New Year’s Eve Tablescape – Trying To Plan A Sophisticated Winner

Welcome to the next installment of the New Year’s Eve tablescape that I’m preparing as if I were going to enter it into the State Fair table decorating contest! (If you want to catch up on the backstory, check out Not Quite a Tablescape Competition – Designing in Public.

I’ve moved through the aerial planning stage and into the physical planning stage, where I set things up and mess around with them until I get something I like. I had ordered a tableskirt and topper, plus a table bar to go across the top, and some crystal snowflakes. My working theme is Champagne Snowflake.

(I’m apologising for the quality of these photos – the light’s not always so great in the spot I have to set the table up in!)

First Things First

So I got started. The first thing was to put the tableskirt and topper on the table. Unfortunately, the tulle was TOTALLY NOT what I had in mind after all! Way too pink. And too “Baby Shower.” I wanted something a little classier. Although this would be fun for an actual baby or bridal shower! But since I don’t have either of those on the horizon, I’ll be sending it back!

The Table Rod

Then the the table rod. I admit, I got so excited putting this together that I forgot to take any pictures until it was already up, and the flowers and snowflakes added! The width is adjustable, and it took me a few minutes to figure out how to get it to its smallest dimensions. I did, though, and it’s lovely. Very strong and sturdy.

I was right about it squishing the tablecloth. Not only did it grab up the sides, but it skewed the whole topper! I’ll have to be really careful when I put it on for real. You can see I put some flowers hanging over the edge to camouflage the clamps. This first round is always just kind of an experiment to see if the basic concept will stand. My idea is more flowers, so the actual bar doesn’t show, even on the sides.

I decided on using the silver champagne bucket, (which is not very silver-looking at the moment, being a long time since I polished it!) so I thought silver chargers. Prettyl

It’s kind of hard to see the snowflakes in these pictures. Maybe I’ll have to put a black background on the wall behind, although I wouldn’t be able to do that at the fair. Maybe I should just see about some better lights. The ones at the fair are like little suns!

I thought, to make it more festive I’d add some curly ribbons to be like New Year’s streamers. It kind of works, but I’m not 100% sold yet. They’re not overly sophisticated, plus they kind of drown out the snowflakes. What do you think?

Candles?

Then I messed around with some candles. Two strikes against the gold taper holders – one, the gold doesn’t really work with the silver and champagne, and two, they’re too tall. When all the flowers are in place, these would burn the whole thing down!

I thought maybe plain old crystal? I only have one of these cool block crystal candle holders, but I thought I could get some more, or find something else similar. The modern edge it added was cool. Which made me think maybe the table could lean that minimal, angular direction, even with all the flowers. Contrast, you know?

How About Some Black for Our New Year’s Eve Tablescape?

At about this point, my wonderful husband – who I make come look at the table with me several times a night – said that it looked more like a wedding tablescape, not necessarily a New Year’s Eve tablescape.

Huh.

Well, that’s kind of true. He thought maybe another color of some sort, but I didn’t really want an accent color to detract from my champagne vibe. Besides, weddings can have colors too – it might still look like a wedding table. But a wedding almost never has black! At least if they do, they’re way more on the sophisticated black tie end of the wedding spectrum.

So I went and grabed my little black tablecloth and stuck it under the topper to see what it would look like. I liked it! I pulled out my matt black chargers and rolled with it. Dramatic! And the black tableskirt really showed off the champagne topper. (I’ll give you a rectangular version of my favorite tablecloth in the recommendations, so you can use it at a normal table. Not too many people acutally eat at little square tables!)

China Glassware & Flatware

That led me directly to the china – kind of a champagne tuxedo look. (I got this china* for – I think – my second tablescape competition all those years ago.)

I messed around with the glassware a little. The cut crystal water and champagne glasses gave some sparkle, so that was good, but I went back and forth on the wine glasses. Finally settled (for the moment) on these gold-rimmed ones, even though there’s no other gold in the table. I figure it’s a tiny enough line to not offend anybody. But we’ll see.

I popped some little dessert wine glasses back there, but you can’t really see them too well. The picture with the gold flatware (coming up) shows them best.

And so on to the flatware. I tried my silver, but it honestly just disappeared into the tablecloth! It actually looks better in this picture, but in real life, you could barely see it! (Oops – I put the dessert fork on wrong …!)

And even though I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to work, I tried some matt gold flatware. I think I said “NO WAY” as soon as I laid it down. Talk about clashing! And there goes sophisticated!

So I removed all the flatware, and decided I’d order some black.

A Little Break for More Candles

I sat with that for a couple days, then going back to my inspiration pictures, remembered the glass sleeves for the candles. I really can’t have anything that tall if I’m going to do the flowers down the sides of the rod, but I thought maybe some low ones would work. Three basic (minimalist?) flower vases were just the thing, and they fit some pillar candles. I’ll have to get new candles, obviously, but you get the idea.

Black Flatware

Then my black flatware came. It’s very matt, and in the same style as my “modern” flatware that I love so much. In these pictures, it looks a little green, but it isn’t. You can get a better idea of its true color from the dessert fork on top. I’m not a million percent sold, but I can’t think of what other color/style of flatware would work, so hoping I can make it come around.

Or maybe it’s just too casual for this china? I looked for more ornate black chargers too, but couldn’t find any. Wondering if I should spray paint some of the silver ones…

New Year’s Eve Tablescape Menu

There also has to be a menu on the table, and it has to be able to be seen and read easily by fair-goers, which means it needs to be pretty large format. (ie: a discreet little circle on the plate isn’t going to work.) Since the salad plate has a lot of white real estate, I thought maybe I’d lay the menu across the plate stack.

If I did, I might go with a black card/white writing. That white background looks pretty stark. But maybe with some nice writing on it, it would be better. I’d want to use some heavy stock instead of this flimsy printer paper, of course.

There’s also room to the left of the napkins that might be able to hold the menu and/or the table description that the judges – and fair-goers – always like.

Balancing the Top and Bottom of the New Year’s Eve Tablescape

The top flower-and-snowflake part seemed a little on the white side after I added all that black to the table. So I wondered if I should balance it out somehow. Maybe some black streamers too? I ordered some black curly ribbon, and when it came, it was once again very matt, which was odd for a ribbon I thought! But I curled some of it and hung a few strands.

Even though it had a really lovely soft texture, it was super static-y – I couldn’t get it to hang straight because it kept sticking to everything! Plus the curl was too tight. This was a pretty quick No. (Not as fast as the gold flatware, but almost!) It’s actually really cool ribbon, but I’ll need to practice my curling technique for another project.

Where the New Year’s Eve Tablescape is Now

So this is where we are now. I added some black napkins. And while I’m all for contrast, I’m feeling like the table’s not cohesive yet. I should pick either predominantly ornate OR predominantly modern, not the sort of hodge-podge that it is at the moment.

Also, I feel like it needs more balance and more height in the middle. I’ll have to think about how to add height without blocking the diners’ view or setting the flowers on fire! I had to remove the champagne bottle because it was actually a full one – a really good vintage that we’re saving for a special occasion. I didn’t want any harm to come to it! I’ll have to find a less precious bottle. With a pretty foil top. Putting champagne in the bucket will add a little height.

I’m also thinking maybe some holiday greenery – holly or something specific to the holiday season? Or maybe something more overtly New Year’s? Maybe bring some of those snowflakes down to the table. Napkin rings?

So many fun options! I love this sport! If you do too, let me know what you think in the Comments below. I love to hear from you!

Stay tuned for another exciting installment coming up!

Barbara’s Boutique Recommendations

Click on the pictures below for links to the pieces I mentioned in this post. If something’s not available, I chose a similar replacement.

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Shared With

• Tablescape Thursday 7/31/225 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
• Tuesday Turn About 08.05.25 – Hosted by My Wee Abode