thanksgiving tablescape

My favorite holiday ever is thanksgiving, it beats every other holiday for me. I am all about tradition, and thanksgiving holds my favorite traditions in our family.

Last year, I taught a Thanksgiving centerpiece class the Tuesday before thanksgiving - we are doing it again this year, and I am for sure making this my new tradition! Every year on the night before Thanksgiving, my mom, my sister, and I bake an apple pie and pumpkin cream pies. When we were little we would play board games while waiting for dinner, next to the first fire of the year that my dad would make in our fireplace. Now that we are older, the morning of Thanksgiving my sister hosts breakfast at her house for all us kids, while my parents start to get the dinner food ready at their house. I will forever remember those memories, and it makes me so happy that we are able to keep some of the traditions going, as well as start new ones!

Something about the combination of fall colors, warm homey food, all the cinnamon and spices, the start of the holiday season, and being together as a family just gets me.

The past few years I have decorated the table and it is one of my favorite parts, so this year I decided to share my thanksgiving table decorations with you!

This is actually a very easy way to decorate the table. I found the bud vases at Target, as well as well as the place cards, then I had the napkins, plates, and candles on hand. The vintage glasses and silverware are my moms; I don’t know what I would do without her random collection of dinnerware that I use regularly for photoshoots. I also added in some apples I picked, cranberries, and bay leaves to the table.

For the flowers, I chose two bunches that matched the colors I was going for. I actually got them at Trader Joe’s, because it was much easier than making an extra trip to the wholesaler, and I thought it was a good idea since anyone can get flowers there! I did have a few things left over from other projects that were dried or on their last leg, but they still worked! I have been trying to dry as much leftovers as I can to incorporate bits and pieces into my fresh arrangements.

I am a huge fan of bud vases, being able to see all of the same flower in one small vase is very appealing to me, and super easy to arrange! All you have to do is fill the vases up with water, cut the flower stems at a few different lengths, remove any leaves that will be under the water line, and voilà!

When arranging the vases and candles on the table, I personally think it looks best to cluster the candles and stagger the bud vases. But to each is own, get creative! After I placed the vases and candles I staggered a few apples and randomly dropped leaves and cranberries around them.

My mom grew up using the glasses on holidays. Now she uses them for water at everyones place setting, whenever my parents host dinners. Adding sentimental touches to anything is my favorite, I always make sure my mom knows the things she can never get rid of because they mean something to me. Although I find meaning in most things and have to keep them forever. Some people call it hoarding, but I’m not sure what they’re talking about? Anyway, I thought it was a fun little touch to add cranberries to the water!

My last touch was the handwritten place cards. I wish I could say I wrote out the names, but I didn’t get that creative gene. I had my best friend who is a creative genius, write them for me.

This table set up didn’t cost very much because I tried to use most of what I already had. I did spend about $35 on the vases, but I will definitely use them again. I spent $3 on the place cards, and $15 on the flowers. You could definitely get cheaper vases or use something you already have for much less. It can be both easy and inexpensive to decorate your own table!

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I plan to do for my Thanksgiving table, and I hope that it inspires you to make your table extra special this year. Wishing everyone an amazing start to the holiday season!