Ten Ideas for Setting the Thanksgiving Table

Thanksgiving is a beautiful time to spend with loved ones, but relaxing can be difficult with the pressure of entertaining guests. Fortunately, creating a splendid Thanksgiving table can now be stress-free and inexpensive. The following 10 ideas for Thanksgiving table settings are sure to impress guests while letting the host enjoy peace of mind at a low cost.

Centerpieces can help to bring the table to life and serve practical purposes, too.

1. On a buffet, use wooden trivets to hold hot serving plates. Cover the trivets with colored velvet for a sophisticated look. The colors can match the atmosphere of the room, your table and chair covers or they can be changed seasonally..

2. Collect autumn leaves from the yard. Use an adhesive spray on one side of each leaf and place them around glass candleholders. This is an enjoyable project for children, and once the candles are lit, the leaves look like glowing flames.

3. Make a mini-pumpkin candle centerpiece by cutting a hole into the top of each pumpkin. Use a melon baller to scoop out enough space to insert a candle stick. To create asymmetry, stack 2 pumpkins onto straight pins and secure to an overturned pie plate with putty. For an extra touch, put autumn leaves underneath the pumpkins.

4. Overturn a small bowl or teacup, and hot-glue it to the bottom of a large bowl or plate. This creates a beautiful, homemade pedestal that can hold any items from bread to flowers. For flowers, cut floral foam to fit the pedestal. Trim the flower stems and insert them into the wet foam.

Place holders and decorations add a personalized touch to the Thanksgiving table.

5. Collect sprays of autumn leaves from a maple tree or the like. Place them underneath a transparent charger or plate at each place setting for a natural and colorful decor.

6. Make cornhusk apple-blossom napkin rings by copying a floral template onto card stock. Cut out the shapes, place them on damp cream, pink, and purple cornhusk, and trim to make the flowers. Use wire and floral tape to make stem napkin rings, and secure the petals to the ring.

7. Take walnuts in the shell, using a nutcracker to open the shells a mere fraction. Make paper flags, each bearing a guest’s name, and slip one into the slit of each slightly cracked walnut. Coordinate the flag and text colors to match the atmosphere’s color scheme.

8. Stemmed fruit or vegetables such as mini-pumpkins, pears, etc. make great place holders as well. Attach name tags to the stem with ribbon or twine, and each guest has a souvenir to take home or eat.

9. Cut black, white, gold, brown, and red felt into differently sized turkey wings, gluing them together. Attach a large pom-pom as the body and a smaller one as the head. Make legs out of black pipe cleaner, and make a felt beak to which name cards are glued.

10. Make one turkey body and five feathers for each place holder from a template and construction paper. Write one thanksgiving trivia question on each feather, and secure them to the body with a paper fastener.