Christmas Centerpieces: A Guide
There are so many ways to decorate a home for the holidays – and so many places in the home to cover in all the trimmings. There are doors for wreaths, floors for trees, mantles for stockings and garland, lawns for inflatables, and we CANNOT forget the table – for beautiful Christmas centerpieces!
A great centerpiece will draw attention to the table, but not steal the show from your Christmas feast. It will call people around the table and can help set the theme and tone of the rest of the decorations in the room.
If you’re looking for centerpiece inspiration and/or a step-by-step guide to making a simple DIY Christmas centerpiece, I am here to help you dress your dining table to the nines with two different centerpieces! Don’t forget to pin this centerpiece tutorial for later.
How to Make a Christmas Centerpiece
Like my Christmas pancake wreath, both of these centerpieces are fit for any designer level. They both use materials from Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and even the Dollar Tree! You can also find several of the ribbon I use (among other great supplies) at CoachMelSupplies.com. Some of the supplies I used were ones I had left over from other projects – or past holiday shopping trips! But, even so, you’ll be able to find materials that look very similar and function the same way as the ones I’m using here. The other great thing about these Christmas centerpieces is that, if you want to make both, they both use some of the same supplies!
Before we get to each centerpiece’s instructions, let’s go over a little more about the super cute designs and what you need to make them!
Rustic Christmas Centerpiece Stuffed Envelope
This envelope centerpiece is just too adorable to mail to Santa! You’ll definitely want to keep this design just for your table. It uses a metal mail container from Michaels and several picks found at Hobby Lobby, including evergreen, eucalyptus, red berry and white glitter berry.
It only takes about 15 minutes to compete this design and it features little tiny bundles of the picks – something I’m definitely known for in my creations. I like to do these little clusters because it helps blend all of the different picks better, allows me to stick them deeper into the floral block and provides a more unique look. You can put these in individually, but I tried at it wasn’t giving me the blended look I was looking for. My design, using the metal envelope, required about 7 bundles – though how many you need will depend on the size of the envelope or other box and the size of your bundles. While it only took 15 minutes to make, remember to give yourself some extra prep time to make the bundles.
A centerpiece doesn’t need to go on dining tables only. This is thin enough to go on a mantel, side table, or an entry way console table. It would also make a darling gift for a hostess, teacher or coworker.
For a list of supplies and step-by-step instructions, see the recipe below.
Elegant Dessert Plate Christmas Centerpiece
Now this beauty is a Christmas centerpiece that’s perfect for a dining or dessert table – it even comes with space to put appetizers or desserts – or even a candle! In this tutorial, I glue the plate on top, but you don’t have to. If you wanted to put a tall candle in the middle and build the piece up more with even more garland, ribbon and picks, you can do that too. Just keep in mind, you’ll need more supplies than listed here!
What I love about this piece is that I was able to use some of the same supplies as the rustic envelope piece above AND some leftover garland I had from another product. This one takes about 30-35 minutes to make and is another super-simple design. You’ll use a foam floral block as the base and the whole goal of this piece is to hide that base. We’ll be doing that with garland, tons of picks and adorable bows.
Now, here’s a trick I like to do in my wreath making and tree decorating – and now for this type of centerpiece. I work in triangles – imagining three separate sections to work with. This makes it easier and less overwhelming to put it together.
For a list of supplies and step-by-step instructions, see the recipe below.
Christmas Centerpieces Supply List
I talked a bit about the different supplies I used in the descriptions above – and will list them out in the recipes below, but I wanted to let you know where I got each piece! If it has an asterisk (*) next to it, the item is used in both centerpieces. Please keep in mind that this list may contain affiliate links from companies I love. If you buy something through these links, I may make a small commission!
Rustic Stuffed Envelope
Metal envelope box – Michaels
Foam floral block*- Dollar Tree
Evergreen pick – Hobby Lobby
Eucalyptus pick* – Hobby Lobby
Red berry pick – Hobby Lobby
White glitter berry pick* – Hobby Lobby
7/8-inch green ribbon – CoachMelSupplies.com
7/8-inch Red and white buffalo plaid ribbon – CoachMelSupplies.com
Tinsel tie – any craft store
Zip ties* – most stores, including craft and hardware stores
Hot glue* – most stores, including craft and hardware stores
Glue pot* – Amazon
Elegant Dessert Plate
Foam floral block* – Dollar Tree
Plate – Hobby Lobby
Evergreen Garland – Hobby Lobby
Eucalyptus pick* – Hobby Lobby
White glitter berry pick* – Hobby Lobby
Long green spike pick – Hobby Lobby
Red and green glitter berry pick – Hobby Lobby
7/8-inch Green ribbon – CoachMelSupplies.com
7/8-inch White ribbon – CoachMelSupplies.com
7/8-inch Red ribbon – CoachMelSupplies.com
1.5-inch multicolor ribbon – any craft store
Zip ties* – most stores, including craft and hardware stores
Hot glue* – most stores, including craft and hardware stores
Glue pot* – Amazon
U pins – most craft stores
Helpful Equipment
Stem cutter – Deco Exchange
Quick note: Y don’t need the zip-tie tool. I use it because it helps my hands! I have carpal tunnel so this helps give me the extra strength needed to make sure those ties are zipped tight!
DIY Christmas Centerpieces How To
Now that you know more about these adorable centerpieces and the supplies you need to make them, let’s get to the step-by-step instructions!
Rustic Envelope Centerpiece
Materials
- 1 Metal envelope box
- 1 Foam floral block
- 1 Evergreen pick
- 1 Eucalyptus pick
- 1 Red berry pick
- 1 White glitter berry pick
- 1 7/8-inch green ribbon
- 1 7/8-inch Red and white buffalo plaid ribbon
- Hot glue
Instructions
- Stuff your floral block into the envelope box. While it is sturdy, you could always add some glue along the edges.
- Dip the bottom of your bundles in glue, then stick into the floral block – working from one edge to the other and being mindful of the design behind them. As you stick the bundle in, mix up which pick is facing forward so you have a more balanced look.
- Make your bow. Start with a longer tail (about 10-inches) then make three loops (about 5-6 inches long) by pinching, twisting, and looping. Repeat with the red and white buffalo print ribbon. Stack the loops on top of each other and put a tinsel tie underneath the ribbon pile. You’ll use this as a stem. Zip tie the bundle together in the center of the bundle.
- Twist the tinsel tie arms together to make a thick stem that sticks into the floral block. Dip the stem into glue, then stick into the block
- Lightly curl the tails of the bow and fluff the loops, positioning the tail and loops so they go over the sides of the envelope/box.
Video
Notes
Christmas Dessert Plate
Materials
- 1 Foam floral block
- 1 Plate
- 1 Evergreen Garland
- 1 Eucalyptus pick
- 1 White glitter berry pick
- 1 Long green spike pick
- 1 Red and green glitter berry pick
- 1 7/8-inch Green ribbon
- 1 7/8-inch White ribbon
- 1 7/8-inch Red ribbon
- 1 1.5-inch multicolor ribbon
- Hot glue
- U pins
Instructions
- Glue two pieces of foam floral block together with hot glue. Each block is roughly 3.25 inches high and about 4-5 inches long.
- Shape your garland around the foam block – bending it in the shape of a square. Dip the U pins in glue, then use them to stick the spine of the garland to the foam block. The spine should be between the two arms of the U pin.Stick the U pins in a few spots around the whole block.
- Imagine the centerpiece in three sections and put the following fillers into each section.
- Make your bows. Take your 1.5-inch ribbon and make a 6-inch loop – with two tails as long as you want them to be (mine are about 8 inches). Take the 7/8-inch white ribbon, putting one end in the center of the 1.5-inch ribbon and make one loop and one tail.Repeat with the 7/8-inch green ribbon, then the 7/8-inch red ribbon. Zip tie around the center of the ribbon bundle. Cut the tails at an angle, dovetailing the 1.5-inch ribbon tails. Put a U pin around the center of the bow, where it’s zipped to turn the bow into. pick.Make two more bows — three bows total.
- Dip the U pin of the bow into the glue and stick the U pin into the bow in each of your three sections. You want to place the three bows so, when looking from above, they make a triangle around the foam block.
- Pull off three spikes from your green spike pick. Dip the end of each spike into the glue, then stick it in the block, in the spaces between the bows.
- Add stems from a eucalyptus pick throughout the centerpiece, filling spaces every so often – on top and underneath the garland. I used about 9 stems, or 3 per section.
- Add your red and green berry picks – one in each section. Wherever you place the berry pick, match it for all sections. So, if you put one to the right of the green spike, put the others to the right of the other spikes.
- Brighten the piece by adding a stem from white glitter berry pick – on the opposite side of the red and green berry picks. So, if you put your red and green berry pick to the right of the spike, you’ll put the white glitter berry pick to the left of it. Do this for all three sections.
- Put a ton of hot glue on the top of the block, then place the plate on top of the block, pushing down around the edges, not the center, of the plate.
Video
