The Best Last-Minute Holiday Ideas to Try Now

Yesterday, I was startled to realize Christmas is this weekend. I had been lulled into thinking there was plenty of time, since our house and tree have been decorated since just after Thanksgiving. So, I still have a few last-minute holiday ideas to execute.

For example, I’m still trying to work out my table setting for our Christmas Eve dinner.

If you’re still not sure what to do about your holiday table, here are a few last-minute tips.

• Start with a color scheme and amplify it. For instance, I found an inexpensive gold runner on Amazon–just $13.80 for two panels. Fresh-cut gold poinsettias, gold Christmas ornaments, and gold napkin rings could pull this elegant look together.

• Run a quick test. Lay out everything, including china and napkins, to see how the decorating scheme could work. Take a photo for reference for when you actually set the table.
• Keep it simple. Just run a strip of evergreen branches or other seasonal greens along the length of the table as a runner. It adds an instant festive touch; incorporate other decorative items, such as plain Christmas ball ornaments, to finish the look.
• Epsom salt is your last-minute friend. Make “snow” by covering styrofoam balls with white school glue and epsom salt to make snowballs. Coat dry branches with epsom salt.
• Add sparkle. Candles and battery-powered fairy lights create a magic mood. If the grandkids are young, use battery-operated tea light and pillar candles for safety.
• Get the grandkids involved. For example, it’s not too late to make gumdrop trees if you enlist the aid of pint-size helpers.

Last-Minute Table Setting Ideas

Here are some of my past Christmas tables that you can execute, even at the last minute. You’ll find complete how-to details in the links below.

Gumdrop Trees Table Setting

Just poke gumdrops into styrofoam cones to make Gumdrop Trees of different sizes. It’s easy if you unleash grandkid power.

Snowflakes and Snowballs Table Setting

For a winter wonderland of Snowflakes and Snowballs, coat styrofoam balls and pillar candles with white school glue and epsom salt. Arrange on evergreen branches and add gold snowflakes.

Evergreens and Pinecones Table Setting

This woodland Evergreens and Pinecones table uses epsom salt snowballs, pinecones, and Christmas tree branches dusted with spray-on, artificial snow. The partridges are hard to come by these days, but you can use a flock of white birds or more colorful avian choices.

Gingerbread House Table Setting

This works as a last-minute idea only if you had made the gingerbread houses in advance for a party with the grandkids, as we did recently. And if you had saved the houses. The trees are frosted ice cream cones.

Last-Minute Flower Arrangements

Invest in a few poinsettias in pots to decorate the house. They’ll do double-duty when you need a fresh flower arrangement. Simply snip off some of the poinsettias from the back side of the pot, where the missing “flowers” won’t show. (Actually the yellow centers are the flowers.)

To keep cut poinsettias from wilting, singe the stems with a candle flame.

You can use these arrangements as gifts–I made this one for a friend in the hospital–or use the blooms in your holiday table setting.

Here’s how to make a fresh poinsettia floral arrangement in a jar.

Materials Needed

• Two-sided Christmas gift wrap
• Large jar (I used a mason jar)
• Small clamp-style binder clip
• Rubber band
• Ribbon, preferably wire ribbon
• Candle in a candle holder
• Poinsettias growing in a pot
• Evergreen branches

How to Make the Vase

Unroll gift wrap and set the jar down on it, estimating about six to eight inches of margin on each side of the bottle, beyond the neck. Cut wrap.

You’ll need a square, so lightly fold the wrap on the diagonal and trim off excess paper.

With the jar in the middle of the wrap, bring two diagonally opposite corners together and secure with a paper clip to hold the paper in place. Now bring the two remaining corners together and start gathering the paper around the neck of the bottle. A second pair of hands is helpful on your first try.

Holding the gathered-up paper in place, slip a rubber band around the neck of the bottle. Remove the binder clip. Adjust the gathers around the neck of the bottle Tie ribbon over the rubber band and make a bow. Fluff the wrapping paper around the neck of the bottle. Now your vase is complete.

How to Prepare the Flowers

Carefully add water to your vase; you don’t want to wet the paper.

Cut poinsettia to the desired length. Light the candle and sear the stem of the poinsettia. IMPORTANT: Do not skip this step; searing will stop the milky sap from running out of the stem, otherwise, the flowers will wilt.

Repeat with remaining poinsettias.

How to Make the arrangement

You’ll need about four or five large blooms for your bouquet. If you recut the stems as you arrange the flowers, you’ll have to sear the stem again at the new cut.

Add a few evergreens. Fluff the bow and your arrangement is done.

More Last-Minute Holiday Ideas

Here are a couple more holiday decorating ideas you can still execute before Christmas.

• Decorate dried branches with epsom salt for a wintery centerpiece.

• Make a bouquet of cast-off Christmas tree branches gathered from a tree lot, arranging branches in a large vase.

Happy Holidays from Call Me Grandma!

I will be on vacation for the next two weeks, returning on Wednesday, January 4. Miss T, Little N, and I wish you the happiest of holidays and a New Year filled with peace, health, and good times together with your family.

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