Unique Ways to Turn Your Everyday Dishes into Holiday Dishes

When money is tight, holiday dishes are a little luxury that we can't quite justify on a tight budget. Holiday dish sets, even the cheap ones found at our favorite discount department store can't be touched for less than $25 for a four place setting box. By the time you buy enough dishes for all ten of your guests plus the serving platters and bowls, those holiday dishes can top $100 or more.

There are cheaper ways to set that holiday dinner table. Here are some unique ways to pull off this trick without spending lots of money.

Paper plate toppers. For a totally cheap and easy way to turn everyday plates into holiday themed dinnerware, hit the dollar stores for holiday themed paper plates. Paper plates on top of your regular dinnerware is bright & colorful and looks totally cute. Get the largest size plates to fit your dinner plate and the desert size for your bread plates. For the final touch, accent with red paper napkins.

Mix and match with dollar store or thrift store Christmas dishes. Some of my dinnerware sets are plain colored which can look a little boring by themselves. However, when alternated with a few dollar store Christmas plates, the look is fantastic. There are two ways to pull this off:
1. Set your table so that the solid color plates are alternated with holiday plates ~ for example, blue dinner plate, Christmas dinner plate, blue dinner plate etc. all around the table.
2. Plain dinner plates topped with Christmas themed or solid red salad plates, or visa versa.

Cover with paper snowflakes Do you remember making paper snowflakes as a kid? This pretty paper art form can also be used to turn everyday dinner plates into holiday plates. What I do is make up enough paper snowflakes for all my dinner guests, iron them flat, and then place them directly over the plate. Once dinner is ready to be served, the snowflake can be removed.

Pimp them with linen. Let's face it, once the food gets on the plates, no one is going to see the graphics. Instead of worrying about the dishes, why not focus instead on your table linens? A cheerful holiday table cloth, cloth napkins, and holiday napkin rings will also turn an every day dinnerware set into holiday dishes at an affordable price.