Rebecca’s Thanksgiving Table Styling & Hosting Tips
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to gather your friends and family together – whether you celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving or possibly a 'Friendsgiving'. It’s an excuse to get together over a beautifully laid table accompanied by plates filled with delicious food – which we don’t need much temptation for.
We've shared our tips and advice for creating a memorable Thanksgiving table below, although this could also be appropriate for any autumnal celebration you have in the diary.
Serve sharing dishes
One of our favourite ways to encourage conversation and to get your guests acquainted with each other is to serve sharing dishes that can be passed around the table. This is particularly well suited to Thanksgiving, where you might be bringing together people from different parts of your life and the cuisine also lends itself well to sharing dishes. With your food becoming part of your centrepiece, we recommend serving your carefully prepared meals in a selection of hand-painted platters and serving bowls.
Plan your menu
Thanksgiving is all about the sides, and depending on the preference of guests, we prefer to make these as interesting as possible. For example, opting for Middle Eastern flavours for all components or Italian style side dishes. Skye McAlpine does a great rice dish cooked and served in a pumpkin.This strategy also works well if you have vegetarian guests, as a variety of side dishes can be meals on their own with an adundance of flavours.
Style your table
For those who truly celebrate Thanksgiving, it can be one of the biggest celebrations of the year, so don’t be afraid to go all-out with your table styling. Start with your tablecloth, opting for season-appropriate rich colours or an eye-catching pattern - our subtly striped Victoria tablecloths or new statement marbled tablecloths can all work well for Thanksgiving tables. We've just released new colours in our classic table linens - forest green, tobacco and black cherry are all an ideal base for building an eye-catching Thanksgiving table.
Add rich, warm colours through your choice of napkins, chargers, placemats and candles. Pair Murano tumblers for water with your favourite wine glasses. And choose plates that complement the rest of your table setting - our Eleanor crockery elevates your table for any occasion, but we also love our Josephine sponged border plates and Madeleine gold filet plates for adding more rich colours and elegance to your table. For a finishing flourish, our new braided and striped napkin rings are available in an array of seasonal hues to add interest to each place setting.
Add table transformers
Table transformers are simple pieces that make a simple but notable impact to your table, such as vases or chargers that add interest, texture and extra decorative detail. We reach for these pieces time and time again. When Rebecca is planning a big dinner party for an event such as Thanksgiving, she adds these extra elements to give that finishing flourish to her table, without having to give styling too much thought.
Place small vases along the table filled with seasonal foliage, add a rattan charger between plates and placemats for added texture and height, then finish with decorative glassware. Cutlery can also make a big difference, with our tortoiseshell, burgundy and chocolate cutlery sets being particularly suited to Thanksgiving.
Embrace candlelight
Create a warm, cosy atmosphere by lighting candles along your Thanksgiving table, to offer each place setting a soft glow. I like to use a combination of dinner candles and tea lights in smaller votives to balance the levels of candlelight. Our pillar candles can be surrounded by seasonal foliage to create an interesting centrepiece. Use a variety of candles that complement your colour scheme - candles are a simple and effective way to bring more colour to your table.
Decorate your table
For a finishing flourish, choose seasonal foliage to decorate your table. You can find small ornamental pumpkins and squash in a variety of colours in most supermarkets and florists at this time of year. Berries, branches and dried flowers work well arranged in vases. We personally prefer to scatter bud vases along the table with smaller arrangements to avoid halting conversation – it is also more cost effective. And for a finishing touch, add something smaller such as a dried flower stem to each place setting.
Planning your own Thanksgiving meal? You'll find everything you need for a stylish table setting in our edit.
