Dining Table Decor Ideas: Purple and Green

Are you decorating a table for a party? Do you need dining table decor ideas or party decoration ideas for a special party that isn’t for children? These table decor and party decoration ideas might get your creative juices flowing!

Designing tablescapes is one of my favorite past times, so I’m always looking for dining table decor ideas and inspiration. Recently, I had a party for a special friend to celebrate a milestone for her. Her business colors are purple and green, so I decided since this party was all about her, I’d design table decor around those two colors.

Can you spy Coco, my Snowshoe Siamese cat up in the left corner? He’s giving me moral support (or is he just sleeping? Or, he might be planning his escape should the front door open!)! Anyway, expecting a small crowd of about 22 people, I got out my fine china and decided that’s where I would start. Lucky for me it includes purple and lavender flowers and, of course, green leaves.

Here’s a close-up. The pattern is called “Carnation Garden” and it’s made by Mikasa. It’s my wedding china, so I’ve had it for years (27 to be exact). I don’t use it often enough! This one is on a lime green charger that I already have. But, I didn’t have enough for 22 people!

So, I had the brilliant idea of alternating chargers and went looking for purple ones! They are hard to find, but I found these deep purple ones at Michael’s.

Table decorations are like, well, a hobby for me. I grew up with a mother who had a twin sister and they were somewhat competitive once they lived on the same coast. The two of them alternated holidays at their homes and they would try to outshine each other on their table scapes. So, I learned how to decorate elaborate tables from them and I’m afraid it’s become an addiction!

I already have 2 large lavender table clothes in my collection of linens. And, yes, it took 2 to cover this long table! My table, fully extended, seats 16. So, I added a folding table at the end for the other 6 place settings.

This small collection of these inspirational silver rocks were given to me as a gift many, many years ago by my aunt. These silver rocks say Love, Dream and Laughter. Since this party was about celebrating an inspiring story of overcoming adversity, I thought scattering them down the table would be a nice touch. My dining table decor ideas started to germinate!

Here are more of the silver rocks. These say Peace, Laughter and Trust.

I also have these small green vases that I’d purchased at Michael’s for St. Patrick’s Day a few years ago. Using purple and green flowers I bought from the grocery store, this tablescape started to take shape!

Plus, I have purple bottles (vases) that I bought at Michael’s. I’ll confess that I bought these just for this occasion, but I got them on sale and they were a real bargain!

On top of that (on sale!), they came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Aren’t they so pretty with green hydrangeas added to each on top of a large silver tray? This is the centerpiece of this table decor and I decided to scatter purple rose petals around the base of the bottle vases.

Actually, scattering the rose petals was purely unintentional, i.e., I didn’t pull the purple rose petals off of flowers to intentionally scatter around. The real story is that the purple roses I bought at the grocery store were old and on their last legs, which I didn’t notice. And, when I took them out of their packaging, they started to fall apart!

So, in my attempt to salvage a bad situation (i.e., no time to run back to the store and try to exchange them OR shop around for replacement purple flowers), I just went with it and convinced myself I was going for a shabby chic look with a pop of vivid color! This particular rose bouquet is inside a silver pitcher, also an inherited piece.

Fortunately, the green hydrangeas were perfect. But, the rose fiasco allowed me to put purple rose petals around the base of all the flowers displayed down the table. And, since I have several beautiful silver platters in different shapes and sizes that I’ve inherited from my mother, my aunt and Charlie’s aunt, I used them as part of the table decorations, too.

I use many of these beautiful silver trays around the house all the time to display things. Why have these beautiful inherited treasures if you aren’t going to use them, but instead stick them in a closet and forget about them?

I’ve had these green wine glasses for years. I got them at ZGallerie many, many years ago and it’s surprising how often I use them, given their non-traditional color. But, I use them at Christmas and, of course, St. Patrick’s Day and throughout Spring and Summer for various table decorations. They’ve turned out to be a very versatile investment!

Here’s a cute party decoration idea: tie ribbon around the stems of glassware to coordinate your table decor. This fun, cute polka-dot ribbon came from Michael’s. It has a deep, rich purple background, which I think is perfect for this tablescape. It’s an inexpensive way to add a pop of pattern to two-toned table decorations.

This purple bird was hiding in a book cabinet in our guest room. I don’t have much purple decor in our house and this cute bird came from Michael’s, too.

Here he is in front of the silver pitcher with purple roses.

Both purple and green candles are part of this dinner table decoration. I got out my crystal candle holders and used green pillar candles I already had. I found the purple candlesticks at Michael’s, of course! In this photo, you can see both types of candles and they are scattered in similar groupings down the center of this table. Plus, you can see one of my “secret” dining table decor ideas in this photo – a wooden block sign meant to hang on the wall!

Yes, one of the “secret” party decoration ideas is to use these little signs as table decor. You can find them everywhere, but I got these at (drum roll, please!) Michael’s! I found them in the shelves that line the check out line and while I didn’t buy them specifically for this party, they are perfect don’t you think? Whimsical, colorful plus include purple and green.

I have four of them and one of my “tricks” to display them on a table is to place them back-to-back. I did this before when decorating the table for the 4th of July. In that post, I tied a Patriotic ribbon around the signs that were back-to-back to keep them from falling over! Check out that post to see what I mean. The signs above were fine and balanced nicely, but if your signs don’t want to stand back-to-back OR if there is a big gap when you place them back-to-back, tie them together with a wide ribbon.

Another trick I’ve used is to cover the backs with something larger, like a plant. So, this isn’t a mirror reflection you see in the photo above – it’s another wood block sign!

In fact, it’s this one – “Choose to Shine”!

And, the gray “Find Your Bliss” sign is backed with this one – “Smile Everyday”.

It’s hard to photograph the entire length of this table and do it any justice! This photo is taken from the perspective of the host. From this perspective it looks like the centerpiece of the table is one long mass of purple and green flowers with candles interspersed.

Even from Coco’s perspective it looks that way! Maybe if I’d had a 20-foot ladder, I could have photographed this tablescape with all these dining table decor ideas in one amazing overhead shot.

But, I had to settle by walking around the table trying to capture it from different angles. This is the view from the left…

and the right.

And, here’s another from the right with Coco lounging in the upper left. Notice, too, that some of the napkins are lavender and others green. That’s because I didn’t have enough of either. So, I decided to use both and alternate a green one into every few place settings.

Note, from all these different perspectives (head-on, left and right sides), it appears that the flowers are very close together.

In fact, they aren’t! Here’s a straight-on view of the table from the left side. In this photo you can see the other purple rose bouquet; this one is a silver soup tureen that belonged to my great-grandmother.

And, this view is looking straight-on from the centerpiece, with my cute little wood block signs on either side of center. Plus, you can see the seam from where one tablecloth joins another (sometimes there just isn’t any way to hide those kinds of imperfections!).

One more thing to share about decorating a table – you want your guests to see each other across the table. So, be sure to leave spaces so that both sides of the table can join the conversation!

So, to recap my dining table decor ideas for a sit-down meal:

(1) Choose a color scheme – select 2 or 3 colors (in this case, purple, lavender and green).

(2) If you don’t have enough, mix and match (not enough napkins, so I mixed and matched).

(3) Use what you have by looking around your house to see what will work (green stemware, crystal candlesticks, purple ceramic bird, green chargers, green bottle vases), but buy new if the table needs it (bought a few purple chargers plus bought purple bottles on sale!).

(4) Add flowers – fresh is best (and if they turn out to be fading fast, use the petals, too!).

(5) Use old vintage treasures to add charm (old wedding china, silver rocks and vintage silver trays, soup tureen and water pitcher).

(6) Add a pop of color and pattern to bring your color scheme together and add a modern twist (cute wood block signs and polka dot ribbon).

(7) Leave enough space between your centerpiece arrangements so that your guest can see each other and join the conversation!

Table decorating tip: make sure your guests can see each other over or around the centerpiece to promote conversation. #tabledecorideas Click To Tweet

Supplies and Materials

Looking for some treasures for your next dinner party? Here are links to a few items to help you (this post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.):

Lavender Tablecloths || Lavender and Green Napkins || Silver Trays || Crystal Candle Holders || Green Pillar Candles || Purple Candlesticks || Green and Purple Chargers || China Dinnerware || Green Wine Glasses || Ribbon || Wooden Signs || Flatware || Purple Bottle Vases || Green Bottle Vases || Faux Flowers || Fresh Flowers