Coolest Ideas for Thanksgiving Decorations
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Here are some great ideas for homemade and storebought Thanksgiving decorations.
The colors that fit best with the Thanksgiving theme are oranges, burgundies, crèmes, yellows, golden colors, greens and browns. You can go with all of these, or choose only a few together. For example, choosing a green tablecloth, crème colored plates and yellow napkins; then add little pumpkins and colorful fruit, flowers and garlands to the setting for accents. This, of course can be changed around; you can choose a cranberry color or orange tablecloth, etc.
This Colorful Turkey Partyware will look great on your Thanksgiving table.
If you’re going for a more formal décor with your Thanksgiving decorations, you can use a nice satin gold tablecloth, centerpieces being gold tin containers filled with red, white and yellow fall flowers draped over the sides.
If you're looking for ideas for Thanksgiving decorations for a kid’s Thanksgiving party, you can decorate with balloons and streamers in Thanksgiving colors, such as these cool Thanksgiving Balloons. You'll also find original Thanksgiving graphics that you can print, cut out and hang around the party area in our Thanksgiving decorations printables section.
For tabletop Thanksgiving decorations, you can put a tray filled with bright red cranberries topped with little votive candles. It’s best to put the cranberries on a plastic or metal tray, as cranberries contain moisture that can damage wood. Another really simple Thanksgiving decorations idea, yet very beautiful, is to take all kinds of candlesticks (different heights), and place a small fruit upon each candlestick (a pear, a small apple, a small pomegranate etc.).
Napkins can be rolled up and tied with raffia; you can then tuck in a fallen leaf, cinnamon stick or acorn. Place cards are always fun to have, especially if you have certain sitting preferences. You can take small Indian corn, put in the middle of each plate, and attach a small note with raffia around the corn. You can also check out our Thanksgiving printable section to print out free napkin holders and place cards.
You can use large autumn leaves as coasters for cups. Oak leaves can be great for this as they are tough and durable. Another idea is to use miniature pumpkins as place cards – write each name with a permanent marker on each pumpkin.
You can make your own cornucopia centerpiece. You’ll need a cone-shaped cornucopia basket, an assortment of fruits and vegetables (Indian corn, nuts, berries, small pumpkins, squashes, apples, possibly grapes, pears, etc.), raffia, dried fall leaves, wheat, raffia, and other natural fillers, as well as newspaper.
Creating your own cornucopia: Take the newspaper and fill it in your cornucopia basket (so that you won’t need to fill it completely with harvest items – anyways the real inside of the cornucopia is not seen). After the newspaper, add a thin layer of raffia and other natural fillers. Place the basket on covered table or tray. Then start filling the basket with the larger fruits and vegetables, and then add the smaller items so that it all spills out onto the table or tray. Then fill in the small spaces with small things like nuts, berries, leaves, etc.
You can also use a Pilgrim’s Hat as a centerpiece as part of your Thanksgiving decorations. Also, try turning a Pilgrim’s Hat upside-down and fill with fall leaves, flowers, greenery, etc. Here’s a cool Pilgrim Hat...
Another nice Thanksgiving decorations centerpiece is to take halved, hollowed-out pumpkins, and fill them with fruits. For a nice Thanksgiving scent you can have pumpkin spice candles. Also check out these Here are nice Turkey Candles you can put on your table.
Disperse as many Thanksgiving related objects as possible, turkeys (toys, stuffed animals, little turkey sculptures, etc.), flowers, pumpkins, squashes, nuts, Indian corn, gourds, apples, pomegranates, popcorn, and candy corn all around the party or dinner area and on tables. Go out for a walk in the woods and bring back natural items that look wonderful when decorating: pinecones, fall leaves, acorns, sticks, twigs, berries, cattails, wheat, branches, etc. You can also use bronze, copper and gold spray paint and dress up plain gourds, acorns, branches, leaves etc.
You can also hang up this Thanksgiving Banner... as part of your Thanksgiving decorations.
You can use Thanksgiving wrapping paper and wrap your doors. On tables you can put lots of cake stands (different heights) and decorate each tier with fruits and flowers – from pears, kumquats, green and purple grapes, wild berries to yellow and orange flowers and roses.
The backyard or outside area can be decorated with a wagon and/or wheelbarrow filled with hay, pumpkins, etc.; you can take people’s picture sitting on the wagon. There can be haystacks and bales everywhere to sit on. You can even create a walkway with bales of hay stacked so that to make a path right to your door. A scarecrow could be made and put in your yard. Here’s how to make your own scarecrow. And here’s an inexpensive paper-jointed scarecrow to check out.
It would be nice to group seasonal items on your porch, such as vines weaved around stair posts or fences, twig baskets, potted plants, pumpkins, etc. If you have a fence, you can put a mini pumpkin on each vertical post. It’s also nice to put little pumpkins on each step if you have an outside or inside staircase. If you do want that Thanksgiving feeling with pumpkins, and you don’t want to “scream” orange, you can also purchase white and green pumpkins to decorate with. You can also decorate with old pilgrim looking objects, such as rusty old farming tools, butter churn, washboard, barrels, etc.
You can make a nice fall wreath on your own. Start out with a grapevine wreath as the base. These can be bought in many sizes or made by clipped vines (you’ll need to twist the vines together and lay them into a circular shaped container – as a trash can or bucket for several weeks).
Once you have the base, lay leaves and garland onto the vine. It is best to use real leaves that have been treated and preserved (they will keep for many years and are available in many varieties and colors). It’s best to use silk garland, which is also available in many lengths and colors.
Then use wire or hot glue to attach leaves and garland to the wreath. Attach them at intervals of 5 inches and cut off the excess. You can add raffia, which can be weaved around the wreath. Also try adding more fall decorations, such as little scarecrow dolls, little birdhouses, dried and fresh flowers, berries, pinecones, clusters of wheat, etc. It’s nice to finish off with paper ribbon (usually sold in rolls), which can be weaved around or attached in certain places in bows.
A nice Thanksgiving decorations idea is to take long strings or rope and attach them to hooks from the ceiling (so that they come down vertically). Then staple on real or paper leaves. If you don’t want them people to run into them, cut them so that they are high enough that they don’t touch even a tall person’s head. You can also decorate with this Thanksgiving Decorations Fence Scene.
If you have a tight budget, you can always go to your local Goodwill and Thrift Stores as well as garage sales where people give away such amazing Thanksgiving decorations that can be yours for very cheap. You can find wreaths, wall pictures, statuettes and many more types of Holiday decorations.
Don’t forget your kids; make sure to dress up their table (if you are creating their own kid’s table). You can get them involved in preparing the Thanksgiving decorations: Ggive them construction paper in all kinds of autumn colors and they can make autumn color paper chains buy cutting strips of paper and looping strips together. Then hang them from places on the ceiling, or around posts, etc.
You can cover their whole table with white butcher paper, give them lots of autumn colored crayons and markers, and let them draw their own Thanksgiving images. You can also draw outlines of all kinds of Thanksgiving items (leaves, pumpkins, etc.) and have them fill them in (don’t forget to put something beneath the butcher paper – possibly two layers of butcher paper, just in case markers bleed through the paper).
You can print out our free and original Thanksgiving coloring pages and let them color them in. Then laminate and possibly let the kids use as placemats.
