Festive Thanksgiving and Holiday Table Settings

By Mindy Kobrin

Leaves are just the beginningLeaves are just the beginning
Whether your style is cosmopolitan or traditional, a dramatic table with personalized touches is sure to be a hit with your guests. From the table to centerpieces, a well-set table creates a warm and festive holiday mood. With inspired ideas, a Thanksgiving tablescape needn't be a Broadway production.

 

Fall's a time of celebration with lots of reasons to decorate. Details and personal touches promise to add panache while reinforcing that feeling. Here are a few tips to help you on your way and keep your home beautiful all season long.

First and foremost, consider your guest list. Select ideas and designs that are age-appropriate, fun, seasonal and colorful.

A Cosmopolitan Table

A distinctive cosmopolitan table begins with an emphasis on light and
with bright colors. Watch as an iridescent plumage of green and turquoise transport your holiday table to a glamorous backdrop for an epicurean evening. Compliment the plumage with pillar candles in gold and sleek hurricane vases filled with pomegranites placed in the center of the table. The clear glass of the hurricanes keeps the look clean and allows the fruit to be the star.

Add a few peacock feathers and fallen leaves to show off colors that contrasts with the table's palette. Lastly, add a touch of natural grace to your peacock-themed tabletop with fall-fruit (quinces, apples, figs) or vegetable place cards. Small pears work well--hold paper name tags punched with holes and tied in place with ribbon or twine. Keep in mind any small fruit, such as crab apples, star fruits or gourds can be used.

Personalized Place SettingPersonalized Place Setting

A Traditional Harvest Table

A bountiful harvest table takes its cue from nature. Leaf-shaped stoneware plates over wicker placemates will beautifully set the mood. Compliment the placesettings with small bunches of gourd candles. At the table's center, set a classic wicker Horn of Plenty filled with a seasonal mix of leaves, gourds, fruits and nuts to add thanks and warmth to the setting.

Top it off by adding either placecard tags with handwritten loving quotes atop each napkin or a personalized leaf in the folds of each napkin and a handwritten place card -- a strip of paper inscribed with a white-gel pen -- welcome each guest to dinner.

Paper-Leaf How-To

Add these leaves to bowls of gourds, or lay a few along a tablecloth. We used light-green paper, but you can use any color you like.

1. Trace or print the leaf template onto the back of a piece of decorative paper, and cut out as many leaves as you want.

2. To give the leaves more dimension, fold them outward at notches and inward along lobes.

3. Use a length of paper-covered wire for a stem, and use hot glue to affix it to the center back of the leaf. Let dry.

4. Coil the wire stem around the handle of a wooden spoon or a pencil; slip off.

You can also dress up your fall dinner table with food displays and natural decorations to celebrate the season.

Sweet Fanciful Finale

No matter what tabletop style you choose, chocolate turkeys are the perfect finale. My niece and nephews (and adult family members, alike) adore edible dark chocolate turkeys to take home after the meal.

Delicious Belgian chocolate turkeys are sure to please everyone at your table, too.

Even with so much emphasis placed on the menu, these tips promise to deliver a festive table setting worthy of your Thanksgiving meal.

We'd love to see your decorations at work so remember to send in your
Thanksgiving Table photos--turkeys and all.

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