A Good Small Centerpiece for a Thanksgiving Table

Celebrate Thanksgiving with festive centerpieces.

Celebrate the bounty, colors and sentiment of Thanksgiving with festive centerpieces on your holiday table. Decorate a dining, foyer or occasional table with a small centerpiece that you can make yourself. Craft, discount, grocery and home stores are good places to look for the supplies you'll need to complete these projects.

Floral

Gourd vases are festive, seasonal containers for small floral centerpieces on your Thanksgiving table. Slice 4 inches from the top of a small gourd, clean out the pulp and insert wet or dry floral foam inside the gourd to hold the flowers. Soak the wet foam first, and then fill the gourd with water after placing the foam inside. Insert stems from live mums, calla lilies and roses in fall colors into the foam to create the floral centerpiece. Use dry foam to insert stems from silk flowers made with seasonal colors.

Fruit

Create a small arrangement of sparkling sugar fruit as a centerpiece for Thanksgiving. To make sugared fruit, dissolve an envelope of unflavored gelatin and cold water in the microwave for up to two minutes; stir every 20 seconds. Whisk the dissolved gelatin mixture until it's frothy, and then brush the mixture onto a few apples, grapes and pears. Place the fruit on a wire rack set atop wax paper and sprinkle liberally with superfine sugar. Let the fruit stand for 24 hours to dry, and then arrange it in a small bowl.

Harvest

Celebrate the harvest with a Thanksgiving centerpiece made with dried corn and small gourds. Cover a small plate with dried hay to represent wheat, and then place the corn and gourds on top. Cranberries also represent the season's bounty; make a small cranberry ball and place it on top of a candlestick to complement your holiday table. To make a cranberry ball, cut toothpicks in half, insert them partially into cranberries and then insert the other end into a foam ball. Cover the ball with speared cranberries.

Candles

Make your own small candle ring in colors of the harvest with dried fruit, berries and flowers. Insert floral picks that represent Thanksgiving into a foam candle ring, and then fit them over pillar candles. Look for seasonal picks and foam rings at local craft stores. For a simpler candle centerpiece, arrange three votive candles in small terra cotta planters on a small plate. Fill the planters with sand or stones to elevate the candles over the top of the planter's rim. Surround the planters with river rocks and include a few rocks with inspirational words, such as "blessings" or "gratitude" to fit the sentiment of the season.

References

• Taste of Home: Sugared Fruit Centerpiece Recipe

Resources

• Save on Crafts: How to Make a Scented Candle Ring