Create a Thanksgiving Tablescape!

Thanksgiving is almost upon us. And if you’re one of those folks who has the honor of hosting, you know that as a creative person,, there’s pressure on your shoulders to make something inspirational – something your guests are sure to talk about for years to come.

And what better to wow them than a sola wood flower-inspired tablescape! (I mean, what better use of all those flowers we've been collecting?)

With a little cleverness, you can make a truly stunning tablescape without having to spend much (more) money. In fact, if you have extra random items laying around, you may be able to get away without having to spend anything at all!

Here’s my step-by-step process of how I decorated for Thanksgiving for my family this year.

Start with Placemats!

I love placemats like these for several reasons. First, they look generally celebratory but they don’t commit too hard to a given holiday. There’s no reason these couldn’t be used for Thanksgiving, winter holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and more!

So the reusability factor is key. But what about beyond the aesthetics? Placements give you fixed boundaries to work with. They let you know how much space in the center of the table you have to work with. 

In any case: the right set of placemats will last you many many holidays. Don’t hesitate to pick up a set! You can pick up the placemats on the left here.

Set Out Your Sola Wood Flower Centerpiece!

You might have seen the sola wood flower cornucopia I made a few weeks ago. Since I had this (and another I made for an Instagram reel) sitting around, I made them part of the design. The key here is to fan out the visuals (flowers facing out) so that every guest has your work to look at. If you have multiple pieces like I did, start by putting your largest piece on the table, and work your way down from there.

If you don’t have something ready-made like I did, never fear! It’s easy enough to grab some flowers, dye them with autumnal colors, and make an arrangement with some seasonal pops of color. If there’s not enough time for that, don’t even worry about the design portion. Simply add bits of filler and flowers at strategic locations on your table. This will still give the appearance of a fresh, organic look without taking extra crafting time from your schedule.

Light The Candles

My husband and I recently moved into a new house, and we’re both on a mission to add more pleasing lighting to every room of the house. Corner lamps are where it’s at, folks, because overhead lighting can be abrasive, bright, and downright stress-inducing.

The same goes for your Thanksgiving table. Instead of overhead lighting, light it up old school!

Candles will add a beautiful, warm ambiance to the room. It creates a more intimate setting, which will help make for a more memorable meal for your friends and family!

When setting out candles, I like to add pieces of varying heights, rather than creating a uniform look. This will help add an interesting depth to the overall look.

The one thing to watch out for, when varying your heights (and this goes for every piece you put on the table), is not to block off the ability for two people across from each other to see each other.

Besides that, mix and match as you please. Start with your largest candles and work your way down.

Add Some Glass Bottles

A couple of years ago, I picked up a bunch of glass bottles, like the ones you see in this picture, from the dollar store. Five of these bottles AND a can of spray paint cost me less than $10. 

The next result is something that’s as beautiful as it is eye-catching.

For taller pieces like this, I’d leave  them exactly as-is. But for shorter pieces, consider sprucing each bottle up with a floral addition. Not only does that give you another opportunity to show off your product, but it will give even more depth to your tablescape.

Set Out Some Decorative Plates!

Confession: I don’t have any fine dining plates. But I still think it’s worth it to break out nicer-looking plates for special events. 

I was pretty excited to stumble across this set on Amazon. As you can see, I’ve been leaning towards a sort of white and gold theme, which is classic, upscale, and neutral all at the same time. Now, the best part of these plates? They’re plastic! Easy to clean (aka easy to dispose of) but totally reusable if you want. You can pick up a set yourself here.

Don’t Forget Napkins and Cutlery!

For the napkins and cutlery, I kept to my white and gold theme. I used some nice and thick napkins and stuck to plastic for the cutlery. And that’s ok! Here it’s much more about the aesthetics than the materials. If it adds to your color story, everything is fair game.

By the way if anyone was wondering, the etiquette for setting out silverware is (from left to right): fork, knife, spoon. Yes, I did have to Google it. 

Grab your own cutlery here, and napkins here!

Now that you’ve heard about the strategies of each individual piece, take a look at the whole thing coming together. I have my placemats to help guide my design space, a white and gold color story for plates, napkins, and cutlery, candles of varying sizes throughout the tablescape, and sola wood centerpieces facing as many diners as possible. I’m also using glass bottles for extra ambiance in the center.

The Finished Look!

One final thing to consider is: where will the food go? We plan on having food on the corners of the table, and we’re even using a bar cart for supplementary serving storage. A side table or something similar would work as well. 

And there you have it! Follow these guidelines and you’ll have a beautiful Thanksgiving tablescape in no time. Happy crafting, and happy Thanksgiving!

**If the listing is for an amazon link this is an affiliate link.  It costs you nothing but OYL will get a small percentage from the sale if you decide to purchase.  Thank you!