Decorate your Christmas table with glamorous purple and plum

Create an opulent look with rich, jewel-like colours

Mix purple with pinks to give your Christmas table a sumptuous feel. Choose purple napkins, and use a large fabric flower as a napkin ring, which guests can take home at the end of the evening.

Add some sparkle by placing a large purple-glass bauble on each napkin. Or use different materials, such as purple velvet ribbon and lengths of ivy, to tie around napkins. Alternate them around the table. For a rich look, decorate place settings with a vibrant bauble and foil-wrapped mini chocolates.

Use amethyst and ruby glassware and tie pink, green and purple ribbons to a
chandelier's arms and drape over the table. Thread the ends through bauble loops and rest between place settings. And don't forget to add a warm touch at each table setting with tealights in red etched-glass votives.

Another advantage of this rich dark look is that it lends itself to a number of centrepieces. You can place a pillar candle at the centre of a glass
cake stand, for example, then surround it with pine cones, fabric flowers and faux purple berries.

Get the look

Chandelier, Bhs
Ribbon, The Ribbon Shop
Baubles, John Lewis

More tips and ideas on how to lay the perfect Christmas table>>

If you prefer a floral arrangement, mix three hydrangea heads with sprigs of white berries in a metallic vase, then decorate with wide pink ribbon and a thin strip of plum-coloured ribbon. For a really striking centrepiece, fill a shallow vase two-thirds full of water, then add a couple of open deep pink or purple Oriental lily heads with the stems cut off.

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