Thanksgiving Decorating Ideas

Next week is Thanksgiving already (where has this year gone?) -  the time when we gather with friends and family and give thanks for all the bounty and blessings in our lives.  Even if it's been a "hard" year, there is much to be thankful for.  When we eat ourselves into a food coma, maybe watch some football or our favorite movies, nap, enjoy time with those we love and enjoy at least one day off.  (At least I hope you get a day off)  Because Thanksgiving is celebrated in the fall, we use fall colors of oranges, golds, scarlets, dark greens and browns for decorations.  This is a beautiful time of year with a myriad of colors to use.  We all know the iconic symbols of Thanksgiving - turkeys, pilgrims, native people, pumpkins, gourds and fall leaves.  The choices are endless.

After Halloween, I changed a lot of my home accents from bright oranges to more fall-like colors of golds, bronzes, lattes, and browns.  How did I achieve this?  I spray painted all my gourds and pumpkins that I used at Halloween so that I didn't have to go buy new or throw out all the perfectly good ones I already had.  It is a very simple process.  I used Krylon spray paint in metallic gold, sparkly bronze and metallic latte.  I purchased my paint at Wal-Mart, but it is also available at Lowes and Home Depot.   All you have to do is spray whatever you want and let it dry.  Simple!

I took everything out in the yard to spray it.  It looked so pretty sitting in the dried grass and leaves that I snapped this picture.

Some of these gourds and pumpkins are real and some are artificial.  When they are sprayed, you cannot tell the difference and they are so lovely.  It just gives a new vibe to all of them and makes things look different without expending a lot of effort or money.

After Halloween, I added some artificial glittered "trees" to the mantel, removed some of the more Halloween type decorations, did some rearranging and added some of the spray painted pumpkins, gourds, pinecones and artificial acorns.  The more muted colors will carry us through Thanksgiving when it will then be time to start decorating for Christmas.  Whew.  It's never ending.  This is how our mantel looks now.

I also sprayed the big pumpkins on the front porch and added some lovely fall mums and a fall welcome flag.  Yes, I decorate inside and out - I  have just always done that.   Here is how the porch looks.

I also put my painted candy corn candle holders away until next year and made a new centerpiece for the dining table.  It is really easy to do and it looks like this.

All I did, was take a wide cylinder vase that I already had and placed in on a small serving plate.  I placed a candle in the middle of the vase and filled around the candle with small pinecones and acorns.  (Place the candle in the vase before you fill with anything to keep the candle in the middle and so that it will sit flat in the vase.)  Next, I added some artificial fall leaves that I had.  I laid more leaves on the plate around the vase and then placed small pinecones over the leaves.  I had some big artificial fall leaves that I placed on the table and then sat the plate with the candle holder on them.  ( Dollar Tree still has artificial leaves for sale and a whole package is only a dollar.)

If you are hosting Thanksgiving dinner next week, you can use some of these easy ideas to decorate your home.  Look around outside for branches, pinecones, acorns and leaves that you can use - even gum balls.  All it takes are a few candles,  some vases, a little imagination, and a few minutes to create a lovely table scape and decorations to welcome your guests.  If you are going to be dining at someone else's home, make a simple centerpiece to give to your host or hostess.  They will be so appreciative that you thought of them!  

We have family coming from out of town next week and I am busy making new pillow covers for all our toss pillows.  I will share some ideas for new pillow covers with you soon because next, it's the BIG holiday season when I want everything to look really spiffy.  I am also going to make "gratitude flags" by cutting triangles of paper in fall colors,  I will ask everyone to write something they are grateful for on a flag.  I will have a strand of sisal rope tied where we will hang these flags with mini clip clothes pins so that we can all read our "gratitudes".  Then, we will be reminded of more reasons why we celebrate this special day of Thanksgiving!  So many projects, so little time!  Time to get busy.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.  ~Meister Eckhart