Glam Christmas Table: Emerald, Burgundy & Gold Setting Ideas to Shop the Look
Babe, we are not doing a quiet Christmas table this year. 💃 We are doing emerald, burgundy, and gold, we are doing candlelight bouncing off every reflective surface I can find, and we are doing it for a whole lot less than it looks like. This is my full build-your-own glam table — twelve pieces, layered from the tablecloth up. Start with two of them and add the rest whenever you feel like it. ✨
💃 Start with these two
If you buy nothing else on this page, buy the runner and the chargers. Together they are about thirty dollars and they do roughly eighty percent of the work.
The emerald velvet runner
Velvet is the cheat code and I will say it every time. It catches light in a way flat cotton never will, it photographs like something that cost real money, and this one is 29 by 120 inches — wide and long enough to actually work on a six-seat table instead of looking like a scarf you laid down. Emerald is the foundation of this whole palette. Everything gold you put on top of it gets richer.
The gold beaded chargers
The charger is the layer everybody skips and it is the one that separates a set table from a styled one. It puts a ring of gold around every single place setting, which means your plain white plates suddenly look intentional. These are 13 inches with a beaded rim, about eleven dollars, and you want at least six.
✨ The place setting
White and gold dinnerware
My honest take: do not buy new dinnerware for one holiday. If you already own plain white plates, you are done — the chargers and the napkins are doing the Christmas part. But if you have been meaning to upgrade anyway, a gold-rimmed porcelain set works at a glam table in December and a normal Tuesday in March. Real porcelain, not melamine. You can tell in photos.
Gold flatware
Gold flatware costs about thirty dollars and reads like a hundred and fifty. Service for eight, mirror polish, and it ties straight into the chargers and the rims on the glasses. Remember the rule: pick ONE metal and repeat it. That repetition is what makes a table look designed instead of collected on a Tuesday.
Burgundy cloth napkins
Cloth. Always cloth. Paper napkins will undo every single thing the other eleven pieces on this page are doing, and I do not make the rules. Burgundy is the second colour in this palette and it keeps the table from going all green and gold — that deep wine against emerald is the whole look. These are 20 by 20 inches and come in about thirty colours if you want to take it somewhere else. 💃
Rhinestone napkin rings
This is where the personality lives, and it is under ten dollars. Same napkin, same plate — put a jeweled gold ring on it and the whole setting goes glam. Twelve in a pack, which means spares for when one goes missing, and it always does. If you only add one small thing to a table you already own, make it this. ✨
💃 The glassware
Gold-rim wine glasses
Real glass, not plastic, for the ones people are actually drinking from at dinner. Hand-blown with a fluted body and a gold rim that picks up the candlelight. This is where I would not go cheap, because glassware is the thing guests hold for three hours and you can feel the difference immediately.
Amber gold-rim tumblers
These are the jewel-tone accent and also the smart move if you have kids at the table or a party that is going to run late. Amber with a gold rim, twelve ounces, and they look the part without you worrying about the tile floor.
✨ The centerpiece and the light
This is the part that makes it feel like an occasion instead of a nice dinner. Greenery down the middle, candles at three different heights, ornaments scattered along the runner. Keep it low — people have to see each other.
Gold candlestick holders
Brushed gold, slim, and heavy enough that they do not tip when somebody reaches across the table. Buy the set with mixed heights — three heights clustered reads styled, all-the-same reads like a hotel. Candlesticks are the exception to the low-centerpiece rule, by the way. They are narrow enough that your eye just goes around them. 💃
Ivory dripless tapers
Ivory, not white — stark white goes a bit cold next to gold, and ivory keeps everything warm. Get dripless unless you want wax down your brand new velvet runner. Seven to eight hours of burn time each, which is longer than any dinner party I have ever hosted, so you will get several nights out of a set.
Eucalyptus garland
Eucalyptus instead of pine, because pine reads traditional and we are not doing traditional. The softer silver-green sits beautifully against emerald and does not fight the gold. Run it down the middle of the runner and weave the candlesticks in between the branches rather than setting them on top.
Emerald and gold ornaments
Not for the tree — for the table. Scatter them along the runner between the greenery and the candles, in odd numbers, never evenly spaced. They catch the candlelight and throw it around the room, which is the entire point of a glam table. Five-minute job that makes people think you hired someone. ✨
The honest part 💃
Real talk, babe, because a glam table has a few catches nobody posts about.
- ⚠️ Buying all twelve at once is around $330. Nobody does that and you should not either. The runner and the chargers are thirty dollars together and they carry the whole look. Add a layer next year.
- ⚠️ A few of these have very few reviews. The runner has a lovely rating but only seventeen people have weighed in. The ornaments have eighteen. The garland has thirty-five. That does not make them bad — but pretty is not proof, and on those three you are somewhat early. Buy them because you like them, not because you assume somebody already vetted them.
- ⚠️ The chargers sit at 3.7 stars. Lower than I would normally feature. They are plastic, they are eleven dollars, and at that price they do a job no other piece can do for the money. Just know what you are buying — these are a styling layer, not an heirloom.
- ⚠️ Measure your table before you order the runner. 29 by 120 inches is generous, which is a good problem, but you want a few inches hanging off each end and not a foot puddled on the floor.
- ⚠️ Candles and greenery need a bit of sense. Keep the tapers in their holders with clearance from the eucalyptus, and never leave a lit table alone. Blow them out before dessert.
None of it is a dealbreaker. I would still set this table tomorrow. ✨
Shop the whole glam table
Every piece on this page, in one place:
Shop Stacey’s Christmas Table →
Not your vibe? I am one of five hosts and we each set a completely different Christmas table — cozy farmhouse, quiet and tonal, heirloom heritage, or bright and colourful. See all five and find yours →
Go make your table sparkle, babe. Two colours plus a metal — that is the whole secret. 💃✨
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