Thanksgiving Tablescape on a Budget

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and is able to spend it with those near and dear. I am lucky to spend it with my Mom, brother, sister, brother-in-law, my sister’s mother-in- law (boy, that’s a mouthful) and my cutie pie niece. Desi will be spending it with her boyfriend’s family, we will miss her dearly, but I’m sure she’ll have fun.

This will be my first Thanksgiving, hosting solo and I’m a bit nervous about the turkey for a few reasons. One, my ex-husband always did the turkey, (he was the cook in the family) while I did desserts and other prep. Two, I hate handling poultry; its just plain gross when its raw, eww, just writing about it gives me the heebie-jeebies! Three, this is my third try hosting a holiday solo and there were a few minor mishaps that I hope I don’t repeat, both involving the main course…..sigh! Like the intended beef roast that ended up being stew, but took way longer to cook than stew should, last Christmas, or the overcooked pot roast at Easter because of a faulty meat thermometer.

Hopefully, this Thanksgiving will go smoothly. I’ve made the brine for the turkey a number of times, plus I’ve watched my ex-husband roast a turkey enough, not to mention all the years I’ve seen my Mom do it, I should be fine. I’ll even put on my big girl panties and get over myself with the raw poultry gross-out 😉 I have a new thermometer, too, yay!

I want to make the apartment look special for Thanksgiving and since I can’t afford to decorate the whole apartment for this holiday, I thought I would focus on the table. The trick is to transform our (Desi and I’s) everyday work space (the kitchen table) into something guest worthy. Okay, I admit it; I cleaned up the table quite a bit before taking this pic. I didn’t think anyone would want to see all the coats, scarves and sweaters draped over chairs or the piled up mail.

Kitchen curtains are on my list of things to get for the apartment someday; rods and all.

I bought the candle holders, votive candles and resin pumpkins at the dollar store. The glittery fruit stalks and flowers I bought at Michael’s. I switched out the table runner for a more neutral color, both purchased at Target last year. I had a somewhat vague idea of what I wanted to do when I was out shopping, I just wasn’t sure if I would use all of it or not. I played around a little and it all came together as I went along. I bent each glittery fruit stalk around the tall candle holder in the center and just spread the flowers around a bit. I didn’t end up using the cream colored ones, less is more right? I’ll save those for Christmas.

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

Minus the table runner, the whole thing was less than $20 and I’ll reuse all of it, a few will carry over well for the Holidays. I do realize that I’ll have to move some of it to get plates on the table, I got a bit carried away. Adding a bit of glam is fun, makes me feel girly and creative, plus its a festive way to celebrate a holiday.

I hope everyone has a very special, fattening, laughter filled, Thanksgiving. Remember though, to give thanks for what you have. Enjoy your time with family and friends, hug them, love them and say what needs to be said. Life is too short to wait until later, to play it safe or to miss chances.

Happy Thanksgiving!

~Renee