How to Create a Simple Memorial Day Tablescape Your Guests Will Love

I wanna share with you how to create a simple Memorial Day tablescape your guests will love.

Most people have casual barbeques to celebrate Memorial Day, so setting a nice tablescape isn’t necessary for them.

(If that’s you, I have a perfect Memorial Day buffet table setup you should check out.)

But there are others that enjoy sitting down around the table and reminiscing about their loved one(s) that are no longer around.

This table setting for Memorial Day is for them.

You don’t need oodles of patriotic stuff.

Or tons of Memorial Day tchotchkes.

But you do need a variety of red, white, and blue tableware.

In this case, a lot more blue and white, with a pop of red. (Or you could use a lot of red and white with a pop of blue.)

Just using those three colors, with a little something special, your tablescape will obviously be for Memorial Day.

Don’t feel you need to cover your table with patriotic decor. It’s not necessary. And it takes more time to style a Memorial Day table setting when you have more items to put on it.

Instead, make it simple.

Create an easy Memorial Day tablescape using limited patriotic table decor, and rely on color to tell the story.

Think of it as a pretty table setting ~ with an understated patriotic flare.

How to Create a Simple Memorial Day Tablescape

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1. Choose the tablecloth for your Memorial Day table setting

For your simple Memorial Day tablescape, use a patterned tablecloth. One that’s either blue and white or one that’s red and white.

I chose a blue and white floral print tablecloth I bought years ago.

It’s not a tablecloth most people would associate with Memorial Day because it doesn’t have any stars or stripes, or a typical patriotic theme.

And that’s okay.

I’m relying on color to tell the story for this tablescape for Memorial Day.

(I have a tablecloth from the fifties that has large faded red and white stripes that I considered using, but I love how pretty this tablecloth is and I really wanted my tablescape to be mostly blue and white.)

2. Arrange the Memorial Day place settings

Start with red charger plates.

I bought mine a while ago at a local dollar store. I haven’t seen red ones in the stores near me lately, but you can always buy the silver or gold ones and then spray paint them.

That’s the great thing about those charger plates ~ spray painting them to match the color theme of your tablescape.

Next, I added patterned blue and white dinner plates.

I don’t have a set of six matching plates, so I mixed it up and placed two that matched at the foot and head of the table, and four that matched on the sides.

Then on top of the dinner plates, I added dark blue salad plates I’d recently bought at Dollar Tree.

Don’t you just love the layering of red, white and blue.

What really makes it work, is the band on the dinner plates picking up on the tablecloth’s colors.

It’s already feeling patriotic.

After I layered the plates, I added the silverware and drinking glasses.

I combined a dark blue goblet with a ruby red wine goblet, which really set off the colors of the layered plates.

The blue glasses I found at Goodwill and the red glasses I found on Facebook Marketplace. Both were crazy cheap.

If you don’t have, or can’t find, colored glasses, clear ones will work just fine on the table.

Then to complete my simple Memorial Day tablescape, I added a blue cloth napkin with a diy red poppy napkin ring.

The poppy napkin ring is one of the two items on the table that lets your guests know it’s a table setting for Memorial Day.

The napkin rings are super simple to diy.

Check out how cute they are up close…

And here’s a close up of the two different dinner plates I used.

You can see that they have totally different patterns, but because the plates are between a charger plate and a salad plate, it’s not as obvious.

3. Complete your table with a simple Memorial Day centerpiece

To complete your table setting, add a simple Memorial Day centerpiece.

One that won’t take long to create.

I used a blue and white ginger jar that has a floral motif. Filled it with red and white flowers, and added two medium sized flags.

Super simple and patriotic.

A perfect simple centerpiece for Memorial Day.

And the best part about this simple Memorial Day centerpiece ~ it’s easy to pick up and move to a different countertop when you and your guests are about to sit down. That way the flowers and flags don’t get in the way of seeing each other across the table.

Did you think it would be so easy to create a pretty Memorial Day table setting?

Oftentimes, simple is best. Especially when you don’t have much time to prepare for people coming over. Your focus tends to be on the food and setting the table is secondary.

In those instances, let the color of your tablecloth and dishes tell the story.

It’ll come together beautifully.

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Check Out My Video

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Check out the easy DIY project used to decorate this tablescape:

• DIY Red Poppy Napkin Rings

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Shop the Table

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More Memorial Day Posts

• Memorial Day Buffet Table
• Simple Ripped Fabric Flag
• Memorial Day Table Setting.
• Easy Patriotic Pin DIY

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Check out other table settings:

• Simple Summer Outdoor Tablescape
• Coastal Grandmother Table Setting
• Simple Father’s Day Tablescape: White, Black & Green
• Blue & Yellow Tablescape for Spring with Mixed Patterns
• Setting a Pretty Table for Your Girlfriends: Pink & White

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