8 Design Trends to Inspire Your Holiday Hosting

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Every year, Etsy’s official trendspotter Dayna Isom Johnson digs deep into her company’s vast library of handmade and vintage goods, pinpoints the pieces shoppers are searching for, and uses this data to uncover the season’s biggest holiday trends.

You can tell that Dayna and her team have fun compiling these top trends by the names they give them: “Grandpa Chic” and “Gingerbread Girl” are among the cutest concepts that made the cut this fall. But they’re not created in a vacuum. As Dayna shared the highlights of Etsy’s trend report, I heard echoes of conversations I’d had earlier with two designers: Vogue stylist-turned-interior designer Jenna Chused and Fawn Galli, who designs residential interiors and retail showrooms throughout NYC.

Read on for the biggest trends all three design experts are seeing this season, to help you style your Thanksgiving table, your holiday mantle, and inspire a little gift-giving, too.

Pottery & Ceramics

Handmade pottery is the most popular design trend that Fawn Galli is seeing right now, in everything from plates to vases.

“A lot of designers are making beautiful, different ceramics as sculpture or for flowers.”

“Organic-shaped, handmade ceramics are very big,” echoed Jenna. She’s seeing people use these pieces for more than just typical centerpieces, too. “It’s not like a floral display anymore. It's more about branches and just a little bit of something that is long and tall in these vessels. And that's a beautiful way to do Thanksgiving—minimal florals in beautiful vessels.”

Lots of Texture

For interiors that trend toward natural and organic materials, Fawn likes to lean into texture. To do that on a holiday table, she reaches for woven tablecloths and placemats, flatware and tableware made from different materials, and pebbled glassware, as you can see in the Thanksgiving tablescape pieces she curated from our Shop.

Dark Woods & Rich Jewel Tones

The idea that color is the new neutral has gained serious ground. “That is very much my design philosophy. My favorite neutral is burgundy with taupe,” said Jenna, who likes dinnerware and glassware in different colors. (See all of her Thanksgiving table decor selections from our Shop.)

Dark colors and jewel tones also speak to the trend that Etsy has dubbed “Grandpa Chic.” “We’ve all known and loved ‘Coastal Grandmother’ and ‘Grandmillennial’ style. Right now, it’s time for grandpa to shine,” says Dayna. “We are seeing a more masculine touch to things, and I think that's because more traditional decor aesthetics are coming back. So we're saying goodbye to the Scandinavian, very light woods and saying hello to cherries, walnuts, and all these very rich tones” in cutting boards, serving bowls, and cookware.

Colored Glassware

Colored glassware is not necessarily new—“that has been around for a while,” says Fawn. “But I love it. I see it. I use it a lot.”

“I love smoked glass,” echoed Jenna. “If you can use a smoked glass for your everyday glasses and have enough that you can use for a party too, it adds a lot of depth to your table.”

Elevated Entertaining, Every Day

“If you think about where we've been in the last couple of years of entertaining, there was a lot of safety,” says Dayna. “There was a lot of precaution. There was a lot of disposable, single-use items.” Now, that’s largely in the rearview mirror, which means any night of the week is fair game for a beautiful tablescape.

“It doesn't matter if it's Tuesday, if it's Hanukkah, if it's Christmas, I want to showcase my beautiful servingware all the time. We're seeing a rise in beautiful, vintage glassware and serveware and anything handmade because it is special every day.”

Mantlescaping

Like creating a personal tablescape, “mantlescaping” is a not-so-new catchphrase that encompasses all the nostalgic and new holiday decor one might mix together on a mantle. But according to Etsy, you don’t really need a mantle to pull this off. Your windowsill, the TV table—any blank surface can be used to “bring all these beautiful things to life and show off your personal style,” said Dayna.

This could mean candlesticks, a decor object that Jenna is particularly fond of—as long as they’re sculptural. That way, “it looks just as good with the candle not in it.” She likes to use black and chocolate candles with brass candlesticks.

Lean into Tradition & Vintage

Dayna gives full credit to this year’s “Tomato Girl Summer" trend—which embraced making the most of downtime and luxuriating in the outdoors—for inspiring Etsy’s holiday-inspired spin on this theme: “Gingerbread Girl.” The concept celebrates the act of putting down your phone in favor of coming together in the kitchen, to bake and make beautiful dinners (accented with traditional pieces like checkered napkins, of course).

Jenna also incorporates some traditional pieces into her table settings. “Sometimes when I host a big party and I don't have enough in my normal day-to-day silverware to host everyone, I'll find old big cases of vintage silverware.”

Which leads us to the last takeaway…

Mix & Match Styles To Create Your Own

Jenna likes to play with different patterns on the table, within reason. “I don’t want it to look like a flea market,” she said. Mixing different napkins with different placemats, and having a runner that ties it all together is one way to do this.

“I say things should go [together]—they shouldn't match,” said Fawn. And when you lean into a more maximalist approach to table setting, “it becomes very unique and personal.”

Making your table or home a reflection of your tastes is ultimately the goal. “I think people are really doing what appeals to them,” said Jenna. Given how quickly trends change and then circle back, she added, “I think it’s more acceptable to do what you like because everything’s moving so fast.”

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• Our Favorite Fall Baking Recipes
• 19 Essentials for Setting a Modern Farmhouse Table

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How do you like to style your home and table for the holidays? Let us know!