How to arrange the perfect Festive Centrepiece

By Allison Hay

There’s something so magical about having cut fresh flowers in your home over Christmas, featuring the colours and foliage of the season. To spread a little joy this Christmas, we asked the experts at Serenata Flowers to give us a quick masterclass in the fine art of flower arranging, to help create a showstopping festive centrepiece – and you can create something equally as stunning at home with their step-by-step guide…

You will need:

Serenat Letterbox flowers of your choice
Foliage for framing, e.g fir, holly, eucalyptus (you might find something in your garden that would look lovely)
A vase or Christmassy container
Sharp scissors or knife
Green foam (if not using a vase)
Ribbon for decoration (optional)
Decorative ornaments, e.g. red berries, holly, cinnamon sticks, gold leaf decorations (optional)

Total time:

15 minutes

Gorgeous white and red flowers in a vase

Step-by-step guide:

Firstly, choose a range of flowers and foliage in different shapes, textures and sizes to create a more interesting arrangement.
Select blooms in complimentary colours. Traditional Christmas palettes include warm reds and whites, combined with deep green foliage but feel free to create your own palette that reflects your unique style.
Use a clean vase or container and check the size is right – too big and your flowers will fall to one side, too small and they won’t have enough room to breathe. Remember, you can always cut your stems down to size if need be.
If opting for a non-traditional container, place the green foam in the bottom so you can push the ends of your stems into place.
Consider the placement of your arrangement, if it’s for a dining table, use a low container and keep the stems short so that people can see each other at the table. For showstopping centrepieces, opt for larger blooms and keep length in the stems for extra height and wow-factor.
Prep your stems. Chop off any leaves that will be below the waterline, this will prevent foliage rotting.
Trim the bottom of the stems by at least 2cm, chopping them at a 45 degree angle to keep them as open as possible.
Fill your vase or festive container with warm water and add your flower food.
Starting with the type of flower you have most of, arrange your flowers around the rim of the vase, working your way from the outside in and angling the stems diagonally across the vase in a crisscross pattern.
Add any additional medium-sized flowers to the arrangement, rotating the vase as you go to ensure symmetry is maintained – but save your largest or most showstopping flowers for the next step.
Next, add your showstopping flowers to the vase one at a time, positioning these amongst the smaller flowers more centrally in prime position, again turning the vase as you go.
Once you’re happy with your arrangement of medium and large flowers, use the smallest flowers to fill any obvious gaps, making sure your colours are well-balanced and evenly distributed throughout the arrangement.
Make sure your best flowers are the most prominent in the composition, gently pulling them up in the arrangement if they have sunk down amongst the other flowers.
Once happy with your composition, use the green foliage to frame your arrangement and add a pop of green wherever necessary.
For Christmassy touches, carefully nestle in a selection of ornamental embellishments such as silver or gold-sprayed foliage, red berries, cinnamon sticks or even pine cones and for the final flourish, adorn your vase or container with a festive ribbon.

Top Tip: For longevity, keep your arrangement in a cool place, away from direct sunlight to keep the flowers fresh for longer. Don’t forget to change the water regularly!