Merry Wesmas Dinner in the Moonrise Kingdom
Let us set the Merry Wesmas table
Acute settings drive Wes Anderson’s film’s aesthetics without holding back. One of my favorite evocations of place is his 1960s summer in New England featured in Moonrise Kingdom (2012).
Our protagonist, Suzy Bishop escapes her sun-drenched quiet Cape Coddian comforts where she suffers from troubled child syndrome to dive into her first love with boy scout, Sam.
For our dining Merry Wesmas display, I leaned into the tartan-clad camping themes of the film and took the opportunity to create a fanciful dinnerscape for Christmas Dinner this year.
I could take or leave cooking - or even the main meal aspect of holiday dining. But this year has afforded us a small but family-esque friend group that gives my decor-obsessed visions an outlet for entertaining.
My heart warms at the idea of carefully planning and executing a tablescape, cramming too many people around our small table and drinking cocktails while our Turducken overcooks in the background.
And so, let’s take a tour of the second installment in my Merry Wesmas holiday decor this year featuring my Moonrise Kingdom dining room.
Just in case, if you haven’t yet - check out the first installment featuring The Grand Budapest Hotel Mendl’s-inspired Kitchen Window display.
Garland Gang
You’ll find these carefully crafted paper garlands pop-up throughout my entire holiday decor scheme because they are now one of my favorite ways to decorate. Handmade by local artist, Amanda Witucki of The Paper Committee this year’s holiday garlands were actually Wes Anderson-inspired and created the perfect entree into our dining area.
Troop 55 reporting for dinner
Last year, I used a tighter color scheme for holiday decor based on the Grand Budapest Hotel - aligning strictly to pinks with accents of red and light blue. This year, I allowed my creativity to flow a bit more naturally and lean into the existing colors dominating each room while still creating unique on-design schemes. The dining room already housed these vintage director-style chairs from Revival Vintage in Austin, evoking a fancy-safari vibe and my existing amber vintage glassware display was able to shine. And yes, I do have to dust these a lot.
Setting up Camp
Building a tablescape consists of a few important elements in my book: color, texture and layering, centerpiece and most of all - personalization. Cindi Zato of Shindig Addict on Instagram was a Christmas gift that showed up in my Instagram DMs recently. Cindy is not only a delightful creator and person, but another Wes Anderson superfan who has created paper-crafted cake toppers for almost all of his films including Moonrise Kingdom. I added name labels to each of these toppers highlighting imagery from the film.
Tartan napkins and mini lantern ornaments were from Target’s holiday collection, checkered chargers are from Hobby Lobby, plates are vintage Seattle-based stoneware Fabrik and the wood napkin rings are from Amazon.
Dear Sam, Dear Suzy
Dear Sam,
Where?
Yours,
Suzy
Dear Suzy,
When?
Yours,
Sam
Moonrise Kingdom treat toppers by Shindig Addict.
Building an evergreen Collection
In the 2nd year of Merry Wesmas, I have found a groove of holiday decor that works for me. Each year, I focus on new DIY projects and sourcing unique items to use in my displays that can be reimagined in future years. For my centerpiece this year and throughout all my decor I leveraged some dried florals, like these white jewel orchids from Afloral. For the cost of some fresh florals that last a few days, a week if you’re lucky this option is evergreen and still feels more natural than faux florals.
Scouts Honor
There was a period of time last summer where several of my go-to thrift stores had an influx of vintage 60s-70s boy scouts mugs. I only picked up a pair, earmarking them for Merry Wesmas decor and every day I think about how stupid I am for not buying the whole lot.
Gather around the fire
Vintage glassware displays are a cost-effective (you can always thrift and estate-sale hunt for glassware) and colorful way to decorate a space. Even better, add a little ambiance with tealights in your glassware.
A little fancier than the Camp Ivanhoe mess tent without losing the charm, I hope you enjoyed and see you shortly with the next installment of Merry Wesmas featuring the Royal Tenenbaums.