Whether it’s a low-key dinner party at home or a big private sit-down dinner, here are a few top tips from the Carousel Events Team to help you create a beautiful table setting for all occasions.

Flowers make a table look super special. You can either make your own little posies, or use a florist if you have a bigger budget – we love Scarlet and Violet for example.

You can also use plants, succulents, terrariums or herbs…. In our event spaces. we like to display them in vintage bottles, jam jars or even tin cans, which is an easy way to upcycle at home!

Top tip: make sure these aren’t too tall so guests can see each other across the table!

An absolute must for dinner parties, we like to mismatch our candles using small tealight holders and large pillar candles in sweetie and jam jars, great for creating a nice atmosphere around the table.

Place cards can be bought cheaply from lots of high street stores and online or you can make your own… they’re a great way to mix up guests plus an easy way make the table look a bit more polished.

Think about you colour scheme for the table, and try to stick to one or two main colours to pull everything together. Alternatively, go crazy and mismatch everything to create a really bohemian look.

A small gift in each persons place setting can really make your dinner stand out, and doesn’t need to cost a lot. In the past we’ve given chili seeds in mini manila envelopes, homemade celery salts (for the Bloody Marys the morning after!), pickles, jams, sweets…

Make the whole thing a lot more fancy. You can use paper, but we prefer linen as they look a lot more chic.

These can really finish off a place setting, and get guests excited about the food you’re going to be serving. You could either get these printed, or do it yourself using some quality paper, then place one in each person’s place.

We try and be as seasonal as possible at Carousel, so think about the season and try to stay in keeping; pine cones as place card holders at Christmas, light, bright colours in spring and summer, warmer colours in autumn and winter.