Many Thanksgiving gatherings tend to take place around a dinner table, which makes presentation an important factor. Your Thanksgiving centerpiece should complement the rest of your table decor, including linens and dinnerware. Create a festive centerpiece that reflects the style of your gathering and allows for easy conversation across the table.
Fall Foods
Put together a bountiful display of fruits and vegetables that are harvested during fall and typically included in a Thanksgiving celebration. Use a tiered dessert platter, silver tray or wicker basket lined with cream-colored linen as the base of your centerpiece. Arrange shocks of wheat tied together with twine, raffia or satin ribbon. Add dried ears of corn, berries, miniature pumpkins, squash and gourds.
Stick cranberries on toothpicks and insert them into foam balls, covering the foam completely. Place the balls in a large glass bowl or on top of glass or silver vases. If you use glass, fill the bottom with leaves, twigs or other fall items that complement the cranberry balls without taking attention away from them.
Create a wreath with leaves and flowers in reds, yellows, browns, burnt oranges and other fall colors. Add berries and twigs if you desire. Hang the wreath from the ceiling or chandelier with satin ribbon in fall colors so that it hovers above the table.
Flowers
Create fall vases out of gourds, squash or pumpkins. Cut the top off the vegetable or fruit and scoop out the flesh and seeds. Once the insides are clean, add a fresh or silk arrangement of fall flowers, such as dahlias, sunflowers or zinnias. Choose deep fall colors that complement the color of your vase. For example, burnt orange flowers might clash with an orange pumpkin, but complement a white pumpkin. Use several vases around your table for impact. Place some of the makeshift vases on platters or footed plates to add height and dimension to your centerpiece.
Arrange orange or yellow flowers in a white or silver vase. Tie a ribbon around the vase in the same color as the flowers. Alternatively, use a clear vase for your arrangement filled with dried fall leaves, twigs, berries or pine cones as the base for your flowers. Mix orange and yellow flowers together with hints of red, brown and ivory shades for a full fall look. Use antique silver platters or bowls, such as sugar bowls, to hold your flowers if you want an antique look on your table.
Use river rocks to hold a fall-colored flower — such as burnt orange rose — to the bottom of a glass container. Fill the container with water and float cream-colored candles on top.
Candles
Candles can add an intimate ambiance to your Thanksgiving table, as well as serve as a simple, yet elegant centerpiece. Use unscented candles to avoid overpowering the natural scents of your feast.
Remove the top, flesh and seeds from small pumpkins. Spray paint the fruits with a metallic color, such as silver. Place the pumpkins around the table or on candle holders and insert the candles. Arrange the candles on a silver serving tray or mirror to let the reflected light add to your table decor.
Make rings using pomegranate and prairie grass to wrap around the base of candlesticks. Place the candlesticks in a candelabra or on holders. Make matching napkin rings if you’re using linen napkins. Alternatively, create a ring using a small wire, berries, leaves and flowers. Silk flowers allow you to reuse the rings and might be easier to work with.
Wrap asparagus, green beans or fall-colored leaves around pillar candles, securing them with a rubber band. Hide the band by tying a satin ribbon around it. Place the candles on candle holders of different heights, sprinkling dried leaves, twigs and berries around the candle holders on the table.
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