargers and 4 gold & white paper polka dot chargers. The paper is wrapping paper.

If you don’t want to use paper, you can use other chargers or no charger at all. The Sophistiplates® are so sturdy and cute you really don’t need a charger. But it does add a bit of pop to the table. The flatware came from sophistiplate® too, they are dishwasher safe and can be reused. Paper plates & napkins can not be saved. The charger can be though. 🙂

Table Centerpiece with stuffed gnomes and packages.

Here’s an over view the of the table. Fresh cut evergreen stems and 4″ x 4″ cubes are wrapped in gold & white polka dot wrapping paper with bright red satin ribbon bows are placed down the center of the table. I used 5 packages to create the runner. One little Gnome ornament that started this inspiration sits proudly in the centerpiece.

On the two ends of the table I used the straw chargers, but for the side settings I cut-out charger sized Christmas wrapping paper that matched the wrapped packages. Every one really liked the table especially when the center of table runner included Dessert!

Dessert as Centerpiece -Brickle Cream Angel Food Cake

Get the recipe here for the angel food cake. The frosting is whipped cream with brickle around the edges and on top. It’s light and not to sweet. YUM.

To see this live, check out the video.