BY LAUREN SEPHTON
The Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas ham taste divine, but the real showstopper is what lies beside them on the dinner table. With a little patience and creativity, these simple DIY centerpieces are bound to inspire you to help make the most of your holiday feast.
Autumn-inspired
- Sweater Weather: Warm up the table by wrapping large mason jars in knitted cozies, then placing fresh white flowers inside. To add some vibrant color, pair red roses with the white florals.
- Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice: Draw in the attention by pairing miniature white pumpkins on top of an earthy brown wooden tone base or nestle the pumpkins into a bed of greenery. Some artists may wish to add gold sequins on the white pumpkins, fresh sprigs to make a small wreath, stencil autumn leaves, or simply paint wide beautiful contrasting horizontal stripes and add metallic to the stem. Remember that less is more if you wish to cultivate these pumpkins to become the center of attention.
- Fall Harvest: Although wheat stalks are fairly popular around the Thanksgiving holiday, spice up your centerpiece by setting the wheat stalk on a pile of naturally Autumn-colored leaves. Where to find these beautiful leaves? Walk into your backyard and find the nearest tree! For added dimension, scatter in some tiny string lights or tea lights.
- Seasonal Pickings: Become creative with the autumn season’s finest produce. From spray painting dried corn cobs in metallic hues to tie around a vase with raffia, or staggering your choice of brightly crisp apples, oranges, cranberry sprigs, miniature pumpkins or pears with thick candles, or simply showcase the natural beauty of nature with pinecones and acorns that you gathered on your afternoon walk. A simple way to bring a refreshing take and captivating appeal to any standard floral bouquet without breaking the bank!
Christmas-inspired
- A Deconstructed Christmas Tree: Set the stage with twinkling string lights craftily hidden beneath fresh evergreen cuttings. Often times, you can stop by a local Christmas tree stand to pick up their evergreen scraps for free. Incorporate the colors of gold, white, red, green, and silver through unused ornaments, candles, etc. Maybe even fill a few small glass jars with dried pears, whole hazelnuts, cranberries, gold bells, apples or your favorite choice.
- Claus’ House: Whether your choose to make your own mini gingerbread houses to display or paint 3 descending-in-size white houses to mimic gingerbread houses, line them along a simple linen table runner with a few gingerbread-scented candles to mimic their fresh aromas.
- A Candy Cane Tale: Instead of focusing on a single centerpiece, try turning the entire dinner table set-up to be candy cane inspired by stripes of bright white and red. Fill tall white vases with an array of white flowers, large candy canes, and vibrantly green fir tree branches. Between each vase, add red candlesticks to bring more texture to the motif.
- Snowy Gifts for the Guest: Brush the bottom portion of brown craft paper gift bags with white paint to create a snowy scene, then dot the paint above the snow scene to mimic fresh-falling snowflakes. Add your guests’ goodies inside, then replace traditional stuffing paper with pine, thin branches, and a little star-shaped glitter for added dimension. Wrap the bags with twine before spreading out along the center of the dinner table, placing white candlesticks between each bag.
Winter-inspired
- Simply Fresh: Pair a simple, neutral table runner to lay under a short white vase beautifully filled with fir tree branches and fresh white florals.
- Faux Fur: Add a little texture to the table by using a faux fur table runner to mimic the soft appeal of morning snow. Finish the winter scene with large bells, and weathered stone vases filled with one or two green tree branches.
- Winter Harvest Fruits: Having a hard time finding your perfect table runner? Skip it altogether! Instead, drape sprigs of pine clippings in its place, then stagger taper candles with winter fruits (like clementine, figs, or pomegranates) in a zig-zag formation for added texture.
- Floating Memories: Fill some skinny-necked bottles with water, then place a small cutting of pine into the water to float. Seal in the water by topping each jar with a taper candle for simplicity at its finest. For added dimension, try adding in a handful of cranberries.
Now that you have the prettiest, most festive table of the holiday season, it’s time to start planning the menu!