The Best Ways to Set the Thanksgiving Table
Holiday Centerpeices, Napkins, Tablecloths, and Place Settings
Nov 9, 2009
There are many that can be done to a Thanksgiving table to make it look festive, decorated like the rest of the house, and inviting for family and guests. Picking the right tablecloth, napkins, centerpieces, and place cards to setting the utensils correctly can be a daunting experience. Here are some ideas that will help to organize the Thanksgiving table and give it the pizzazz it needs so that guests will enjoy a feast of the eye as well as the tongue.
Tablecloths and Napkins
Tablecloths can be used from linen to other cloth or you can also try place mats. There are so many to choose from it will makes one's head spin. Keep table linens in earth tone colors like browns, beiges, earthy greens, golds, and oranges. Use one color for the table cloth and another for the napkins. Use the old family linen tablecloth but change up the napkins to a dark brown or olive green and even a bright orange to give an exclamation to the table. It is probably always best to go with a solid color tablecloth, but if you want a pattern on the napkins, go for it. Always iron tablecloths to make them smooth and neat.
Napkin Rings are a festive touch for the table at Thanksgiving and they can be very simply made. Get mini pumpkins for each person and tie a card with their name printed on it to the stem placing it at their place setting at the table. Cut 1 inch sections from the cardboard tubing from paper towels. With a glue gun glue artificial fall leaves to them covering the tubing so it can’t be seen and slip the napkin inside the tube. Napkin rings can be as simple as tying a little raffia or ribbon or both around a napkin. Insert a stalk of wheat cut to 8 inches on top of the napkin before tying it.
Centerpieces
Centerpieces shouldn't be too tall to look over and see the other people on the other side of the table, or isn’t too big because the table is going to be full of food. A long narrow basket with some artificial gourds, fall colored leaves, and turkey feathers will work well. Use apples with the artificial leaves and add some nuts in the shell or if turkey feathers are hard to find or insert some pieces of wheat. All these things can be found at a craft store.
If apples and nuts are used guests can eat them when they get hungry watching the football game. Use a large candy bowl and place a fat brown candle in the middle and fill around it with candy corn. You can make several of these to go down the center of the table. Take a large wide mouth glass vase and insert Indian corn with the papery leaves up. Pack the cobs in as tight as you can.
Place cards and Table Settings
Place cards, if used, can also be very simple. Print out cards with names and attach them to a variety of things for each place setting. Get mini pumpkins and tie a tag to the stem. Get inexpensive resin turkeys at your local dollar store and attach or prop a name tag on them. Attach a tag to napkin rings for each setting. Put the person’s name on the tag and also put something everyone should be thankful for during the season like food to eat, jobs, family, pets, etc and you can even get specific with the person. Before eating you can go around the table and ask them to read out what their card says and either expound upon it or add to it.
Setting the Table shouldn’t be so confusing no one will know which utensil to use. Forks go on the left and knives and spoons on the right. The knife should be closest to the plate with the edge in toward the plate and the spoon next to it. If you are using more than one fork the one that will first be used, the salad fork or smaller one, should be on the outside and the one used for dinner next to the plate.
The dinner plate should be between the utensils centered. A side plate for bread goes to the left of the place setting. A salad plate can go on top of the dinner plate. Coffee cups should go to the right of the place setting and if you are serving wine you can place the wine glass at the tip of the knife and the coffee cup at the tip of the spoon. Napkins should go under the knife and spoon but if you are using napkin holders where they won’t sit flat they can go on top of the dinner or salad plate. Your place cards can either go on the plate or right up above it centered. Some people place them off to one side but that tends to get a little confusing.
This type of setup will induce exclamations on how beautiful the table looks before everyone starts to eat on Thanksgiving. Use the imagination and don’t forget the kids table. They need a child friendly centerpiece (apples in a basket), napkins, and place cards too.
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