A Wine and Cheese Gathering to Celebrate the Holidays

Guess what?? It’s tablescape day for my monthly dinner club! And a wine and cheese gathering to celebrate the holidays seemed like the perfect theme this month.

This idea is great for a Christmas party, a New Year’s Eve party or any get together during the holiday season.

If you’re joining me from Stacy at Bricks N Blooms, welcome! I’m so happy you’re here and I hope you get some inspiration to host your own wine and cheese gathering.

Stacy had some great ideas for wine pairings with different cheeses, for a dinner party.

Also, I want to welcome Heidi from Eleanor Rose Home as our guest host this month. We are so happy to have her join us!

a wine and cheese gathering

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You can make your tablescape as formal or casual as you want.

By using formal dishes, fancy fabric napkins, and a few things with shimmer you can create an elegant table for a wine and cheese party.

A few ideas to add shimmer for a more formal table…..

gold flatware
brass candlesticks
a strand of tinsel garland as part of your centerpiece
metallic ornaments stacked in a bowl for a centerpiece

Or you can keep it a bit more casual by using woven placemats, a brown paper table runner, casual dinner plates, etc.

For my tablescape, I wanted to keep it very casual, but add just a touch of sparkle in honor of the holidays.

place setting for a casual wine and cheese gathering

For my place setting, I started with round jute placemats.

Next, I layered a casual white dinner plate and salad plate.

A fringed linen napkin was a perfect option for this table. I just laid the napkin on top of each place setting for a very casual look.

I used my favorite everyday flatware that has a bit of a vintage look and placed a stemmed wine glass as well as a stemless wine glass at each place.

This way my guests have the option of whichever type glass they prefer.

The stemmed wine glasses have fun gold polka dots which added the bit of sparkle I mentioned.

A bit more sparkle was used on this table, but more about that in a minute.

You could also take that even a step further, and offer a red wine glass, a white wine glass, and even a flute, if champagne or prosecco will be a part of your tasting. This idea is a bit more doable if you are hosting small gatherings.

Finally, I topped each place setting with a disposable drink coaster that I hand wrote a fun saying about wine.

I dipped the bottom of a wine glass in red wine then pressed it onto the white cardboard coaster to add a bit of character to the “wine cards”.

table centerpiece for wine & cheese party

To keep my table centerpiece casual, I started with a table runner of brown kraft paper.

I just used a roll of inexpensive kraft paper and cut it the width I wanted for my table.

Next, I layered a piece of old wood with an amazing chippy wood finish. This added to the casual look I was going for.

The wood table runner was the perfect base for laying out the wine bottles for my gathering.

The brown paper was a great way to identify each wine by writing the type of wine right on the paper.

A couple of clear glass vases filled with wine corks and topped off with a votive candle added another fun element to my wine theme. And also incorporates candlelight to my dinner party.

I also added a few tealight holders along the table. Candlelight for a dinner party is a must!

It creates a wonderful atmosphere and ambiance to any gathering.

Lastly, I sprinkled wine corks all around the table to complete my table and add to the theme.

Even if you don’t have a huge knowledge about wine, you can still host a fun wine tasting or wine party. Here are a few options for different basic types of wine to serve.

basic white wines to serve at a wine party

pinot grigio
chardonnay
sauvignon blanc
chenin blanc
riesling

basic red wines to serve

cabernet sauvignon
pinot noir
merlot
shiraz
tempranillo
malbec
sangiovese

food ideas for a wine & cheese gathering

If you want to keep the food casual and simple, charcuterie boards is the best way to go.

Get creative with different types of cheese, meats, olives, nuts, fresh fruit, dried fruits, etc., and serve on a big platter or wooden board.

If it’s for a Christmas gathering, you could create a fun charcuterie board like this
Christmas Tree board I made last year.

Or, if you want strictly a wine and cheese gathering, you can create a cheese board filled with all different types of cheeses.

And if you want to get super fancy, do your research and serve cheese pairings with the appropriate wines.

Individual cheese plates would be a fun idea too. Incorporate a variety of cheese – soft cheeses, hard cheese, blue cheese, creamy cheeses, goat cheese, etc.

tips and ideas for a perfect wine holiday party

Another fun thing to do, would be to have each guest bring their favorite bottle of wine.

You could even have them cover the label, and have a blind tasting and vote on each guests personal favorite.

Be sure and have extra bottles of each type of wine you serve.

A fun centerpiece idea is to use empty wine bottles as flower vases or candle holders for tapers.

Also, wine cork napkin rings make a fun addition to a wine theme party.

You can see how I incorporated the wine bottle candleholders and cork napkin rings on this rustic Italian dinner party tablescape.

a fun element to add sparkle to your wine party

I found this beautiful clear glass bowl at a thrift store for $2.00 recently.

There were so many ideas going through my mind of things to use this bowl for, and one of them was a wine bucket.

To add another element of sparkle to my wine gathering, I made glitter ice cubes.

The glitter ice cubes in this awesome glass bowl was perfect for icing down a bottle of wine.

how to make glitter ice cubes

Add chunky glitter to each opening on a plastic ice cube tray.

You will want chunky glitter so it will show up better. I actually used a couple of different colors and sizes, but that is totally up to you.

Mine were gold and silver, but you could go crazy and do all different colors, if you want.

Next, fill each space with distilled water. Using the distilled water is an important part, because your ice cubes will stay clear and not get cloudy.

After your ice cubes have completely frozen, and right before your party or event, add the glitter cubes to your ice bucket.

This is such a fun, festive and easy way to keep your wine bottle chilled.

But, keep in mind, these glitter ice cubes are not edible, so you don’t want to actually put them in a drink.

festive ice bucket

Did you see how I created this fun, festive and sparkly ice bucket for a New Year’s Eve party last year??

It’s so fun to get creative with ice buckets and a perfect way to add a unique element to any party. You can see all of the details about how to create your own by reading my post, here.

I hope you enjoyed the ideas for how to host a wine and cheese gathering to celebrate the holidays.

Up next, is Jen from Midwest Life and Style. Pop over and see how she created a cozy winter dinner party.

And be sure and visit all of my friends holiday parties by clicking the link at the bottom of each photo.

blessings and happy holidays,

Be sure and Pin It to remember it….

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