A Festive Yet Basic Thanksgiving

There’s so much to do and decorate during this time of year so make things easy on yourself with a festive yet basic Thanksgiving. I know the temptation to skip to Christmas right after Halloween, but I can’t disregard one of the most important holidays of the year: the one where we focus on gratitude.

You’re probably googling new recipes for side dishes and ways to decorate your dining room table, but don’t go overboard with it and don’t be afraid to ask family members to contribute to cooking some food.

You don’t need to cover your entire house with cornucopias, turkeys, pumpkins, squash and corn stalks to evoke the spirit of Thanksgiving. Keep it simple with just a few festive decorations. Here are some of my favorite decorating ideas to add a little touch of Thanksgiving throughout the house:

1. Table linens, runners, place mats and wooden trays are a perfect foundation to any decoration. Keep the linens a neutral color. Material such a burlap looks great for Thanksgiving.
2. Decorate with greens, whether it’s your favorite herbs like rosemary, thyme or sage leaves, the color green always creates a gorgeous groundwork to a dining table centerpiece. Pine cones, branches and other nature items (real or faux) add a nice contrast.
3. Incorporate candles throughout your house, such as the guest bathroom, on top of your fireplace, side tables and of course the dining room table centerpiece. Nothing creates a warmer ambiance better than candles. Mix and match the heights of your candle holders to create some dimension and you can stick with the same color candles or a pop color.
4. Add a pop color to stand out from the earth tones of your linens, runners, place mats and wooden trays. Gold, silver and rose gold metallics create a very chic look and comes in many forms like pumpkins, candles and pine cones! White pumpkins with black candle holders are a great contrast together too. Other trendy colors to think about this season are navy and mustard yellow.

Every year, I go out and buy a few new trendy items to add to my collection of décor. This year, I purchased some white and grey cloth pumpkins from Target which are absolutely amazing, especially if you have children because they can’t break!

As a mom, thankfulness is probably the most important quality I want to instill in my children. Although I love Christmas, I want my kids (and myself included) to focus on everything we are so fortunate to have before we start talking about everything we want. And decorating your home with the essence of Thanksgiving definitely helps to evoke that feeling!