Festive dining with Poundland

I don’t know about you but getting the table just right for Christmas Day, along with making sure we have all the foods we love, is pretty important to me at Christmas time. Nothing beats the smell of the turkey in the oven, pigs in blankets and my absolute favourite, red cabbage. That cooking means that Christmas has finally arrived!

I do love a bargain (don’t we all) and I pop into Poundland quite a lot. Usually I’m running in to grab things like shower gel, batteries and kids colouring books and when I do have the boys with me, it’s the place we go so they can get a toy each. They’re so young and innocent bless them, that they’re easily fobbed off with a toy that costs £1 or if they’re really struggling to decide, two toys! I know that I won’t be able to get away with it for much longer with my seven year old, so I’m making the most of it before he starts to ask for more expensive things. If I have to endure shopping with them, this place is my saving grace.

So anyway, I was given a little challenge along with some other lovely bloggers, to decorate our table all lovely and festive from none other than Poundland. Again, I shop there a lot, but it’s never really occurred to me to look at their tableware.

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I’ve always wanted to have charger plates on the table at Christmas time but have never got around to buying some, so I took this as a good opportunity to get some.  I was torn between red and gold but I opted for the gold in the end, so that it wasn’t all entirely red.

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I came across this wreath which was the only one left on the shelf, so I grabbed it as it was by far the nicest wreath on their display.  At that point though I hadn’t considered it for the table centrepiece but knew it would look good featured somewhere (other than a door).  It was one of their specials at £4 but still an absolute bargain compared to what you would pay elsewhere.

A few days ago a picked up a two foot twig tree (from another store) and I thought that it might look good as a feature on the table, so I bought some red and silver/gold baubles to decorate it. As the branches aren’t designed to hold heavy decorations, these ones were ideal for it. So once the tree was decorated, it seemed obvious that the wreath should form a base around the tree.

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The wreath has artificial berries, interwined with red shiny baubles that are finished with a good dusting of snow spray. I had also picked up some red berry lights that I was initially going to display in a clear bowl, but they ended up being wrapped around the base of the tree. A little bit of a faff but I think the end result was worth it.

whathannahdidnext

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This reindeer was one of the first items in my basket as I love glittery ornaments like this. Ideal for dressing the table but it also looks lovely around the house or on the mantelpiece (if you’re lucky enough to have one!).

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The cutlery features little snowflakes and each £1 set comprises of a knife, fork, soup spoon and dessert spoon.

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The table runner here brings everything together and is made of a felt material. I did also get some red snowflake coasters to match but sadly there wasn’t enough room on the table to squeeze them in. In fact I always struggle to find room for the glasses!

Poundland do have a range of wine glasses and plates and bowls that I wanted to add but unfortunateky my local store didn’t have them in stock, so I have used what we already have. It does show you that you literally can buy everything you need to create a table to be proud of.

whathannahdidnext

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I adore marquee style lit up letters and I couldn’t resist this to add a warm glow to the table and especially for only one pound!

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So here is the layout from overhead (even if the fact that it’s slightly off centre annoys me!).

Everything below cost just £1 each, bar the wreath which was £4.

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Gold charger plates | Red felt table runner | 4 piece cutlery set | Set of 6 crackers | Merry Christmas napkins | 9 red baubles | 9 silver/gold baubles | Red berry lights | Orange and Cranberry tea lights (pack of 16) | Red glitter reindeer | Noel light

What I love the most is that you can afford to change your themes for Christmas every year, when it’s easy to pick up items at such great prices. You can even just refresh what you already have by adding some lovely new pieces knowing that it’s not going to set you back a great deal.

If you’ve been surprised by some of the amazing bits and pieces you can get in Poundland then join me and some other bloggers on Friday for a Twitter Party between 12.30 – 2 pm where there are some prizes to be won!

You can also see what some of my fellow bloggers put together. They decorated trees and mantelpieces, wrapped gifts and made rooms look amazingly festive for such value. You can check out all of their links below…

A Festive Table for Feasting from Rock’N’Roller Baby

Deck the Halls from Modern Mummy

Getting Christmas off to a Cracking Start from The Joy of 5

Gifts and Wrapping for Kids from Blog By Baby

Making a room Festive with Mummy Matters

Deck out your home this Christmas for less from Me and my Shadow

Wrap it up Pretty with Little Likely Lads

Starting to Feel Festive with What the Redhead Said

Nb. This is a collaborative post.