Thanksgiving. Christmas. Hanukkah and New Year’s. The coming season has more party potential than you can shake a fondue stick at. If sit-down dinners are in your future, now’s the time to put some fun on the table (and not just in the form of your famous fruitcake surprise). Dazzle dinner guests with imaginative place settings like the ones below. Carpe dinem!

While the bird’s in the oven (or the tofurkey sets), make like a pilgrim and bring some bounty to the table. Warm, earth tones create traditional harvest appeal, while modern plates and mats add a contemporary update.

Take your inspiration from the great outdoors. Start with a wooden charger beneath leaf & vine plates. Sprinkle a few autumn leaves. Toss in a ceramic pumpkin. Now you’ve really got something to be thankful for.

Go a little wild – this season’s animal print patterns are showing up on everything from glassware to table linens. Dramatic glossy bowls pop against neutral-toned dishware, while deep red pillars in dusky amber holders add the luster of candlelight to your table.

It’s your showcase for fruitcake and figgy pudding, for goodness’ sake. You can’t just make do with any old place setting. Be an angel and get in there with some deep ruby-red tableware haloed by a gleaming gold charger. Add a satin-y beaded placemat and a fancy gold beaded napkin ring. Waddya know? It’s Christmas.

Go all joyous with a riot of red-&-green in solids, stripes and festive holiday patterns. Tuck in a bright red cutout charger and a festive Christmas-colored placemat. Finish with an ornament placecard holder and a sprinkling of jingle bells. ‘Tis the season to be jolly indeed.

For the children’s table, take your color cues from the main table, but go with kid-friendly washable placemats or table runners, colorful melamine (read unbreakable) dishes and festive snowman mugs and saucers instead.

Kids and adults alike will love a candy-cane themed visions of sugarplums table. Use red & white table linens and striped dinnerware. For dessert? Bowls filled with gingerbread men or other holiday confections. Sweet.

Or how about a cozy traditional table complete with charger, dinner plate, salad plate and dessert bowl – all in berry red and winter white. Don’t forget little touches like coasters, napkin rings and a fun Christmas ornament at each place setting.

The traditional blue and silver of Hanukkah makes for a dazzling table. Create maximum shimmer by combining clear, blue and white dinnerware with silver metallic table linens and flatware. A sprinkling of tealights in glittering glass holders adds extra sparkle.

To ring in the New Year, keep the sparkle going with crystal-clear stemware (filled with a bit of the bubbly), silvery apothecary jars and gleaming beaded placemats and napkin rings. Bright red dinnerware and napkins complete the festive holiday theme.