Maybe you would like to decorate some 'stacked plates' for your party ...they could be very 'Wintery' @that time of the yr...here's a few shared in our Inspiration Album created by Purplemoon on our forum. There's other Holiday albums there, too. Sounds like a fun time! Poinsettia & white lights would be beautiful!

Here is a link that might be useful: Stacked Plate Decor Holiday Inspiration Album

Those are beautiful! I've never heard of 'stacked plates' and can think of a billion ways to decorate them. How are they secured to each other? It looks like they'd topple over at the lightest touch.

jenn... some stacked plates are bought that way ... they have a center stem that runs thru the plates & bolted at the bottom.

But lots of these in the pics are made like 'glass totems'...the Holiday-ers use 'GE Silicone II for Doors & Windows' to 'glue' them tog (+ other glues) but that's the one I've tried & it worked good. Jeanne S.

It sounds like fun! and if you can go out to the patio in December you're not in upstate NY. lol!

The white lights, poinsettias, and hot cider sound great! I immediately thought of using fruit for decoration... either bowls of fruit or a large pyramid of oranges, apples, lemons, pears, nuts, etc. Something like seen here . I would also try to use things found in nature -- like pine bows, pinecones, and twigs. CANDLES would be great... perhaps use nature's objects to create centerpieces with fat white/cream pillar candles. Try to think about it from a winter solstice perspective. It's all about the earth and sun. :)

Another simple decorating idea would be to use mirrors laid out on a table w/ lit pillar candles on them -- grouped for maximum light effect.

jeannespines: Oh yes, I know about stacked plates with the center stem - I have one of those. I've never heard of the variety shown in the pictures, and I would think that clear silicone museum gel would secure those.

party_music50: You're correct; we are in downstate CA, LOL. But it's a myth that all parts of SoCal are mild; we are about an hour from winter resorts with much colder winter temps. I love your suggestions for pinecones, pine bows and other items from nature. WRT the mirrors on the table, there may not be room on the table for anything but food since it will be potluck and there's usually enough food for 3-4 tables.

Jenn, with your ideas and all the previous suggestions I'm sure you will have a beautiful party. I also love using snowflakes and faux snow in addtion to the above ideas from Nov.-Jan. to brighten things up. We already have snow on the mountains here and they are beautiful again.

Punk

Thank you, phonegirl, I like that idea as well.

Snow already?!? Actually a little snow fell in SoCal on Thursday during our rainy spell... not where we are but at higher elevations we can't see from home.