Everything You Need for a Beautiful Passover Table

Any holiday dinner can be an excuse to break out the best and brightest of your serveware, and Passover, especially, is the perfect chance to create an elegant, bold tablescape to impress your friends and family. “Passover seder,” says Devora Wilhelm, Co-Director of Chabad Young Professionals Upper East Side, “should feel like a royal table, as the whole experience is about how Jews left exile and were redeemed.” And since it is all about the table, you can focus all your attention on making it shine.

Beyond the usual serving plates and water glasses, the holiday of Passover dictates a certain assortment of items to properly celebrate, and since your guests will be seated at the table for several hours, you’ll want to be sure to have all your decorative (and practical!) ducks in a row.

In the end, though, “the truest way of celebrating Passover is with people from all Jewish backgrounds,” Wilhelm reminds us, and “coming together as family, as we are truly one people. The guests and children around the table are what really make it special.”

Below, find some of our favorite ways to make a seder table extra special, as well as all the essential items you’ll need.

• Wineglasses: “We drink four cups of wine,” says Wilhelm, so first things first: Set out a wine glass for everyone at the table.
• Matzo: There’s possibly nothing more quintessentially “Passover” than matzo, ideally “shmurah matzo,” which is handmade and circular.
• Seder plate: The plate will include shank bone, egg, bitter herbs, charoset paste, and a karpas vegetable, which Wilhelm points out is “symbolic both of a historical reality and the lessons we take from the Passover experience.”
• Haggadah: There are many versions of the Haggadah, which is the guide for how to run the seder. Each person at the table will have one.
• Two holiday candles: These are traditionally lit by women to welcome the holiday.

The seder begins with assorted food traditions, such as dipping vegetables into salt water, so you’ll want to put out enough dishes of salt water for every member of the table to reach. Traditionally, says Wilhelm, “Passover is a four-course meal including a fish course, soup course, meat course, and dessert, with matzo being the final dessert,” so you’ll need plates and bowls for each of these courses, plus a wineglass, a water glass, and flatware—just like a regular table setting.

So now that the must-haves are out of the way, what are some ways to dress the table up in a special way to really wow your guests? “Candles are great” says Wilhelm, “because they are traditional and incorporate a ‘mitzvah’ but are also decorative for the table.” She also points out that Passover is the perfect occasion “to break out a new tablecloth (white is always extra regal), and some have the custom to place a pillow on each chair.” The seder plate can even be elevated (with something like a cake stand) to create a centerpiece on the table.

Ready to set your own seder table? Here are some inspirational ideas to add decorative elements to your seder this year.

Even though the four questions are usually reserved for the kids, these printable place cards are a festive way to pay homage to the holiday.

How adorable is this monogrammed matzo for each person at the table? Each name can be piped in chocolate, perfect for the last piece of matzo of the meal.

Sure, you could fold each place setting’s napkin into a simple rectangle, but you could take it one step further and turn two napkins into a Star of David.

Wine will be flowing, so why not give each person their own carafe to ensure their cup is always full?

If you’ve got a collection of classic blue and white china, you’ve already got a perfectly coordinated seder table.

Looking for an over-the-top centerpiece? Look no further than this DIY matzo house.

If you’re really going all out this year (or have more children than ever at the table), creating a full tablescape version of the parting of the Red Sea, complete with blue tablecloths as water and lots of little figurines.

Glassware

Serveware

Candles

How do you set your seder table each year? Tell us your traditions below!