It takes much more than merely orange plates to construct a squeal-worthy table for Thanksgiving. Let’s dissect the one we did to give you ideas you can use for your own Thanksgiving table!
Turkeys? Oh, yeah, baby. I actually used four on this table (besides the real one, which as actually served sliced on a buffet table in the kitchen) — this large one with slices of wood on the back and fall leaves for the tail, another one like it that is smaller, and two plain wood ones.
Rather than flowers, I used the ever-dependable ilex berries in a glorious ceramic vase fashioned by Michael’s niece Sarah, a talented artist.
Sarah also took my birds nests and wove through them some small orange and cream-colored straw flowers, ilex berries, and orange tulips. (I swear they were orange, even though the tulip looks red in this photo.)
This picture shows the other bird’s nest, the garland of fall leaves, and the little baby turkey. When it comes to flowers, don’t always just stick them in a vase. 10 tulips wouldn’t have made much of a statement as a traditional flower arrangement, but as accents, the orange tulips scored big.
Did you notice the table runner? Burlap. On top of it is a swath of moss and leaf-covered burlap “ribbon.” There are also tiny battery-operated rice lights in the berry arrangement and random leaves scattered across the runner.
Wood-covered flatware. Green base plates. Pumpkin and leaf-shaped salad plates. Bronze-colored napkins with the cutest napkin rings ever (Thanks, Sue!). Lots of color. Even a few eggs in one of the nests.
It was a happy group preparing the table and the food. Here you see some of the happies surveying their good work as they were saying “Are we ready to eat yet?” [Actually, no, not quite. The flat leaf parsley looked like it had just been thrown at the platter of sliced ham. We neatened that up real quick, then all was well.
Here you have the finished product. It was tough to step away from all the good food in time to take a snapshot, but for you, dear reader, the sacrifice was worth it!
For those of you who like to do those puzzles where you look at a picture and spot what’s wrong, I dedicate the photo below to you. Can you discern what I should have tweaked?
The photo shows the backside of the table. The next one shows the front, then I’ll reveal what the tweak should have been.
3 of the 4 turkeys face the front. When you have folks dining on both sides of the table, no one should feel they are on the “wrong side of the table runner.” Every guest’s vantage point should be beautiful.
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