With the festive season upon us (Ed: is it too soon for Christmas decorations?) the Lazy Team want to look at how to create a festive centrepiece for your Garden Table.
Whilst some like to store or cover their garden furniture during the winter, others are happy to leave it on the patio all year round.
Our cast aluminium is designed to stand up to the elements, so why not?
Storing or covering will keep it clean but it doesn’t take much to give it a quick wash with warm soapy water come spring.
It will, however, leave your patio a little bare if you do but it's your call.
Even in the office, some of us (myself included) store it for the winter but others (such as the boss, Michael) are happy to leave it.
If you do leave it, then why not spread a little festive cheer and dress up your garden table with a Christmas centrepiece?
What makes a good festive garden table centrepiece?
When it comes to what makes a good table centrepiece there are no rules as such. At the end of the day, it should be just whatever you think looks good.
However, there are a few simple pointers we can suggest when it comes to making one for a garden table. After all, it is going outside, so it needs to stand up to Mother Nature.
For example, you generally don’t want anything too light or too tall so that it might blow over/off the table and, maybe most important, you want it to be made from materials that are water/weatherproof.
Start by thinking about what will work with the garden table you have. If you have a small round table, then a circular centrepiece will probably work best. If you have a large oval table, then a cluster of several elements might be a better option.
The customer above has gone big but not too tall on our Mia Garden Table and it looks great. You want the centrepiece to complement/enhance the table and a good balance of scale/proportion will ensure it looks like it belongs there.
Of course, flowers are the most popular form of centrepiece both inside and outside. However, in the garden, lighting is also a great choice at this time of year, be it a festive lantern or candles.
Think of the centrepiece as the icing on top of the cake. Even though you’re not using your garden table at this time of year, if you’ve left it on the patio, then a good centrepiece just helps to make it look loved.
Our favourite garden table centrepiece ideas
To help get you inspired, we’ve had a little look around and pulled together some great DIY and low-cost garden tablescapes that look fab but are easy to recreate.
Most of them can be made in an hour or two from items you’ll already have around the home, from craft shops, and home stores or by taking indoor items that are suitable for the garden.
Garlands & Wreaths
A festive garland or wreath (if flipped) always looks great at the centre of one of our garden tables at this time of year. Just placed and they’re a little light, but you can easily secure them in place with a little string.
The other great thing about a garland is that it can be used to frame or as a border for other items such as a candle, lantern or other festive décor items.
You can pick up the perfect size to use as a centrepiece from most homeware-style shops and supermarkets at this time of year. If you want to go down the DIY route, then you can use a wire ring or fresh spruce branches to form the base and construct from there.
If you need a little inspiration, then we would suggest you start with the video below from Momma From Scratch. It is more of a comparison review but it gives some great style tips and decorating ideas.
For a simple how-to-make video, then we would suggest you watch Royal florist Philippa Craddock's Christmas wreath-making tutorial on the House & Garden channel below.
If you simply wanted to purchase one to accessorise yourself, then the Community Garden Pine Cone Tealight Holder from John Lewis is a great place to start. It would look great paired with some outdoor tea lights and other pieces of festive décor.
Plants & Flowers
One of the best ways to accentuate your garden table, at any time of year, is with a floral centrepiece. Our preference is for living, and for the green-thumbed, this is a great opportunity to let your creativity loose.
Of course, you could use cut flowers, dry flowers or artificial ones, but there is just something special about a festive planter with fragrant winter blooms that will thrive in a UK garden over the festive period.
Some of our go-to faves include Holly, Rosemary, Winter Pansies, Narcissus, Cyclamen, Winter Heathers, Witch Hazel, Winter-Flowering Clematis, Camellia Sasanqua, Sarcococca (aka Christmas Box), Lonicera Winter Beauty, Jasminum Nudiflorum, Paperwhite Narcissus and Hellebores (aka Christmas Rose).
Why not pick a nice low bowl or wooden trug and plant it up with a festive display? Create a nice mix of texture and colours, and pair it with décor items such as birch branches, boughs, bows, lanterns, candles or pinecones.
If you need a little further inspo, then the video below from Kelly Lehman is a great starting point. Kelly shows you how to make outdoor planters and she has some great suggestions on ways to decorate for Christmas.
If you simply wanted to purchase a beautiful planter for your garden table centrepiece, then M&S have these stunning Festive White Outdoor Planters that would look fantastic paired with a lantern or some simple festive décor in the middle of our larger sets (pictured below).
Outdoor Candles
Candles are synonymous with Christmas, and there’s a host of ways you can incorporate them into a festive garden table centrepiece. They look fab paired with a garland or paired with rustic festive decor items such as pinecones (collect the now and paint them), holly wreaths, etc.
If you wanted to make your own, then the 80 Creative DIY Christmas Candle Holders Pinterest Board is a great place to start. Some of the woodwork ones would make for a great DIY project, could be painted/stained for outdoor use and they’d look fab as a garden table centrepiece.
The video below from Kyal and Kara also has some great ideas. Most of them are indoor but they use a host of on-hand items such as glass jars that can easily be adapted for a patio table and outdoor use.
Amazon UK has these beautiful Seraphic Metal Candle Holders (below) that would pair beautifully with our antique bronze furniture. They could be easily given a festive twist with some Holly and outdoor tea lights.
If you need candles for your garden table centrepiece, then the Outdoor LED Flameless Candles (below) from Glow are the perfect solution. They provide a gently flickering amber flame, are fully weatherproof, available in three sizes (large = 18cm, medium = 11.5cm or small = 7.5cm) and have an on/off timer function (4 hours on, 20 hours off).
Garden Lanterns
If you prefer real flame, then candles on their own are impossible to keep lit outdoors at this time of year, so the solution is a garden lantern.
They look great and can just as easily be paired with an LED candle or they look great filled with some outdoor fairy lights to create a firefly in a jar effect (below).
Lights4Fun carry a wonderful range and various styles, shapes and sizes of garden lanterns. Their Dark Grey Stainless Steel Candle Lanterns with TruGlow® Candles (below) would make for the perfect festive centrepiece on our garden tables.
If you want to go down the DIY route, then Home & Idea has their fantastic 16 Garden Lantern Ideas video, which is a great place to start:
Christmas Decorations & Ornaments
Why not get creative with some of your old decorations and ornaments, use anything that’s a little too tired for the inside to repurpose and create something for the outside?
Any old small Christmas trees could be secured to a base for outdoor use and illuminated with some outdoor fairy lights. In my own garden, we have taken a set of 3 vintage metal Christmas trees and whilst they’re not on our garden table (as we’ve popped them away they sit by the back door) they would look great as a centrepiece.
If you’ve nothing you can use, then there are some lovely garden Christmas decorations such as the Star Spun Acrylic Christmas Light on Wayfair (below) which could be repurposed as a table centrepiece.
Decorations are often designed for the inside of the home or if they are for outdoor use, then larger sized. Shop around, use a little imagination, and you can find some wonderful pieces that make the perfect festive centrepiece.
Outdoor Lights
Fairy lights are another great way to bring a little festive cheer to your garden table, be it as a centrepiece or simply draped around the edge.
There are some great products on the market such as the Glass Light Tubes from Kaleidoscope (below) that give you the firefly effect we referenced in the lantern section.
These are for indoor use but the look could easily be replicated outside with a glass vase and some outdoor LED lights.
If you are looking for some Christmas lighting ideas for your garden then the video below from Your House Needs This is a great watch and features some beautifully decorated homes:
If you have any photos of your Lazy Susan garden table dressed with a festive centrepiece, then we’d love to see them for our Do Some Good charity campaign.
You can tag us @LazySusanFurniture on Instagram or Facebook or email them to us at [email protected].