Long before the appetizer is served, your table will make a first impression with these ideas for place cards, centerpieces, linens, and more.
Vases made from squashes and pumpkins are simple to make and decorate beautifully.
You’ll need cabbage, small glasses, and twine to craft these crudite cups. We recommend using differing types of cabbage to add multiple colors into the mix.
Fabric glue, glitter, and masking tape are all you need to add understated glamour to your Thanksgiving table runner. Gold and copper glitter also add sparkle to the dried corn centerpiece.
Bring rustic elegance to the dining room with a combination of store-bought and hand-crafted decor. Find instructions for bedecking a willow branch wreath with pom-poms and covering trivets with lush velvet.
Use a nutcracker to open whole walnuts just enough to slip in paper flags bearing guests' names. Coordinate the colors of the paper and ink to match your tablecloth or centerpiece.
Have fun at the crafts store choosing ribbon in beautiful fall colors to make these easy, budget-friendly napkin rings and centerpiece. Use matching ribbon for everything or pick a few contrasting colors.
Small pears hold paper name tags punched with holes and tied in place with ribbon or twine. Any small fruit or vegetable, such as crab apples or jack-be-little pumpkins, can be used.
Fallen leaves are abundant at this time of year, and their graceful silhouettes and tawny colors make them a natural theme for seasonal linens and decorations you craft yourself.
This modern table setting picks up the palette with chartreuse place mats on a bleached-oak table, contrasted with matte white plates and Venetian glass tumblers.
Blue is not traditionally associated with the season, but highlight it with small touches of gold and the color can become a happy participant in holiday revels. These spray-painted miniature pumpkins and place cards written in gold ink do the trick nicely. A block-printed napkin and tablecloth and the marbleized plate add patterned richness, while a mix of mismatched contemporary glassware and classic flatware keep the feeling clean and modern.
To make "silver" napkin rings, save wishbones from roast chickens, wash and dry them thoroughly, and spray them with chrome paint. On each one, string silver cord from tip to tip; wrap it six times around the bone, and tie it off.
For a splash of style, adorn your table with autumn's brightest accessories: vivid fall leaves. Simply clip sprays of young leaves from a tree in your yard (ours are from a maple). Arrange the clippings at each place setting, and top with transparent glass plates. Come dinnertime, you'll be basking in the oohs and aahs of your guests.
A napkin and a handwoven sparkling favor echo the cornucopia's shape, while more gilded leaves and acorns festoon the napkin and the place card. Sugared almonds and pine nuts fill these favors.
Elegance can be found in familiar places. Here, formal china is set out with homemade hollowware. Hot-glue a large bowl to a smaller one (or a plate to a teacup) to create pedestals from inexpensive tableware; use one for bread and others for roses (cut the stems short and insert into wet floral foam cut to fit the bowls). Handsomely folded cloth napkins fit in with the table's traditional feel. To make photo place cards, copy childhood photographs of family members in black-and-white or sepia; then glue the images to card stock, and trim with deckle-edged scissors.
This distinctive contemporary table begins with an emphasis on light and form. A homemade Ultrasuede table mat adds color and interest; it's cut with a rotary cutter just smaller than the table to create the illusion of a border. Sleek hurricanes filled with fallen leaves show off colors that contrast with the otherwise monochromatic palette. The clear glass of the goblets and hurricanes keeps the look clean. A leaf in the folds of a napkin and a handwritten place card -- a strip of paper inscribed with a white-gel pen -- welcome each guest to dinner.
Inspired by the early American craft tradition of making dolls from cornhusks, our cornhusk flowers -- mimicking apple blossoms -- are both elegant and simple to create.
Set a celebratory table with bold splashes of color from the garden or farmers' market; gourds, fruit, and nuts come in golds, yellows, oranges, and a range of browns and greens.
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