Christmas Dessert Table in the Dining Room

I’ve always said that since becoming a mom, Christmas is even more special as I watch my little ones experience the joys of the holiday for the first time. We bake cookies together and listen to Christmas music and wrap gifts and hang ornaments on the tree and write letters to Santa and drive around at night looking at Christmas lights… so many traditions and memories we make during this wonderful time of year. I think as parents we want to make these moments as special as possible for our kids, and as I started decorating our dining room for Christmas this week, I decided to skip the fancy table setting and surprise the boys with something totally magical and very memorable!

I created a Christmas dessert table filled with gingerbread houses and sugar cookies and cake and a donut tree as the centerpiece. Yes, I just said a donut tree! Their eyes absolutely lit up when they came home from school to find a table filled with sweets and treats, and I am so excited to share this holiday idea with you today! Because I’ve learned that you could have all the money in the world to spend on gifts or not a single penny in your pocket, but the special, little memories you make with your kids and family are what they will remember for a lifetime. Here’s how I created my dessert table…

See how to make the donut hole tree: here

I bought a package of fake snow at the craft store and fluffed and spread it apart until it stretched the length of the table as a table runner. This “snow” adds great texture to the table and makes a perfect base for the rest of the decorations.

The centerpiece is a donut tree sitting on a fake log (which I also picked up at the craft store), and I think this idea would be perfect for a Christmas brunch as well as a dessert table. Not only is it beautiful to look at, but it was also easy to make and tastes delicious! I just love the little white powdered donuts scattered around the rest of the donuts to look like ornaments on the tree. So cute! I will have a tutorial for this donut tree on the blog in a few weeks!

I filled the rest of the table with these gorgeous marble and wood cake stands and set gingerbread houses, a cake and cookies on them. I’ll be honest, I spent HOURS piping icing on these little houses, which was very fun but also a little tedious. So to save me time and effort with the rest of the treats, I picked up a coconut cake and package of sugar cookies at the grocery store and dressed them up a bit to give them a homemade touch. For the cake, I used sprigs of fresh rosemary to create a wreath around the top of the cake and sprinkled on a few pomegranate seeds to look like berries. For the sugar cookies, all I did was frost them with a little bit of white icing. So easy, but so cute and special! I used shredded coconut on the gingerbread house roofs and also on the cake stands to look like snow on the ground. The coconut also helps hide little imperfections, which I had plenty of!

At each place setting, I had a simple white plate, my favorite stripe linen napkin, a little handmade ornament (tutorial coming soon!) and a glass of sparkling apple cider, since this is a kid-friendly design.

To finish the look, I hung a pom pom garland and strand of twinkle lights over my antique white buffet, which made the space feel even more whimsical and special. I think this table turned out so sweet and fun, and the kids absolutely loved it! Their sugar rush only lasted about an hour, but the memories we made together will last a lifetime.

This post is part of our Seasons of Home holiday series, where you are invited to tour the homes of 16 bloggers for holiday inspiration and ideas! Last week, we shared our Christmas kitchens, and next week we’ll be back to focus on our living rooms. Be sure to visit the rest of the bloggers on this tour because there are some stunning table settings here!

More from the Seasons of Home Holiday Series:

Ella Claire | Rooms for Rent | Jennifer Rizzo | Love Grows Wild

Nesting with Grace | Dear Lillie | French Country Cottage | Liz Marie Blog

Craftberry Bush | City Farmhouse | Jeanne Oliver | Kindred Vintage

Shades of Blue Interiors | My Sweet Savannah | Miss Mustard Seed |

and our featured guest, House of Five

Julie Blanner

SOURCES

Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which allows me to make a small commission from your purchase, but your purchase price stays the same. Thank you for helping support our blog!

• farmhouse dining table – tutorial
• farmhouse benches – tutorial
• french dining chairs – Target
• wooden x-back chairs – World Market
• tufted chair pad – World Market
• marble and wood cake stands – (small) Couleur Nature (large) Couleur Nature
• champagne flutes – Couleur Nature
• linen napkin – Couleur Nature
• marble canister – Couleur Nature
• sheer tie top curtains – Joss and Main
• curtain rod – Target
• bamboo roman shades – Home Depot
• jute rug – Rugs USA
• lamps – Wayfair
• white plates on wall – Target
• plate hangers – similar at Amazon
• horse – Painted Fox
• board and batten – tutorial
• white pillows – Wayfair
• mirror – antique

I received products from Couleur Nature for this post, but all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this blog possible!

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