No matter the style of your home — from modern to traditional — flowers add an instant boost of warmth, color, and festivity. This is especially true around the holidays, and no, you do not need a team of professionals to create stylish, lovely arrangements.
Hi! I’m Alice Lewis, floral expert and founder of Alice’s Table, and I’m thrilled to share my knowledge with you through my collaboration with 1-800-Flowers.com. We’ve joined forces to bring fun-filled virtual and live floral workshops to customers nationwide. Below, I share expert tips on incorporating flowers into your holiday decor.
10 tips for incorporating flowers into your holiday decor
1. Think outside the vase
While vases are the traditional vessels for flowers, you don’t need to limit yourself! Crates, baskets, pitchers, and milk bottles are just a few of the unique containers that can display your creations and add additional interest.
2. Go green
The holidays bring an abundance of greens: holly, juniper, pine, and spruce, to name a few. Instead of using them exclusively for filler, let them take center stage, with a dramatic lineup of evergreen “bouquets” along a table runner or mantel.
3. Spread the love
Don’t confine pretty arrangements to the dining room or entryway. A vintage pitcher of flowers by the kitchen sink or small vase filled with fragrant buds in a guest room or powder room are a festive and welcome touch.
4. Don’t just eat your fruits and vegetables
Decorate with them! Cranberries and citrus fruits are right at home during the holiday season and provide a pop of color in a floral display. Use cranberries at the bottom of a clear vessel to anchor an arrangement, and tuck small mandarin oranges, lemons, and limes along a table runner or in a basket of potted blooms.
5. Size doesn’t matter
Instead of one large display in the center of your table, try a cluster of shorter, mismatched vessels. Or a bud vase at everyone’s place as a unique “place card.” The key is to make up for the drama of height with quantity — so don’t be stingy!
White is a natural choice for the holidays, but reds and pinks are striking, too!
6. Things are looking up
Don’t limit yourself to flat surfaces to create vignettes of color and greenery. Pretty wreaths hanging in your windows can be enjoyed by you as well as passersby. And an abundance of roping wrapped around a banister bring fragrance and color right up the stairs!
7. I see your true color
If you get overwhelmed when it comes to figuring out color combinations, a display showcasing a single-color palette can be just as dramatic. White is a natural choice for holiday decor, but reds and pinks are striking, too!
8. Oh my gourd!
Gourds and pinecones add more mellow tones and a rustic edge to traditional arrangements. They’re easily sourced and inexpensive, so use them generously in displays, in baskets, and along runners and mantels.
9. Raid the fridge
Herbs are a unique addition to your floral display — especially in the kitchen or dining room. Tiny potted herbs can be placed down the center of the table or at individual place settings. And tuck fragrant sprigs in wherever a pop of green is needed to complement your blooms. Sage, rosemary, and thyme are all lovely options.
10. Jingle bells (and ornaments, too)
The holiday season is no time to play it safe. Festoon your displays with tiny bells and inexpensive ornaments — they are unexpected and are also a great way to show off cherished or unique treasures that could get lost in your large holiday tree.
