The Best (Non-Ugly!) Folding Chairs for Hosting a Holiday Crowd

The holidays may come with their own special set of challenges, but I’m game to overcome pretty much all that come my way. My brother is trapped with immigration issues in Seattle? We’ll invite ourselves over for the holidays! I’ve run out of wrapping paper midway through my Christmas Eve wrapping sesh? Just toss mom’s new SodaStrem into a paper bag and decorate away! Can’t reach the ceiling to hang up lights? Marry a tall man and make him do it!

Infuriatingly, though, there are limits to my problem-solving. For example, inviting my 17-person extended family (note to my cousins: if you have any more children, you are uninvited) over for dinner in my 700-square-foot apartment seems like a fun thing to do€”well, fun for me, not necessarily for the tall man I married€”but the reality is we just don’t have the seating capacity, even temporarily. Where can one just squirrel away an extra baker’s dozen of chairs? 

Well I may not be able to DIY a seating solution out of thin air, or bend the physical limitations of my condo with sheer willpower, but it turns out I can invest in a solution to my hosting struggles. There are, it turns out, beautiful temporary seating options out there: folding chairs that look so nice you won’t mind having them stacked in the corner when they’re not in use. Is it a Christmas miracle? I’ll weigh in once we’ve all made it through dinner alive. In the meantime: maybe you’ll want to add these sweet seats to your own holiday wish list.

Ligne Roset’s Sellier folding chair has a lacquered frame and leather finishing for a serious upgrade to the standard rental fare. 

The chic and compact Pocket chair from Resource furniture folds up to be just 3/4″ deep. 

Yeah, the Patiosense Sava folding chair is designed as an outdoor furniture piece, but we’re not going to tattle if you bring it in from the cold. 

Stack up a tower of (hosting) power with these Kema Stacking stools from Urban Outfitters, featuring a punchy pink powder-coated frame. 

Is the Cube from Expand Furniture an on-trend camel-coloured ottoman, or five padded stools intertwined? Can’t it be both? 

The two-tone Fermob La Mome chair can live out on the patio year-round and tag in for summer get-togethers.

The Ikea Terje chair is certainly the right price, clocking in at under $30, and a convenient hole on the backrest makes it easy to hang up and out of the way. 

Listen, we didn’t think we’d be referencing Walmart on this list either, but this classic metal folding chair in a kicky tangerine hue is not something we can just ignore. 

The sleek, minimalist Alessi Piana chair will offer some design cred to your space even when it’s leaning up against a wall. (Grab the blue option to get Pantone Colour of the Year bonus points.)