Festive decoration tips from Bettys’ Head of Beautiful

This year Christmas will be different for all of us, but you can still dress your table for Christmas at home, meeting friends outside for a socially distanced gathering, or even a virtual Christmas dinner shared with loved ones.

I love making my own wreath at Christmas and there are so many ways to do it. You can start with a wire wreath and fresh moss and add your greenery, buy a blank wreath and add the decorations to it, or in this case use an oasis wreath.

1. Soak your oasis in water, then gather a selection of greenery from your garden, collect the off cuts from your Christmas tree or visit your local florist. Cut small sprigs and pop them into the wet oasis.

2. Work round it developing a good shape and continue around and up. Change to a different foliage now - cut small sprigs, strip the bottom and push into the wet oasis. For this wreath we chose Nordman fir, eucalyptus, and ivy amongst others.

3. Wire some slices of dried oranges, and twist and stick into the oasis. You can also wire cinnamon sticks and pine cones, or use a glue gun to stick to your foliage.

4. Finally add a big bow using your favourite ribbon and attach to your door.

Table Settings

This is a lovely table setting you can create using square napkins. We’ve added the scents of Christmas with clementines, cinnamon and eucalyptus, and selected a traditional gold leaf charger to match our gold cutlery. Team with a beautiful gold star, china gold crackers and a scattering of gold leaf stars on the tablecloth.

1. Lay the napkin face up on a flat surface.

2. Fold the napkin in half.

3. Fold the napkin in half again, so that it's a quarter of its original size.

4. Position the napkin so it lies flat in a diamond shape with the open corners facing you.

5. Fold the open corner's top layer to meet the opposite corner (this will be the top peak of the ‘tree’). Repeat with each layer, staggering each one in descending order.

6. Repeat this with every layer, tucking each one into the upper fold.

7. Flip the napkin over so that the wrong side is facing you.

8. Fold the napkin into thirds, forming a kite shape.

9. Flip the napkin over so that the right side is facing you.

10. Fold the upper layer to the peak of napkin. Repeat this with every layer, tucking each one into the upper fold.

11. Tuck the bottom layer underneath the napkin and then decorate. We used a gold leaf star and sugar star decorations.

This is a really simple napkin folding but it looks really effective. We’ve added one of our Lebkuchen Father Christmas Biscuits, but a sprig or Christmas greenery like rosemary or eucalyptus would work equally well (and smell lovely) as would a name card.

For this table setting we chose warm reds for the napkins and linen table runner, and then added in some traditional greenery and berries across the middle of the table. A classic silver charger matches our silver cutlery and elegant white china really makes the napkin stand out.

1. Fold a square dinner napkin in half, then into quarters.

2. Fold the open corner's top layer to meet the opposite corner.

3. Turn over the napkin, fold it into thirds, and turn it back over.

4. Tuck your polished cutlery into the pocket. Add a place card or printed menu, if desired.

Inspired by the Swiss Alps, this table is set out with a beautiful linen table runner. We chose simple greenery, a set of battery wire lights to go through the garland and then a slice of log as the place setting. Dark metal trays, candle holders and a metal twig napkin ring complete the look.