There’s a particular pleasure in a beautifully set Christmas table — the kind where every detail feels intentional and considered. This year, alongside layered linens and mismatched glassware, hosts are embracing a new essential: the table gift.
A small, exquisite token placed on each setting, it’s the successor to the traditional Christmas cracker — more stylish, more thoughtful, and far more likely to be treasured long after the last roast potato has been eaten. Think of these pieces not as party favors, but as take-home design moments: a scented miniature guests will actually want to use, a beautifully boxed chocolate that feels almost too pretty to open, or a tiny decorative object that would look great as part of their own Christmas table decor.
We’ve edited the season’s most elegant finds, complementing a considered table without overwhelming it. Each is smart enough to sit proudly on your place settings, and compact enough to slip into a handbag on the way home.
Few edible gifts feel as innately glamorous as a Charbonnel et Walker truffle, and here the experience is wrapped — quite literally — in ornament form. This milk-chocolate truffle bauble, available at Fenwick, is designed to hang from a ribbon, but it works beautifully resting on a place setting, adding a hint of festive jewellery to the table. It’s a small gesture of indulgence that instantly elevates the mood of the meal. What makes it truly special, though, is the bauble’s afterlife. Once the chocolate has been savored, the ornament becomes a keepsake — ready for next year’s tree.
The NIO Cocktails Christmas Box from John Lewis transforms the idea of a "festive tipple" into a conversation starter. Inside, there are six ready-to-serve cocktails — from a crisp Apple Rum Punch to a warming Spiced Negroni, a festive Christmas Margarita to a velvety Winter Sidecar — arrive neatly lined up in slim, elegantly printed sachet bottles. Placed beside each place setting, these bottles become part of the decor. Gifting it at each place or offering it as a take-home treat gives an unexpected, grown-up twist to the tradition of table gifts.
There’s something effortless about a beautifully wrapped bar of soap — especially when it's dressed in whimsical artwork. Each bar from the Anthropologie 2025 Soap Collection feels festive, with illustrated packaging that brings a touch of joy to a place setting before dinner even begins. The soaps, aptly scented “Festive Fizz” to cozy “Nutmeg Nutcracker”, are compact enough to sit neatly beside a Christmas napkin or name card. As a gift, it bridges the gap between the functional and the charming. They’re not mere treats or trinkets, but small, thoughtful favours designed for daily life.
What better table gift for your 'village' than their own mini village? Available individually or as a set of three or six, everyone can have their own. Place a tealight from Amazon inside, and the whole piece comes alive. It'll sit neatly beside a name card or napkin, making it perfectly sized for a place-setting gift that looks intentional but not cluttered. And what makes this little house such a thoughtful table gift is how easily it transitions from a festive Christmas table decoration to a year-round ritual.
There’s a quiet sophistication to the Winter Hanging Votive Candle from The White Company — the kind of piece that instantly shifts the tone of a table from simply set to beautifully styled. The fragrance itself is unmistakably wintry — a blend of warmth and spice that’s not too overpowering — but adds atmospheric Christmas lighting to the evening. As a take-home gift, it’s one of those deceptively simple objects that would fit in as part of minimalist Christmas decor but still goes a long way. Once lit at your guest’s own home, it becomes a gentle reminder of the night.
There’s something quietly luxurious about gifting scents and smells to your friends and family — and this duo of Christmas fragrance oils from Oliver Bonas does exactly that. The set arrives in a striped green box with gold embossing, and inside are two slender glass bottles topped with golden caps — packaging that is elegant enough that guests won’t feel like they’re receiving a regifted item but something deliberate that can be placed on a shelf or nightstand.
Whichever of these gifts you choose, think of it as the final layer of your Christmas table collection: the piece people notice first when they sit down, and the little moment of delight they take away with them when they leave.
Because Christmas dinner, in truth, isn’t only about the menu or the decor. It’s about the atmosphere you create. A beautifully chosen table gift carries that sentiment forward, transforming a simple place setting into a memory, long after the candles have burned down.
