I’m gearing up to host Christmas dinner for 22 family members. I KNOW! The good news is, the menu is set. We’re going to keep it casual — meatball sandwiches and lots of appetizers and sides. I’m not much of a traditionalist when it comes to hosting big gatherings. The thought of making turkey and stuffing and all the fixings makes me want to crawl into a corner and suck my thumb. When I host, I take the easy route.

One year I made lasagna. One year we did brunch. And this year I’m being completely lazy and picking up meatballs from our local butcher. (Trust me, you wouldn’t make your own either if you had access to these!!) I’ll put them in a crockpot covered with a couple jars of spaghetti sauce, and by the time we sit down to eat, they will be piping hot and ready to put in a hoagie roll with a slice of sharp provolone cheese on top.

But just because I’m serving a casual meal doesn’t mean I don’t want to have a festive table.

It’s no secret that I’m totally obsessed with their Threshold line. Did you know that Target’s Product Design and Development team actually travels the world to find inspiration to create each Threshold collection? One of these days, I’m going to stow away and go along with them. I would love to see how they work.

For the holidays, they have this elegant line of melamine dinnerware in silver and gold with hints of red that I’ve been drooling over every time I’m in the store.

When I got my gift card, I knew that was going in my cart!  I have another set of Christmas dishes that I like to use during the holidays, but these are fresh and fun, and best of all, they won’t chip or break! I bought just enough for our family, and I’ll use it to set the kids’ table for our holiday dinner.

Red napkins and gold napkin rings complete the look and carry the color scheme, but they will work well at other times of year as well. In fact, even the plates, while wintry and festive, don’t have to be relegated to the holidays.

I accessorized with a table runner, gold chargers, candles and trees — all from the Threshold collection. Since we will be doing a buffet, I didn’t need to leave extra room on the table for serving dishes so I filled it up with pretty trees and candles.

The runner with the cardinal reminds me of home. The cardinal is the Virginia state bird, and my mom has always been an avid bird watcher. She has seasonal plates with greenery and red bows and birds including cardinals. When I saw this runner and the colors worked so beautifully with the dishes, I knew it was going on my table!

Even the snowflake wine stopper is part of the collection.

Their collections change from year to year, but you can always find festive and affordable seasonal decorations and housewares for your holiday table. Thanks to Target for providing a gift card to facilitate this post.