Focus On: Thanksgiving Tablescapes

Happy Hump Day! It's a day of link ups with two other fabulous ladies, Lynda of Focal Point Styling and Julie of Simply Savvy to talk about the "Big Three Before the Tree: Fall Decor, Halloween, and Thanksgiving". I jumped at not only to opportunity to join forces with them, but also to snag Thanksgiving! There are so many ways to turn your family gatherings, even if it's a small gathering, into a stylish event quickly, reflective of your own taste, and in an affordable way!

Candles:

You have them around the house, in drawers, and guess what?! You can use and reuse them seasonally by changing how you display them! The top three show you ways of setting candles in common Fall things in somewhat more involved ways, but still very user friendly. What I love about the bottom three is that you could have had the same candles out the week before on the same table but with different accents. Grab your favorite shaped glass vase or small bowl, some dried corn, cranberries, or coffee, and you have instant centerpieces for your Thanksgiving table!

Leaves:

Let's face it, if we look out our windows the in the Fall (at least in all of the places I remember living) you see leaves! They're iconic Fall colors, textures, shapes, and even the delicate nature of the passing season come across from the outdoor foliage. My favorite three from this assortment are the pears (top right), napkins (bottom left), and the vase (bottom right). Each of these can be executed in less than 5 minutes to add color, texture, and the perfect Fall element to your table!

Pumpkins:

I've mentioned the importance of bringing color and texture to your table already, and pumpkins are perfect for that as well! We'll go ahead and include gourds in this too! I always love going to our local pumpkin patch and fishing through the bins of gourds to find the oddest shaped ones for decoration! Pumpkins are also perfect for painting, as seen in the bottom right photo to bring whatever color scheme you are going for possible with Fall nature. Not only can you paint them, but you can also add some bling with glitter (top left) as well! Maybe you're not the glitter type, but this would be a lot of fun for a kids' table! Just like the leaves you can stack them in tall glass vases for an easy way to bring color and height without fuss to your Thanksgiving table.

I thought this was genius and had to share! If you're lucky enough to entertain outside for Thanksgiving, use tiny pumpkins as table weights for your linens!

I know my "Focus" is supposed to be on Thanksgiving tables, but I warned Lynda and Julie when we teamed up that I would not be able to talk about the table without talking about the food you put on it! Every year I make the turkey and all of the things that go with it, and every year I wonder why I only do it at Thanksgiving! I LOVE everything associated with Thanksgiving cooking, and all of the Fall flavors! 

Here's the recipe for these Pumpkin Spice Pancakes:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  

• Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
  2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Recipe from AllRecipes.com

There is an infamous story in my family about stuffing a turkey! Apparently one year sometime before I was born my dad and my aunt (his sister who recently passed) got into it about which kind of stuffing would be made for the turkey and if the bird should be roasted breast up or breast down. It ended with my aunt getting to stuff the cavity and my dad getting to stuff the neck (it was a large turkey), and it was roasted breast up. Since then, we always have two kinds of stuffing at Thanksgiving which I love because it means more leftovers! Here are a few fun ideas I found for leftovers this Thanksgiving season:

Boxed leftovers to go with your guests names! This way you don't have to worry about not getting your tupperware back!

You don't always want to keep eating "heavy" food, so a shredded turkey salad with cranberry relish is a perfect option!

Thanksgiving leftover pie! For more info on this treat click here

I don't think I need to get into the pie recipes (yet!), but I'll share a couple great dessert table displays with you!

Even if you have simple desserts, remember to use varying height to make your table a bit more fun! Check out your local Goodwill store for cake stands, fun chargers for layering, and even short vases you can use as makeshift stands for plates. Just because you want to change your table decor for the season does not mean you can't reuse the same items year round! 

For even more inspiration check out my Fall Feasts board on Pinterest and head over to Olioboard to play around with some decor ideas there! 

To see this board and shop the look click here

As I mentioned before I've teamed up with to fabulous ladies today for the "Big Three Before the Tree". You can follow the buzz and join us on twitter by using the hashtag #Big3B4TheTree and check out the other blogs here:

Focus On: Halloween Steampunk Style

Simply Savvy

Focus On: Fall Decor