DIY: Thanksgiving Inspired Table Setting & Decor Ideas

Long before the turkey is served, your table setting is the focal point that will make the first impression. Sharon from the Desert Willow Lane blog shares her quick-and-easy Thanksgiving table setting to ensure your guests celebrate the joys of gratitude and feel welcomed during your holiday festivities!

I’m blessed to be a part of a large, tight-knit family. We love to celebrate everything together, including the holidays. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and fall is my favorite time of year so, I’m always happy to host Thanksgiving at our house. The only thing is, It seems as if we spend weeks and days planning, preparing, cooking and baking for an elaborate Thanksgiving feast, all to sit down and eat it within 20 minutes!

Last year, I wanted to slow things down a little and make the holiday more meaningful for my family. So, I started a new tradition of gratitude cards. Everyone wrote down what they were thankful for. Then, after we ate, we all went around and read what we had written on our gratitude cards. It made us all reflect and really appreciate how fortunate we truly are. I choked up a bit when I heard my kids talk about how grateful they were for their family, their dog, Bocce, and their home. The only thing was, I didn’t pick a card that was quite big enough to write everything down on!

This year, I knew I that I wanted a fold over card, something that was just the right size to put on our plates, and beautiful, of course. When I found the navy damask contact cards at Tiny Prints I fell in love with them. I was really smitten when I discovered that I could customize the cards into gratitude cards by typing, “I’m thankful for…” on the cover.

For our Thanksgiving table this year, I was inspired by all of the gorgeous colors of the fall leaves. I knew that the navy blue cards would be the perfect complement to the orange, gold and off white color scheme that I had planned.

Instead of a table runner, I used some fall leaves from the craft store and some white mini pumpkins as part of our center piece. I spray painted some of the leaves gold to add a little more sparkle and shine.

I also used a gold hurricane lantern, with a white candle and some metallic gold painted pine cones, for a simple and elegant center piece, that doesn’t block your view of the people sitting across from you.

Our kitchen is tiny, so I like to set up a dessert table near the dining table and I continued the fall leaves theme with some easy artwork that I made.

I’m excited to have plenty of room to write down the things I’m grateful for this year and to hear my family share what they are thankful for. What I also love about these Tiny Prints gratitude cards is that I was able to write, “Thanksgiving 2014″ on the inside so that we can go back and remember this special day and all that we are thankful for.

Thanks, Tiny Prints, for making our Thanksgiving more meaningful and more memorable!

For more decorating tips and inspiration be sure to visit Desert Willow Lane.

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