Simple festive vases

As the festive season approaches I've been thinking about Christmas decorations, and how I might decorate the table this year. Always fun. Continuing with the theme of simple vases, I was wondering how best to wrap vases to give them a festive feel.

I love the idea of of wrapping a vase with red and white striped candy canes to give your Christmas table setting a quirky touch. Really sweet, literally. And you get to eat them after, or pack them away and hang from your tree next year.

And if you're on a budget (cos who isn't this year?) you could gather twigs, cut to similar sizes and tie with raffia around a straight sided vase. For added festive spice, try cinnamon sticks. They smell so gorgeous and Christmassy too.

If you want a little more colour, add a band of pretty wrapping paper or wallpaper to co-ordinate with your scheme and trim with ribbons, beads or tiny bells. I love the simple colour combination here - it looks very fresh and clean and a tad scandinavian.

Images found here, here and here