It seems like a good day to talk about food and decorating, after this long election season we need a bit of the lighter things in life, am I right?!?
I promised when I launched The Holiday Planner that we wouldn’t skip completely over Thanksgiving and go right to Christmas, so today I wanted to round-up some of our favorite Thanksgiving ideas for you. We have been sharing our holidays on this blog now for six years, so we have quite a bit of Thanksgiving ideas after all this time.
RECIPES
It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without food, and in abundance right? Terry’s Thanksgiving post is definitely your most comprehensive source for recipes–from appetizers to dessert, she has it all in here. I mean Smoked Gouda Mash Potatoes? Seriously y’all! Plus, if you’re gluten-free, these recipes are too. She includes shopping lists, recipe cards and easy instructions for making everything ahead. Over the last few years I have altered my menu to include many of these recipes and I promise they are really worth it.
{See Full Thanksgiving Menu Post HERE}
Now, since it is the one day of the year that calories don’t count (right?) If you want to add the gluten back in :), then you definitely want to make my macaroni and cheese recipe:
Thanksgiving is all about carbs, and this Refrigerator Yeast Dough Recipe is an excellent, make-ahead addition to your Thanksgiving meal. The best part is that you can make them ahead and just reheat them at meal time.
I look forward to Thanksgiving for a number of reasons but this cocktail is my all-time favorite. It is always a hit with guests so if you want to offer a special adult beverage, there’s really no better seasonal choice than our Whipped Apple Cider Martini. They are truly to die for!
Unless, of course, you prefer a Salted Caramel Martini Recipe. Or both?! Yum! This is a great after dinner drink, it would go well with pumpkin pie 🙂
PRINTABLES
Place cards are a nice touch for the Thanksgiving table, there are two different versions in this post. Here’s one:
And the other:
Or you can spray paint small chalkboard signs, like Christy did here:
{You can see even more printable and place card ideas in this post HERE.}
I also love this printable, it would so pretty in a frame on a buffet table.
I had a large Thanksgiving celebration a few years ago and created two different tablescapes.
First, I decorated my dining room table with natural accents mixed with silver.
Then in my kitchen I created a kids’ table for all the little ones with coloring pages and a cute printable banner {you can find it HERE}.
You can download these printable “Give Thanks” cards that also work as place cards, by right-clicking below.
DECORATIONS
You probably put your Fall decorations up weeks ago, but if you’d like some additional inspiration, here are a few of our spaces and how we’ve decorated them for Thanksgiving over the years (there were too many to post them all, but if you want to see more, just go up to the menu at the top of the page and click on Holidays, and then Fall/Halloween and Fall/Thanksgiving).
Here is Christy’s home decorated for Fall a few year’s ago…
I love how Christy decorated her former front porch. By the way, if you like the “Thankful” banner, there’s a link to print that out in the post.
Here is my dining room this year, which has been decorated for Fall for over a month now {see my Fall Tour HERE} even though I am not hosting Thanksgiving I have had the table set with this fun black and gingham runner and some wheat bundles.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite posts, I wrote it forever ago after a bible study where we learned about the importance of the table, and how God intended for it to be a place to gather the family for food, fellowship, instruction, and celebration. I wish all of you those things this Thanksgiving!
PS…If you missed the launch of my 2016 Holiday Planner, you can see all about it HERE. The ‘party planner’ page would be the perfect tool to plan the perfect Thanksgiving dinner…(hint hint!)
XO,
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