Easy DIY Thanksgiving Centerpieces for a Picture-Perfect Table
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Turkey time is almost here! As you're putting the finishing touches on your Thanksgiving menu and checking (and double-checking) your Thanksgiving grocery list, don't forget about the other main attraction of the day. And, no we're not talking about the roast turkey or your famous pumpkin pie. It's the Thanksgiving centerpiece! Put your DIY skills to work and create a beautiful Thanksgiving table. A wow-worthy centerpiece deserves a place of honor along with your Thanksgiving table settings and thoughtful DIY placecards.
These extra touches will make guests feel like you've gone out of your way to create something special just for them. These handmade beauties come together quickly and easily, rivaling the most gorgeous projects you've seen over on Pinterest, and at a fraction of the cost. Whether you want to use all the flowers available, opt for a gourd and pumpkin display, or use old family photos to up the nostalgia factor there are plenty ideas here to get you inspired. And because many of these ideas just scream fall there is no need to wait until the big day to put them on display. As soon as the weather turns chilly get that table decorated. That's just one of many things to be thankful for!
Go for Abundance
Create a centerpiece apart from the main table and fill it all the pretty things the season has on offer like figs, pears, persimmons, and loads of pumpkins. It's the season to give thanks to more is more!
Match the Flowers to the Plate
The wispy nature of the branches on this beautiful pheasant plate are mimicked in the flowers, while the white pumpkins help pull it all together.
Layer Pinecones, Leaves, Fruit and Gourds
This centerpiece lets fall's bounty take centerstage, with a mix of fresh and dried fruit, pinecones, and autumn leaves. Extend the theme onto place setting by placing smaller leaves in the center of dinner plates.
Fill a Copper Pitcher
A seasonal flower arrangement takes center stage in a vintage copper pitcher.
Make a Cloche Display
Use vintage flower frogs to hold family photos upright, then place beneath glass cloches and bell jars. If your frog doesn’t have tines, fashion a holder by wrapping craft wire around a 3/4-inch dowel a few times, leaving a 1- to 2-inch tail that you insert into a hole of the flower frog. For a more organic feel, incorporate earthy elements such as moss, rocks, and pine cones.
Bring Out the Turkey Vases
These festive vessels are perfect for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. Fill them with rustic wheat and dried flowers for a finishing touch. Check out resale sites like Chairish and Etsy for vintage pieces with extra character.
Craft a Rope Cornucopia
Fashion a DIY cornucopia out of just 2 materials, rope and hot glue. For a striking display fill with monochromatic bounty such as red grapes and apples, and pomegranates.
To make: Fold the end of a long length of 3/4-inch manila or jute rope over on itself about 4 inches. Start wrapping the long length of rope around the folded piece, forming the cornucopia, arching it and making it wider as you work, holding everything together with hot glue. When you get to the desired size, do one last pass between and on top of the last two rows then add a circle of rope on the bottom to act as a base and keep it from rolling.
Layer in Chinese Lanterns
Beautiful Chinese lanterns take center stage in this floral arrangement. Combine the stems with leafy branches and fluffy marigolds in an antique pewter pitcher.
Arrange Wildflowers in a Pumpkin Vase
Gather a sweet grouping of wildflowers into a hollowed out pumpkin for an easy-but-show-stopping centerpiece. Place smaller gourds on guests' plates and accent the rest of the table with smaller arrangements housed in mercury glass bud vases.
Make Sophisticated Painted Pumpkins
Five minutes and done! Paint a green or tan heirloom pumpkin with off-white acrylic paint for an easy DIY distressed look.
Use a Vintage Vessel
A vintage blue-and-white transferware tureen stuffed full of white and yellow flowers, with hints of greenery, looks great on buffet or as a Thanksgiving table centerpiece. Bonus: Decoupage a white pumpkin with blue and white toile wallpaper (you can use color copies, too).
Add LED Lights to Leafy Garland
Add a bit of extra sparkle to the center of your table with LED lights, arranged in a garland of faux autumn leaves. Vary the height of the centerpiece by placing small pumpkins on pedestals throughout, then tie guests' napkins with a tag that reads "thankful" for a finishing touch.
Use a Copper Milk Can
A copper milk can filled with greens and berries makes a bold statement as a centerpiece. Add a few orange taper candles to the table and you are ready to celebrate!
Layer Turkey Salt and Pepper Shakers & Candlesticks
Feather your table with these turkey-shaped salt and pepper shakers. Add fall-colored taper candles for a beautiful centerpiece.
Craft an Ombre Pumpkin Centerpiece
Paint small white pumpkins in differing shades of red and pink to create a lovely ombre effect down the center of the table. Add single maroon flowers in bud vases here and there for a light floral touch. Bonus: Wrap the ends of cinnamon sticks in red twine and slip place cards in the stick's natural crevice to create place cards.
Go Neutral and Sophisticated
Neutral tones, including whitewashed pumpkins and dried gourds, are layered on top of a smattering of green eucalyptus leaves to create this sophisticated, neutral-toned centerpiece. Bonus: Thread twine through wood buttons and use to tie up linen napkins.
Make Lace Pumpkins
Not just for wedding dresses! Hot glue lace and sewing trim on orange pumpkins and sprinkle them down the center of the table. Orange flower and bittersweet add a soft touch. Bonus: Form napkins into a bow shape and slip a gold napkin ring over the center.
Go Green
A scattering of green gourds and acorn squash laid down the center of the table and accented with orange and red flowers creates quite a pretty site. Bonus: Hot glue acorns to lengths of brown waxed twine and use to tie up rolled napkins. Apply gold leaf to a portion of a preserved maple leaf and use a gold paint pen to mark with guest's initials.
Add Layered Elements
A plain cotton or linen table runner gets a personal touch when embroidered with the names of family and friends who have attended Thanksgivings past. Display and array of colorful flowers in a vintage trophy and add a scattering of small pine cones and tea lights to complete the scene.
Add Height for Interest
Create visual interest easily with wood slabs. Just stack in a few underneath your fall flower arrangements and sprinkle some smaller pumpkins and nuts around for an even more layered look.
Go for Bud Vase Centerpieces
Who says your centerpiece has to be lush and overflowing to be beautiful? Here, individual bud vases in a variety of colors make for a lovely-looking table.
Create Foliage-Inspired Florals
Bring some autumnal beauty indoors with this arrangement inspired by the yellow, orange, red, and purple leaves on the trees. A vintage trophy (with a flower frog inside) makes the perfect vessel for a big bunch of blooms.
Offer Plaid Tidings
We're mad for this plaid look featuring patterned table runners, vases, and fabric-covered pumpkins. Flowers featuring the various colors in the tartan prints bring the whole look together.
Use Vintage Seasonal Spice Tins
Mix and match wildflowers and vintage spice cans in autumnal hues according to the length of your table. Display two for small settings, and a series for longer setups.
Make Metallic Maize
Give a plain ol' vase some fall flair with this easy idea. Start by coating roughly 14 cobs of dried corn with metallic gold and copper spray paint. Once dry, hot-glue cobs to the perimeter of a 6-inch round vase. Tie it all together with gold raffia. Fill vase with floral foam and add seasonal flowers as desired. (This sampling includes dahlias, zinnias, and mountain ash berries.)
Leafy Green Centerpiece
Embrace your green thumb with this centerpiece idea! Bamboo leaves or palm fronds might seem like a decidedly different way to decorate for the holiday—and they are. But make no mistake: Green is an all-season hue.
Craft Wheat Cloches
This seasonal staple makes the perfect focal point for your holiday table. Start by bundling a small handful of wheat and tie with twine. Turn a cloche upside down and place the wheat inside, then top with base and invert. Add leftover snips of wheat to votive holders (securing with twine).
Bold Red Centerpiece
A vibrant arrangement is a guaranteed head-turner at any dinner party, but it'll be especially appreciated on Thanksgiving Day. Dahlias, roses, and ranunculus will fit right in with all the red-hued pies and cranberry sauce on your table.
Galvanized Bucket Centerpieces
It's the ultimate rustic-modern table accessory—a galvanized bucket! Simply place your bouquet of choice into one, and watch as your table transforms into a country-chic paradise.
Get the tutorial at Sugar and Charm.
Use Apples as Candleholders
Utilize your latest farmer's market finds to make this fast display. Use a paring knife to cut a 1-inch-deep hole in the top of a few apples, slightly narrower than the candles, and wedge the candles in. Display alone or with stacked apples and seeded eucalyptus on a neutral cake stand.
Go Perfectly Imperfect
A gold-patterned table runner, mismatched vintage china, and a vibrant bouquet of seasonal blooms are all this Thanksgiving table needs to stand out. For a personal touch, use family photos in lieu of place cards.
Make a Pumpkin Menu Centerpiece
How genius is this? With just a white paint pen and an oversized pumpkin, you can create this sophisticated centerpiece that doubles as a menu.
Get the tutorial at The Merrythought.
Use a Retro Cooler as a Vase
If Thanksgiving tends to be a casual shindig in your home, use a vintage jug cooler and foraged branches, leaves, and flowers from your backyard.
Use Pampas leaves as a Centerpiece
Dried, fluffy florals make for a totally unexpected Thanksgiving centerpiece. Evoking the earthiness of the fall season, their muted tones and subdued color palette is sure to elicit more than a few oohs and aahs from your guests.
Get the tutorial at Sugar and Charm.
Use Unexpected Vessels
Bookmarked by stacks of dishes, a chicken wire centerpiece filled with leaves and hydrangeas adds a festive touch in blogger KariAnne Wood's dining room.
Get the tutorial at Thistlewood Farms.
Layer In Succulents
Let your centerpiece handiwork live on after Thanksgiving with a hardy succulent display. Place a few of these vibrant plants around the table, then simply keep them there—they'll last you well into winter. Red taper candles, brass planters, and a blue runner add a splash of color.
DIY A Subtle Pumpkin Vase
Subtlety is key when it comes to Thanksgiving centerpieces. You've already got so much on the table—why crowd it further? Here, a quiet arrangement of faux flowers and branches is more than enough to make a serious statement.
Get the tutorial at A Pumpkin and a Princess.
Layer Apples and Leaves
We love the idea of incorporating the fall harvest in your Thanksgiving tablescape. Freshly-picked apples, leaves and branches cut from your own backyard, and a few pillar candles work together to create a look that's as elegant as it is inexpensive.
Get the tutorial at Julie Blanner.
Layer Orange and White Pumpkins
Can't decide on a color scheme? Give yourself the best of both worlds with this neat centerpiece idea, which brings together a neutral runner, white taper candles, and a dash of bold color.
Get the tutorial at Ella Claire.
Use Vintage Books
There's no need to pay top dollar for a memorable centerpiece. In this pretty vignette, vintage books are used to lift a single floral arrangement. The books, like the rest of the tablescape, are accented in navy, burgundy, and gold.
Get the tutorial at Shades of Blue Interiors.
Go Graphic
Just because your tablescape borders on "glam" doesn't mean it can't still embody everything you love about country style. Black candles, brass candleholders, ironstone pitchers, and a bit of dried wheat join forces to create a look that's cosmopolitan-chic—but still imbued with the down-home charm you love.
Get the tutorial at Patterns and Prosecco.
Craft A White Centerpiece
Fall decor isn't all about oranges, yellows, and reds. Dried hydrangeas and white, faux antler decorations can make for an equally gorgeous monochrome centerpiece. Candles bring warmth, and faux pumpkins add texture.
Get the tutorial at Tone on Tone.
Whitewash Your Pinecones
These pale pinecones are pretty enough to display on their own, or in this simple arrangement featuring gourds, berries, and succulents.
Get the tutorial at A Piece of Rainbow.
Make Sure to Give Thanks
Take a cue from the changing leaves on the trees and work in fresh flowers in shades of yellow, orange, and red. Then add a simple sign with a timely message to make your piece feel even more celebratory.
Get the tutorial at A Blissful Nest.
Embrace Seasonal Greenery
Embrace harvest season and use seasonal selections like cabbage flowers, crimson daises, and ivory mums to fill out your vases.
Get the tutorial at Bird's Party.
Arrange Flowers and Foliage
Bring some of nature's beauty indoors with this loose and casual display of autumnal blooms, leaves, and other fresh finds.
Get the tutorial at A Piece of Rainbow.
Craft A Pumpkin-Filled Planter
This gourd-geous piece has it all. Pumpkins, berries, leaves, and a variety of candles work together to add color and some ambience to your holiday table.
Get the tutorial at 724 South House.
Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece
This floral pumpkin centerpiece may look ornate, but it's actually incredibly easy to make. The crafter in question simply carved a gourd and filled it with a bouquet she got from the grocery store! Just don't forget the floral foam!
Get the tutorial at Shades of Blue Interiors.
Try A Gilded Fruit Centerpiece
Cover artificial pomegranates with copper leaf for festive decor that will never spoil. Just insert wooden skewers into artificial pomegranates. Coat each with adhesive size. Stand skewers upright in a piece of Styrofoam; let pomegranates dry until tacky (about 7 minutes). Following manufacturer's instructions, apply sheets of copper leaf until pomegranate is covered (approximately 2 sheets). Repeat with each pomegranate. Display on a tray, in a bowl, or on a cake stand.
Craft An Eclectic Fall Setting
Tie leaf-shaped tags made from brown craft paper around your pumpkins and add sprigs of fall picks to create this simply gorgeous centerpiece.
Get the tutorial at Ella Claire.
Craft A Fall Tablescape
The secret to this charming fall tablescape? Set the table first, then fill in the open space with pumpkins and rustic DIY candlesticks made from slices of birch wood.
Get the tutorial at Ella Claire.
Go Beyond the Vase
When it comes to centerpieces, vintage wooden spools—around $5 to $10 each on etsy.com—offer a novel way to display dried leaves or branches. (If using fresh flowers, seek out spools with hollow cores wide enough to accommodate floral tubes.) The vessel that contains our loose arrangement of dahlias and pomegranates? It's a porcelain utensil holder. Bonus: Craft the cheapest candlestick ever: An inexpensive roll of jute twine! Pop a taper inside, then set it atop a plate.
Craft A Harvest Centerpiece
Add some harvest-time charm to the kids' table with this durable centerpiece, featuring a mix of faux berries, gourds, leaves that can be used year after year.
Put Out a Rustic Lantern
Light up your table in style with a vintage lantern surrounded by fall branches.
Get the tutorial at Serendipity Refined.
Use Color-Wrapped Wheat
Use embroidery floss to give stalks of wheat some colorful flair.
Get the tutorial at Inspired by Charm.
Fresh Pomegranate Centerpieces
Liza Lubell of Brooklyn's Peartree Flowers says, "Ripe fruit is as lush as any flower." Here, she uses opulent pomegranates for these autumnal centerpieces placed in white pitchers. Cut each branch to a height that allows its heavy fruits to rest on the rim of your vase. Then fill in with inexpensive foliage, such as the purple shiso leaves here. You can also try apples or persimmons.
Play Up the Country Charm
Add some simple country charm to your Thanksgiving table with a blue and white gingham table runner accessorized with pinecones, white pumpkins, gourds, and the Julia centerpiece by UrbanStems.
Or, Go Simple and Modern
Or go for a minimalist table setting featuring white mini pumpkins and mini corn cobs.
Use Natural Materials
Take a note from Adrianne from Dream Book Design and layer in pops of orange and gold. Pull fresh foliage from the yard and sprinkle leaves across the table.
Bright and Bold
Though pinks and reds might seem like non-traditional Thanksgiving colors, the combination of the two creates a vibrant, beautiful holiday table.
Get the tutorial at A Thoughtful Place.
Create a Tonal Pumpkin Vase
Use seasonal autumn flowers such as broom cob, roses, and mums to fill your DIY pumpkin vase. Stick to one main color and an accent color for a tonal touch.
Get the tutorial at Everyday Occasions.
Load Up on Gourds
Mix and match different gourds to fill a DIY statement piece for any dining room table. For an extra rustic touch, add mason jars with candles inside of them.
Get the tutorial at Shanty2Chic.
Bring Out the Vintage Decor
Far Above Rubies blogger Anita Diaz used an old chestnut board as her table's centerpiece, then filled it with arborvitae, hydrangeas, pinecones, and hand-painted pumpkins. To add an extra gleam, she placed silver sugar bowls and her great-grandfather's vintage oil lamp in the middle. Transferware adds a timeless touch.
Get the tutorial at Far Above Rubies.
Lean Into Metallics and Whites
A mercury glass vase, shining silver candlesticks, frosted pinecones, and white pumpkins stand out against a dark stained wood table runner.
Get the tutorial at Blooming Homestead.
Play Up the Rustic Elegance
Photographer Lia Griffith used a woodland motif—note the natural wood, plum colored place cards, and twig-style silverware—to transform her dining room table into a beautiful natural scene.
Get the tutorial at Lia Griffith.
Go for a 5-Minute Table Setting
If an elaborate Thanksgiving table isn't exactly your cup of tea, take a cue from blogger Julie Blanner. In just five minutes, the blogger created a gorgeous and simple tablescape by arranging pillar candles, pinecones, clementines, and floral stems on her table.
Get the tutorial at Coordinately Yours.
Twirl Up a Wheat Bundle
Tie a bundle of wheat with an oversized burlap ribbon and pair with brown candlesticks to create a neutral yet earthy tablescape.
Get the tutorial at Uncommon Designs.
Go Classic With Blue and White Decor
Forgo the typical rustic hues of Thanksgiving decor and follow blogger Heather's cue by adorning your table with shades of blue, white, and gold.
Get the tutorial at At the Picket Fence.
Play Up the Tartan Glam
Blogger Jen covered her table in tartan scarves, then spray-painted vases from the Dollar Store to complement the pattern. She made the rustic wood slice cake stand herself, then topped it with a feather-filled vase.
Get the tutorial at City Farmhouse.
Mix and Match Foliage
If you're worried about overdoing your Thanksgiving table decor, use a long box to help keep it contained. Here, blogger Anita Diaz filled her pallet wood box with floral foam, and then placed pumpkins, berries, candles, and cedar on top.
Get the tutorial at Far Above Rubies.
Add Pops of Color
Stripes of copper tape adorn both the mini pumpkins and candle holders along blogger Amy's Thanksgiving table, while blooms from Trader Joe's provide bright pops of color.
Get the tutorial at Homey Oh My!
Craft a Unique Assortment
Glitter feathers and pots, succulents, and pinecones create an eclectic arrangement on this Thanksgiving table.
Get the tutorial at Lolly Jane.
Elevate Pumpkins on Pedestals
Elevate your entire table with this eye-catching centerpiece idea. It'll lift your guests' gazes upward, providing visual interest, height, and flair without requiring any over-the-top elements. All you need are pumpkins and cake stands!
Get the tutorial at Thistlewood Farms.
Layer On the Florals
Work your appetizer spread into your centerpiece, so everyone can keep snacking—even after the dishes are cleared away. And while we're partial to chrysanthemums, feel free to mix in your favorites fall flowers.
Get the tutorial at Jojotastic.
Cornucopia Arrangement
Throw a couple of these on your dining room table, and you'll have a simple but impressive set up in no time.
Get the tutorial at Succulents and Sunshine.
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