Cheers! The YH&G team’s festive do
When the YH&G team gathered for a Christmas lunch, we pooled our talents to create the ultimate festive table setting. Check out our top tips for sharing your special moments
Getting together with the people in your life to mark the end of another year is one of the best things about the holiday season. Whether it’s breakfast with extended family, dinner with friends or drinks with workmates, it feels good to take stock and share those rare moments of rest and reflection. When the Your Home
and Garden team gathered at editor Kristina’s house recently, style director Catherine and art director Fiona put together a festive table that you can easily recreate at your place. Here’s how they did it…
Flowers & foliage
When you think about Christmas foliage, the colour that commonly springs to mind is evergreen, but shades of crimson and rose were the order of the day at our YH&G lunch. Especially with a lush backdrop like the native bush at Kristina’s West Auckland home, adding colour through flowers and foliage is a great way to bring your table to life.
Fiona chose flowers such as carnations, manuka, sweet william and hemlock to provide colour in vases, then at the last minute Catherine dashed off to forage for slender eucalyptus branches, which she draped along the centre of the table. This gave the setting a beautiful lushness as well as being in keeping with our Antipodean Christmas.
Food & table
With a strong colour palette established, the next step was to add contrast. Catherine did this by using plenty of glowing gold and brass tones in the place settings, which created a rich, festive effect alongside the deep reds and pinks. Soft grey plates and linen napkins help to ground the arrangement, while pure white candles added light and a touch of formality.
It’s up to you whether to use a tablecloth – Catherine and Fiona opted not to, as the occasion was casual and they loved the colours in this Vitrine table and bench set. However, a vintage rug beneath the table, plus a few velvet cushions, made this relaxed outdoor setting feel a little bit luxe and kept the overall effect from being too austere.
When it came to the food and drink, our resident foodie Kristina really turned it on. Casual yet beautiful plates of cheese, fruit, nuts, fresh hummus, charcuterie, crackers and bread looked gorgeous with our stylists’ table decor. And we all learned a good trick – a cut tamarillo on a cheese board instantly makes it look more appealing!
Capturing the moment
Don’t forget to capture Christmas memories while you catch up with loved ones. Vodafone’s Social Pass gives you endless social data on your favourite social apps from only 36c per day when you buy a 28 day Vodafone Social Pass, keeping you connected all summer! Our team snapped selfies and shared laughs with the Vodafone Smart X9. The dual camera experience and features such as auto HDR and slow mo made remembering our busy year super-fun, and the huge 5.7” touchscreen helped us make sure there weren’t poppy seeds in our teeth!
FESTIVE MINI MERINGUES
Arrange store-bought mini meringues on a serving plate. In a bowl, whip 500ml cream and then combine with 3 Tbsp good-quality maple syrup, 1 Tbsp vanilla paste with seeds and 200g crème fraîche. Dollop this mixture on top of each meringue, sprinkle with freeze-dried raspberry powder and scatter with sliced fresh strawberries.
NON-ALCOHOLIC BERRY FIZZ
Pour a selection of frozen berries (we used raspberries and boysenberries) into the bottom of a large jug until it’s a quarter full, then stuff a large bunch of mint down each side. Fill with lemonade, top up with more frozen berries and mint, and serve.