How to bring theatre to your Christmas dining table

Whether you’re gathering for the big day or arranging a small get-together, indoors or out, it’s all about setting the scene and conjuring up a visual as well as a mouth-watering feast. Think of it as a night at the theatre, where there are several acts and intervals, from pre-drinks and appetisers to cheese boards and digestifs.

Act 1: Whet my appetite

Make it easy on yourself and serve a cold starter, one that can be plated up in advance and served in a couple of minutes. Or set up a buffet on a side table where there are cold meats, smoked salmon, single-serve prawn cocktails in champagne coupes that can be washed and used later during dinner, and all the accompanying sauces.

Before the big day, set up a WhatsApp group for all those invited and ask them to suggest serving dishes, dinner services, cutlery, napkins and tablecloths so you can shop their households and marry the best of all. It also allows you to politely decline anything you don’t want ahead of the gathering. Adopt the same approach to drinks with a station for wines, punches, water and non-alcoholic options with a variety of stemware there so guests can help themselves. These can easily be rented from the likes of Caterhire and Select Hire, two of many offering this option. This also buys you extra time with guests if you don’t have to run around topping up their glasses all day.

Act II: Dinner is served

We eat with our eyes so half the battle with a big day dinner can be done in the days running up to the main event by preparing the table's look in advance. Tara O'Connor of the Designed Table feels the Christmas table is the most special of the year.

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“It’s something I start thinking about in September. I pick one colour and mix and match with it.”

Her foundation garment is a heavy linen/cotton tablecloth in white that anchors the look. Her own design comes in 3 metre and 3.8 metre lengths that cost €150 and €175 respectively. These allow her red scallop-edged napkins, €48 for four, and red velvet bow napkin rings, €24 for four, to bring Christmas in a really crisp yet traditional way. The chargers and plates are items she bought in Meadows & Byrne 20 years ago and are brought out for such festive occasions. Stemware, a Marc Jacobs collaboration with Waterford, is from the same era. The Carr’s of Sheffield cutlery was a wedding present bought in Weirs. She lays the centre of the table with pine boughs, just cuttings from the garden using a secateurs. The pine cones that she has sprayed in silver and golds were also found there.

Green, red and white is a classic Christmas combination but Signature Editions has managed to give it a fresh twist by using Irish linen in green gingham as a tablecloth base, €220, and punching up the green through the use of Bordallo-style cabbage dinner plates, €24.95, and dishes €32.95. Slim red taper candles and a nearly naked tree, save for a few judiciously-positioned bows, reinforces the natural look.

If you’d like something less traditional you could invest in the colourblock collection by American tableware brand Misette. Stocked at Peacock & Co, placemats cost €30 each; napkins are €25; dinner plates are €125 for a set of four, salad plates cost €99 for a set of four and tablecloths cost €165. Dunnes Stores own range offers a selection of serveware ideas as well as crackers, an essential ice breaker, and its Carolyn Donnelly Eclectic range includes some very smart tablecloths.

If restrictions are reintroduced and you don’t feel comfortable indoors then take the party outside and barbecue the feast, using a Weber charcoal grill (from €320). Just make sure you have plenty of outdoor heaters, blankets and cushions to keep the chills at bay.

Act III: Cheese course cool

There is a myriad of Irish-made cheese board options to serve it on. Glassmaker Glint sells a cloche with a rush-worked base, €95, that will work for hard cheeses as will the porcupine cocktail stick-holder, €25, from The Old Mill Stores, while stonemasons Hennessy & Byrne’s indigenous stone boards and cheese knife sets start from €110, and Slated’s lazy Susan, €95, will keep the softest of cheeses cool and allow guests to help themselves. You could serve crackers and breads on Jysk’s gold leaf-shaped plates, €11.95 each.

Act IV: Sweet idea

A dessert station, the kind you see at big events and fancy hotels, is a lovely touch. You could also use a hostess trolly that can be wheeled into the room with a dramatic flourish, suggests interiors stylist Orla Nelligan. One serving suggestion with plenty of whimsy is the Ferris wheel, €69.99, available from Butlers Home. A cake stand will elevate confections as well as affording you physical space below it. Ikea sells a wire version, €12, while Avoca’s Blushing Buds cake stand costs €59.95. Zara Home, available online only, also sells a lovely range. Platters, such as the Deer Friends design, €49.95, at Meadows & Byrne can be passed around.

Act V: Digestifs

When the meal is finally finished and everyone has had time to digest the courses you can then bring in a bar cart, such as the black steel three-tier Conniston by Neptune, €1,305, from which you can serve digestifs. Irish whiskey, served in one of Waterford’s new snifters, €145 per pair, or from decanters, will work a treat. You can also stack presents on it, an exciting way to kickstart the evening action.

For a sense of fun you could add some of Marks & Spencer sno-globe liqueurs, €29.90 each, which will also provide some ambient light.

If you haven’t written your letter to Santa yet the Lift column bar, a hexagonal design by Sacha Lakic for Roche Bobois, might tickle your fancy. The sleek piece is mounted on electric cylinders so that it rises to meet you rather than you having to stoop down to get drinks. In deep marine blue it costs €6,240. Monkstown-based Gavelle Interiors has another smart option, Dexter is a hound-shaped side table that is the perfect height for positioning your drink. It costs €375.

caterhire.ie; selecthire.ie; thedesignedtable.com; signature-editions.ie; peacockandco.ie; dunnesstores.com; butlershome.ie; avoca.com; ikea.com; meadowsandbyrne.com; zarahome.com; slated.ie; hennessyandbyrne.com; glintglassstudio.com; theoldmillstores.ie; jysk.ie; neptune.com; roche-bobois.com; waterford.com; gavelle.ie