Pretty table-settings for a festive meal ~ & happy thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving Day is the US and I’ve found that it’s quickly becoming a bit of a tradition to celebrate it here in the UK too. Traditionally it’s a special day of relaxation and reflection with all the family and involves a thanksgiving dinner with a roast turkey – similar to our Christmas day celebrations. I’m not sure that all of us in the UK are going the whole hog with a roast dinner etc but some of my pals are celebrating it with a meal with family or friends this weekend. Taking this into consideration, and seeing as some of my lovely blog readers are based in the USA, here are a few ideas for creating pretty place-settings for your thanksgiving table, which you can also use for your festive table settings over Christmas too!

Get out all your best crockery and cutlery – what’s the point of saving something for ‘best’ if you can’t use it during the holidays! Lay each place setting with care, so that everyone has all the utensils they will need to enjoy their thanksgiving meal – this will stop you having to get up from the table during the meal to fetch an extra spoon for someone!

Use placemats and stack up plates with pretty patterns to create a gorgeous place setting. This will delight your guests and get them excited about the feast you have in store for them – if you’ve taking this much care over the table settings, just imagine how amazing your festive meal will be!

Include a little treat or favour on the plate – I’ve added a cheeky rum toffee – and an activity sheet is good for both children and adults alike. Here I have used brown paper torn out of a spiral-notebook and created a ‘gratitude’ sheet so that guests can take time to think about what they are thankful for and make a note of it on the paper. This can be especially handy to focus young minds if you’re planning to go round the table later to share your thanks – think of it as a thanksgiving cheat-sheet!

Personalise each place setting with a name-tag, which can be as simple as writing the names on luggage tags or Christmas gift tags. Here I have layered cardboard over textured ribbon and simply written on the family members’ names and pegged it to their note paper using an old-fashioned wooden clothes peg.

Use glasses and candles to create a table that sparkles and add any cute ornaments that you have around the home to make your festive place settings even more unique – I’ve used these little silver birds that I’ve previously used in my autumn floral display and they reflect the candle light perfectly! I’m also using gold wine glasses and orange tea-light holders to create a warm glow over the table.

I hope you try out a few of these ideas and give your family a thanksgiving or Christmas that they will never forget and check out my autumn floral display blog post for ideas for creating gorgeous thanksgiving displays all around your home.