Make Every Meal Special with Candlelit Centerpieces

Your dinner table is where you share your meals, where your family relives their day, where you help your kids with algebra and sometimes it’s where you pay the bills, assign chores and dole out punishments.  The tabletop is a messy place crowded with place mats, napkins, salt and pepper shakers, dishes and all sorts of other things that families tend to leave on about.

Just because your dinner table is the hub of your family doesn’t mean that it can’t pretty.  A centerpiece can add beauty to any dining space, and every dining space should be beautiful. 

Check out these ideas for centerpieces that you can make yourself that will add a little something special to every dining experience.

Photo candles can light up the faces of your family with candid candles.  Use photo corners to secure snapshots to the outside of glass candle holders.

Arrange pillar candles of different sizes and colors in a serving platter or shallow bowl. Then, surround the candles with a layer of dried beans.  Kidney beans, pink lentils, red beans, or red rice work nicely.  Beans make cleanup of the wax easy, and unify a group of candles into a true centerpiece.

Flowers and candlelight are nothing new, but together they create a beautiful tabletop centerpiece for indoor or outdoor dining.  Place votive candles in tall glass vessels, and attach a flower outside each, trimming the stem to fit and tying with raffia that matches the flower.  Set each display in a saucer of water to keep the flowers fresh.

Create a fire and ice display by placing a glass vase inside another that is slightly larger (secure them with floral adhesive), and then pour tinted water in between them.  For added light play, make a series of these centerpieces in different shades of the same hue using a few extra drops of food coloring for the desired contrast.

Whether you share your meals in a formal dining room at a table for six, at your breakfast nook or at the kitchen counter, you can gussy up the space and bring stunning intimacy to your meals with a candlelit centerpiece.