Festive dining in style with colour co-ordinated festive greens

If you want to get away from the glitz, glam and commercialism of Christmas Festive Greens are the ideal colour choice. We've been accustomed to using green for festive décor for hundreds of years. Ivy and holly leaves are used to make wreaths for doors as well as interior decorations. Once the Christmas tree have been bought into our homes in Victorian times green became a staple Christmas colour.

Father Christmas was also believed to be depicted wearing green until the Pepsi advert showed him wearing red which has now be the colour associated with this jolly, present bringing man. Green works incredibly well with creams, white and red and has a distinct nod towards nature. Use a plain green table cloth and set your diner places with white plates to create a stylish and natural looking dinner table. Use red berries and perhaps a few small silver baubles to represent snow and let the simplicity of the decorations take centre stage. If you want to show off your wooden table but don't want to run the risk of having watermarks or burn rings then a pale green table runner will compliment any coloured wood beautifully.

Placemats and coasters can also provide added protection for your table's surface. Green candles, perhaps those with a Christmas-y scent of pine cones, can also be used to enhance the decorations – with the usual word of warming about not having them too high or in places where people can burn themselves. If you want to go down the home-made decorations route country walks can be a great family day out where you can gather greenery and pine cones to decorate your festive table.

You may be lucky and be able to find or buy mistletoe to hang in a doorway to give your loved ones and guests a Christmas kiss! If you have children around make sure they don't eat the poisonous white berries or leaves. Of course red and green work beautifully together, red holly berries and stems along with ivy can be ties in bunches with tartan ribbons to make pretty napkin rings or place settings – just remember to warn guests about the prickle from the holly leaves!