How to Style Your Christmas Table 2026: Five Looks from the New Meri Meri Collections

Every year the Christmas table gets a little bit more considered, and this year Meri Meri have gone all in - twelve new Christmas tableware ranges, from a Nutcracker collaboration with New York City Ballet to tartan, toile and a Liberty print. We have been unpacking boxes for a fortnight and these are the five tables we would actually set. 🎄

All of them are paper (apart from the Liberty placemats, which you keep), all of them take about twenty minutes, and every one of them photographs beautifully with the lights down and the candles lit. Here is how to style your Christmas table in 2026, five ways.

Christmas table one: the Nutcracker 🩰

The collection of the year. Meri Meri have worked with New York City Ballet on a Nutcracker range that is proper ballet-box pink, red and gold - toy soldiers, the Sugar Plum Fairy, Clara and the Mouse King, all drawn by hand. It is the Christmas table for a house with children who are the right age for a trip to the ballet, and for anyone who loves the story.

Keep the tablecloth white, add red candles and a bowl of clementines, and hang the garland across the mantelpiece rather than over the table so it is in every photo. The Nutcracker Theatre Advent Calendar in the same range is the one to put next to it if you have been eyeing it up.

Christmas table two: tartan and toile 🎀

The grown-up table. Two new patterns that were made to be mixed: the Tartan Mix Large Christmas Party Plates x 8 with the Tartan Mix Bow Christmas Party Cups x 8, and the Toile De Jouy Christmas Side Party Plates x 8 for the pudding course. Red, green, cream and a bit of gold, and it looks like a country house at Christmas without the ironing.

Hang the Tartan Chain Link Christmas Garland along the dresser and the Toile De Jouy Christmas Party Garland over the table. Put the Holly Christmas Table Candles x 2 in the middle and that is the whole thing done.

Christmas table three: stripes and bows 🎁

If you want a Christmas table that still looks like a party, this is it. Red and white stripes, big bows and lots of colour. The Festive Stripe Large Christmas Party Plates x 8 on the Festive Stripe Christmas Paper Table Runner, with the Ribbon Bow Large Christmas Party Plates x 8 for the children's end and the Ribbon Bow Christmas Paper Table Runner if you have two tables pushed together.

The Striped Ornament Christmas Party Plates x 8 and the Christmas Tree With Bows Party Plates x 8 are the shaped plates in the same colours - an ornament and a tree - and they are what the children will remember. Add the Festive Icons Christmas Table Candles x 8, eight tapers printed with trees, stars and candy canes, and keep everything else plain white.

Christmas table four: holly and Molly Mahon 🌿

Green, red and a little bit folk. The Holly Ditsy Large Christmas Party Plates x 8 are a tiny holly print on cream that works for the whole of December, not just the day itself, and the Meri Meri x Molly Mahon Red & Green Large Christmas Party Plates x 8 are block-print designer Molly Mahon's take on Christmas - bold, hand-drawn and very Cotswolds.

Mix the two on the same table (they share a red) and add the Festive Icon Stripes Large Christmas Party Plates x 8 for the children. Real holly in a jug down the middle, and the Santa, Sleigh & Reindeer Christmas Party Plates x 8 if the grandchildren are coming.

Christmas table five: the Liberty table you keep 🪡

For the table you set every year. The Meri Meri x Liberty Winter Placemats Set x 4 are reusable, wipe-clean placemats in a Liberty winter print, and the Meri Meri x Liberty Winter Christmas Place Cards x 6 sit on top with a name on each. They are an investment, but they come out of the drawer every December for the next ten years, and with plain white china they do the whole table on their own.

For a cheaper version of the same idea, the White Wavy Edge Place Cards With Velvet Bows x 8 from Hootyballoo are wavy-edged white cards with a velvet bow, and they look far more than £4.99.

A Christmas table on a budget 💷

Not everyone wants to spend £10 on plates for the kids' table, and you do not have to. The Red Bow Vintage Christmas Party Plates x 6 from Party Deco are £3.99 for six, vintage red bows on cream, and they sit perfectly next to any of the tables above. Pair them with plain red napkins and nobody will know.

When to order your Christmas tableware 📦

The honest answer is now. The Meri Meri Christmas ranges arrive once, in October, and the Nutcracker and Liberty pieces in particular will not be reordered once they have gone. Order by the second week of December for guaranteed delivery before Christmas, but if it is one of the five tables above, do not leave it that long.

Shop Christmas tableware 🛒

Everything in this post is in our Christmas Tableware collection, with the full ranges in Nutcracker, Tartan, Toile de Jouy, Meri Meri x Molly Mahon and Meri Meri x Liberty Christmas. Free UK delivery over £40 and next-day delivery on everything in stock.