Creating a Thanksgiving Centerpiece

Soon the snow will be flying and most people in the United States, at least, will be planning their yearly Thanksgiving dinner. While the turkey is always the showcase piece of the Thanksgiving Holiday, there is one staple to almost every family dinner that is made solely to wow and amaze people: The Centerpiece. However, not everyone can afford to go out and buy an expensive floral decoration or life-like cornucopia each year, so here are some creative and fun tips to make a centerpiece to remember, as well as having a little family fun to create it – after all, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks and being with those you love.

One big problem with real fruits and a cornucopia is they can cost a lot of money. And especially depending on your income, you just may not be able to spend a vast amount of money for a decorative piece that will start to rot in a few days if the fruits, berries or whatever else you put into them are not eaten. Now, this idea is for a standard non-edible cornucopia which can easily be converted with a little creativity into several decorative pieces in a kitchen or dining room for everyday.
Most craft stores sell small, medium and large sized cornucopias, but if they are even too much to pay, by browsing around discount and dollar stores, you should be able to find one piece that fits even the smallest of budgets. Along with cornucopias and generally in the same area are plastic fruits. While some of these fruits and other decorative pieces can look downright cheap and obviously synthetic, some can absolutely fool others with how shiny, perfect and real they appear. After you’ve purchased the fruits and other goodies for the cornucopia, you can do several things. I think a few fake leaves (which can be really believable if you find the right store) and some festive ribbons, both which are found in a craft store, can create some warmth to the plain piece.

The fun part of this is arranging the pieces, deciding what will go where, if you’ll glue the ribbon on, or how to use it. One fun idea is to hot glue some ribbon about the opening of the cornucopia, or even wrap it about the piece and about it to create it’s own ‘plate-like’ setting without having to put a display plate under it. This lets you figure out what you feel will be appealing to the eyes as well as strike up a conversation. When they find out you pieced it together yourself, I’m certain it’ll receive compliments!

Another fun suggestion can involve your children and with supervision be a wonderful way to spend a day. Most everywhere that has crafts have those popsicle stick pieces of wood. Often times, I’ve seen them in packs of anywhere between 100 and 200, depending on the store. Using glue, you can make a popsicle stick house. This can be a real space saver, too. You can make the stick house smaller or larger depending on the size of the table it will go on. While this may not seem so much fun for the kids, they, too, can chip in on helping line up the pieces, or even help by coloring the pieces of wood before you glue them. Use markers or crayons in festive fall colors and there’s no doubt the children will have a blast.

Now that your house is built you need a roof! This requires a little bit of cardboard. Using an old cereal box is a great way to recycle. Make sure you cut the roof to size or watch your child closely after it’s been measured and from there, lay the wood pieces over the board to make it more stable. Depending on how you go about making the house and dimensions, you’ll have to do a little thinking. But once you figure out your best way, just glue them on, glue the roof to the house and let it dry.

Here comes the fun part. People. You can make your own pilgrims with some crayons or markers, cardboard to help them stand and any mixture of crafty addons. (Such as felt, glitter, actual fabric samples) Let your children’s imaginations soar – let them re-create their family as pilgrims, or just let them make people for the house. Whatever they choose, it’s sure to be a hit and fun for them to be a part of the festivities. Once the drawings are completed, glue them onto cardboard and let them dry.
Once dry, carefully cut them out and be sure to cut out some way for them to be free standing, unless you plan to glue them to the house walls. After they’re cut would be the best time to do addons such as gluing fabric on, since you can wrap the fabric around as skirts or aprons and make them seem more believable.

Now you have a house, people and maybe the children even created food-like drawings for a table. You can make an outdoor table with leftover sticks easily and almost in no time.

So everything is made and just needs to be set up. This can be the most fun, as there are infinite ways to set up the house. You could even set up the table inside if you couldn’t manage a roof and decorate the outside with colored trees in the same way you made people. Once set up, you can place it on the table just the same as a standard centerpiece. While not as fancy, I’m certain others will appreciate the creativity – especially any grandparents who may get to see it. The best part about this is after the dinner is done, the children can use the centerpiece as a playset.

There are many ways to create a memorable centerpiece. Be sure to shop around for the best prices for materials and have fun. If things don’t go exactly as planned with your creation, take a breath, step back and think of how work around any mistakes. Remember, these are pieces of art and in that, you can never make a mistake. Above all else – enjoy the fun with those you make it with. Those memories will last a lifetime.