Thanksgiving Table Decorations: Festive Placemats, Candle Displays and More

The turkey's ready and the family is on its way. Now what? Make some homemade table decorations that are sure to bring a sense of festivity to your holiday gathering.

Every table needs napkins. To make your napkins more festive and fun, create some simple napkon rings to put around your napkins. To make a turkey napkin ring, you will need a toilet paper tube, cut in half. This will give you two pieces to make two napkin rings. Gather orange pipe cleaners, flat wooden craft spoons, scissors, hot glue, red felt, paint and a black permanent marker. Paint the craft spoons a variety of colors, making sure that one is painted brown for the turkey's neck. Each napkin ring will use five to six craft spoons. Paint the toilet paper tube brown to match the turkey's neck. Bend the pipe cleaners into webbed feet and either tape or staple them into place on the bottom of the toilet paper tube. Draw eyes on the brown neck part and glue on the red felt for the turkey's gobbler. With hot glue, attach the painted craft spoons to the back of the toilet paper tube for feathers and attach the brown one to the front for the neck.

To make festive placemats, cut 15 inch (long) strips and 1 inch (thick) of yellow, orange, red and brown construction paper. Beginning with one strip of paper, you will weave another strip in an over/under pattern. Continue doing so until all of the placemat is made with the strips rotating in an over and under pattern. Using a glue stick, glue the edges of the strips down.

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful and appreciative for what you have been blessed with. Why not make a Thankful Tree to put on display at your holiday gathering? Purchase a terra cotta flower pot and place a piece of styrofoam into the bottom of it. Find a broken tree branch that has alot of protruding twigs on it and stick the branch into the styrofoam. Cover the top of the styrofoam with sand or dirt for presentation. Attach a paper clip to a piece of string and tie in a knot. Hang the paper clip string from one of the branches. Do this several times so that the entire tree can be filled in with leaves of thankfulness. Cut out leaf shapes from colored construction paper. Once guests arrive, give them some leaves and a pen or marker. Encourage them to write down what they are thankful for. Once finished, attach the leaf to the paper clip and hang from the Thankful Tree for everyone to see.

To make a beautiful candle display, start with a glass serving platter. Place several cream colored pillar candles on the serving platter. Purchase a package of fall colored leaves and decorative fall gourds. Scatter the leaves and gourds around the candles. Place the serving platter in the center of your table for a festive fall display.