This year was the first time i’ve ever hosted Christmas & I have to say…hats off to the people that do it year in & year out!
We invited all of our nearest & dearest along to share Christmas day at Baylyn House with us & in the end we had 12 (including our two little people who were beyond spoilt!).
I have to admit that I did cheat just a little bit by delegating out the cooking. We’re incredibly lucky that both of our set of parents live just round the corner SO I thought why not get them to help out? My mum & step-dad did the starter of pate, then the turkey & gravy. My mother-in-law then did the roast potato’s & stuffing.I was left with the vegetables & most importantly…the pigs in blankets. My best friend Sian & her fiance was left up to pudding duty & they definitely went over & beyond with traditional Christmas cake, yule log, profiteroles, ice cream, cream & cheese cake.
The most exciting part for me was definitely designing a beautiful table ready for everybody & making the house look festive. You can see my Christmas decor blog post here. I picked up bits as/when I saw them as well as borrowing things to keep costs down & in the end it didn’t work out too expensive at all, plus, I can reuse it all in years to come.
Here’s a few snippits, although I was too busy having a great time to take any of the actual food so have stolen some from my sister-in-law 🙂
With regards to decor, I was going to pop everybody in the conservatory however considering it was quite a miserable day (plus it’s leaking & i’m having to claim on my home insurance eek!) I thought it’d be cosier to put everybody in our dining room.
I ended up moving the table which normally resides in our conservatory seating area then painted 4 chairs that came with my table when I bought it a few years ago on Gumtree but kept in the shed as I KNEW one day i’d need more. It was a bit of a mad rush a couple of days before Christmas having to upcycle them using trusty Annie Sloan (you can see my tutorial here) & reupholstering. I then borrowed 3 more chairs from my best friend Sian who’s set at her house are quite similar.
Because the table was SO long, I struggled to find a tablecloth that would fit & didn’t want to leave it bare as the two tables were different finishes & made it quite obvious. So, I ended up going to my local fabric shop & bought 3.5m of hessian which didn’t need anything doing to it at all & looked brilliant.
Where everything is from –
The hessian & chair ties were both from Fabricland – £12
2x berry garlands borrowed from parents however I have seen them in The Range – FREE
Gold plate chargers again borrowed from parents however I’ve seen them in The Range & Home Bargains for 99p each – FREE
Upcycled baby food jar place names using twine & Christmas tree cuttings – £1.00 for all
Christmas crackers from Home Bargains – £3.00
Pine cones collected in Autumn – FREE
Star candles from Home Bargains at 99p each – £4.95
Candycanes from Home Bargains £3.00 for a huge pot full – £0.50
We all had a fantastic day eating, drinking & playing games (including cards against humanity which had us all crying with laughter).
Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas day & are enjoying 2016 as much as I am!
Love, Charlotte x