Today, Paige shares easy ideas for creating holiday tabletops with a twist:

“With just four days left until Thanksgiving, the holiday excitement (and stress) is beginning to set in around my house. I enjoy cooking, but truthfully, my favorite part of hosting Thanksgiving (or any party for that matter) is creating fun, beautiful, and sometimes unexpected tabletops. So with just days to go until the beginning of this year’s holiday season, here are some last-minute, easy ideas that will help kick your tabletop up a notch. Use one idea or combine a couple...and have fun!

 

1. Nix the fancy tablecloth. Instead of spending a ton of money on a tablecloth, consider throwing a yard of home décor-weight fabric across a basic, inexpensive white banquet cloth (available everywhere from Target to Costco). Finish the edges of the fabric with fusible webbing to create instant clean edges with an iron. Check your local fabric store’s remnant section – you might walk out with a yard for under $10.

2. Arrange flowers with ease. For a super easy arrangement of flowers, stop by the grocery store and purchase a mixed bouquet (or two, depending on the size of your party). Unwrap the flowers and sort by type (mums in one pile, greenery in another, etc.). For each pile, trim the stem ends to the right height for its own vase (or glass or bottle). Use vessels in different heights and sizes and cluster them in the center of your table.

3. Use perfect poms. Not only are pomegranates super healthy, they’re perfect tabletop décor because of their great color and shape. Buy a bunch at the grocery store and place them on your table in a glass bowl. Break them open at the end of dinner for a light and sweet dessert option. Perfectly simple (and delicious).

4. Bring in the kid stuff. Rather than sending the children off to the requisite kids’ table, incorporate a “kid” activity directly onto your tabletop. Cover your table with art paper (roll paper works nicely), then place markers, crayons, and colored pencils in harvest colors in glasses down the center of the table or at each place setting. Then doodle away as you rest between courses.

5. Make it a family affair. Consider using family pictures to decorate your table (with frames and all). Place a small stack of paper and a pen at each place setting and encourage your family to record memories and the things for which they are thankful. Gather the slips of paper in a bowl and read them aloud at the end of the night as the tryptophan coma sets in!

Happy Thanksgiving!”

 

 

For more décor related awesomeness from Paige, check out Mudroom Boston. You can also follow Paige on Twitter at @mudroomboston.

 

 

Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net