Thanksgiving Table Setting Tips

Easy do-it-yourself centerpieces, place cards, and napkin holders to complete your Thanksgiving table.
Styling by: Heather Tyree, photos: by Steven Torres

In the days that lead up to Thanksgiving, you will likely be busy with last-minute shopping, cabinet inventories, brining the turkey, and baking pies. Table settings become an afterthought, cobbled together at the last minute—a bouquet of generic flowers from the grocery store, a haphazard arrangement of seasonal pumpkins and gourds from a local green market, a dusty set of candelabra dug out of the drawer.

Instead of relying on old standbys, do something different this year. Many of the simple table setting ideas that follow can be put together in advance, using materials that you already have on hand, and with a little help from your kids. Search through your cabinets, raid your craft drawer, pick up a few extra supplies on your Thanksgiving grocery run, and get creative.

Vase Centerpieces
Fill glass vases with layers of colorful dried legumes (this would also work with dried fruits or nuts). Scavenge your pantry or visit a local supermarket to find more unusual varieties. Choose different shapes, sizes, and textures for an appealing arrangement. After you have poured in the first layers of beans, lentils, and peas, place a pillar candle in the middle of the vase so that the wick is at just about the same height as the rim. While this simple, modern take on yesteryear's overflowing cornucopias will last an entire season, the beans can also be recycled and put to use—along with Thanksgiving leftovers—in a hearty soup.

Place Cards
For a simple, beautiful way to display place cards, revisit your dining room cupboard and seek out small, clear glass bud vases, shot glasses, votive candleholders, or finger bowls—an assortment of shapes and sizes will add visual appeal to the table. Fill the gathered vessels halfway with colorful dried legumes (consider matching these to your centerpiece). Small cuttings from a seasonal branch or blossom will add height and detail to these miniature arrangements—a shaft of wheat, a small branch of dried berries, or a sprig of fake silk flowers in autumnal colors will do. Feel free to get creative; we cut out small birds from old pieces of cardboard and attached them to floral wire. Balance
name plates within the branches, or place them up against the
glassware.

Napkin Holders You don't need a set of season-specific napkin rings for Thanksgiving. Tie sprigs of herbs to a folded napkin using twine, or wrap rings of real berries threaded on floral wire around the napkin (you can also use stalks of fake berries, fall blossoms, or inexpensive bracelets and bangles).