{Entertaining} Thanksgiving

My family had a wonderful Thanksgiving from start to finish. Wall to wall sunshine and an unseasonably warm temperature started the day and family and delicious food and sweets ended the day. Perfect.

To say I flew by the seat of my pants this year with my tablescape would be an understatement. Thankfully, it all came together in the end, and I really like the combination of traditional and untraditional colors and details. I bought my dinner napkins first {Crate & Barrel} and built everything else around them. Maize, turquoise, green, eggplant, brown, orange, etc -- I had quite a palette to draw from.


I served ten guests total, so it was a manageable number. I set up a little card table in front of our fireplace and used burlap as a table cover to accommodate the overflow of guests.


I created individual dinner menus for each guest's place setting. I sized them to fit inside the center of the salad/dessert plate, which I sat on top of the napkin and dinner plate. Then I placed a few berries on top.


I also attached a round name tag with rafia to each guest's drinking glass. The table was already set when guests arrived, so everyone knew where to sit during dinner.

The green glasses are another Crate & Barrel purchase. I had seen them this summer, but decided to hold out for a little while. When I went back a few weeks ago -- GONE. Uggh. As a last ditch effort, I asked the saleswoman to check the back for me and she came out with ten of them. That was the last of them, and they were marked way down. Score.


The centerpiece was a hodgepodge of different items I pulled from here and there. Most of the items I already owned. I found the sparkly cream pumpkins and gourds for $.50 at Walmart. I snagged a few of those and scattered some acorns and pinecones around too.


The turkey was a PB splurge when my friend Alyssa and I took a decorating class there this fall. He's one of my favorite Turkey Day decorations.


We had some light munchies for everyone before dinner was served. Cheeses, crackers, some fruit, and wine.


I used my galvanized tiered tray, which is pretty big, so I filled in some of the open spaces with fresh parsley and artichokes.



The dessert table was pretty simple, and I added a pop of color with the pears. Anders Ruff's Thanksgiving tablescape was my inspiration {mentioned in my Thanksgiving inspiration post}.

My dad made an awesome homemade apple pie from scratch! He's my new pie maker for all future Turkey Days ;-}



I dipped my pears in caramel sauce {it went on a little thinner than I had hoped but oh well} and then sprinkled shimmery sanding sugar on them. So pretty!


I also made pumpkin pie mini's just for a change from a normal sized pie. They were simple -- I followed a normal pumpkin pie recipe for the filing. Then I lined a cupcake tray with pie crust {I used a glass to cut small circles and push in each cupcake mold}, filled with the filling and popped in the oven. Super simple.

I made a friend from work a ribbon bunting for her Thanksgiving dessert spread, and I really liked the way it turned out, so I made a mini one using the same colors {cream, brown and burnt orange} for one of the pumpkin pie tarts.

That's it!

**I can't believe it's already Monday again :-{
**Wishing you a quick and painless Monday ;-}