Valentine's Date Night Carnation Tablescape

Pink and red carnations sitting in a large bulbous vase atop a table

Created by: Madison Wetherill, A Joyfully Mad Kitchen

Looking for an easy date night in for Valentine’s Day this year? This easy tablescape is the perfect way to wow your sweetheart this year.

Plan a gorgeous tablescape with stacked plates of different colors, mixed metals and fresh carnations for a stunning look! The key to a perfect at home date night dinner is making it special. One way I love to make the table shine is by really designing a tablescape. It starts with the right plates and gets morphed into the perfect themed tablescape.

  • I really have a thing for layering plates so for this table design, I started with a gold charger then added a plastic red plate, a white dinner plate and finally an adorable ceramic heart plate. The varying sizes, shapes, colors and materials really elevate the look to make this a not your average casserole dinner kind of table.
  • I also have this thing for mixed metals lately, so I loved using my great grandmother’s antique silverware from the 1940’s, rose gold vases and mercury glass votives.
  • The key to a really great table design though, is always something fresh. Fresh flowers and greenery are my absolute favorite. There’s nothing that will brighten a table design more quickly than a few vases of fresh flowers. The peach and pink carnations I picked up from Fry’s were the perfect final touch for this Valentine’s Day tablescape. Fry’s had such a vast selection of flowers it was a bit difficult to choose. But there’s something so timeless about carnations. They are simple yet beautiful and the smell is amazing, too!
  • I arranged the carnations in a really easy way. In the mercury glass votives I paired together two carnations of one color and one of the other (two pink and one peach) and then in the second glass votive, I used the opposite combination (two peach and one pink) instead to add variety to the table design.

You can create a simple tablescape by adding carnations individually, in a wreath or bouquet and it will liven up your table! I always love when we can have fresh flowers around the house, especially when I can use them for multiple purposes, like center pieces on my dinner table!