How to Prepare Your Dining Room for Passover 2025
Passover is one of the most important events in the Jewish calendar. Commemorating the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt, it is celebrated every spring and typically lasts eight days, beginning on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan. If you’re part of a Jewish household, it’s a great opportunity to come together with family and friends, with the heart of the celebration being the Seder meal – which involves serving special foods like matzah, maror, and charoset.
But putting on a meal like this is no easy feat. Especially if you have multiple people coming around to celebrate, you have to make sure that your dining room is prepared for the event, with special attention paid to details like arrangement, seating, and atmosphere. With Passover just around the corner, then, we thought it was a good idea to walk you through the preparation of your dining room, helping you to put on a celebration that no one will forget.
Setting the Seder Plate
The first thing you need to think about is the Seder plate. For those unaware, this is the centrepiece of the Passover meal, with each of the six items on the plate representing a different aspect of the Passover story. If you haven’t got one yet, make sure you invest in a beautiful Seder plate that can sit happily in the centre of the table – for example, Nadav Art (https://www.nadavart.com/) has some particularly stunning options – and ensure the items are arranged in a specific way.
Start with the matzah – placing them on the side of the plate for easy access – then place the maror at the top left, the charoset at the top right, the karpas at the bottom left, and the z’roa at the bottom right. In the centre of the plate should be the beitzah, but if you’ve run out of space, you can remove the matzah – which doesn’t have to be placed directly on the plate itself – and place them under a decorative cloth.
Preparing Passover Tableware
Once you have invested in a Seder plate, you can also use this opportunity to invest in specific Passover tableware. Many families use china or silverware that’s reserved for holidays or Passover specifically, so there’s no reason why you can’t go all out and buy some beautiful Passover plates – perhaps with white or gold tones to create a festive atmosphere – cutlery, and even candlesticks for quaint, luxurious lighting. Speaking of the lighting, the candlesticks should be laid out across the centre of the table, with two candles traditionally being lit to symbolise remembrance and observance.
Rethinking Your Table Linen
To add some extra elegance to your setting, it might also be a good idea to rethink your table linen. Across the internet, there are numerous options for embroidered or custom-designed napkins, some with traditional Passover motifs like the Star of David or Matzah patterns.
If you’re more interested in accentuating a luxury space, you could instead opt for a white or cream tablecloth, perhaps with a table runner with gold or silver accents to create a sophisticated backdrop for your Seder plate. This is all optional, however. If you feel your table linen is already in great shape and perfectly aligned with your personal style, there’s no need to change them. So long as the atmosphere feels special and meaningful for the occasion, that’s what counts!
Sorting Your Seating Arrangements
For the Seder, it’s important to make sure there’s a place for everyone at the table, and that might mean re-arranging your seating. When it comes to traditions, there is traditionally a guest of honour at the table – often someone who is new to the Seder or younger – and also a specific spot for the Elijah’s Cup, which is set aside for the prophet Elijah, who is welcomed into every Jewish home during the holiday.
Outside of this, you want to make sure that your dining room is prepared and everyone has a seat, so take a moment to check there are enough chairs and a balanced arrangement where everyone has a clear view of the Seder plate. The flow of the meal should also be considered here. Place the host and leader of the Seder at the head of the table – as they’ll be the ones guiding the prayers and discussions – and ensure there’s enough space to pass the food around.
Creating a Chametz-Free Space
Lastly, once all of this is done and your dining room is looking like the perfect space to host Passover, it’s time to make sure that you’ve created a clean, chametz-free space. Chametz, of course, is forbidden to eat during Passover, so it’s your job to ensure the dining room and surrounding areas are free of leavened products and are cleaned thoroughly. By doing this, you’ll be successfully preparing your home for a kosher Passover that – hopefully! – will be the best one yet!
