A few years back, we hosted our first Thanksgiving meal on a few days notice! While it was a very small group, there is still a lot of preparation involved. And because our house is older and has so many more pressing projects, we are short on time and all we’ve done is drafted a list of menu items!
In addition to having to do some serious cleaning, shopping and food prep, I want to do some small decorations to make the house feel more festive. My brain was at capacity, but since then I’ve brainstormed and scoured the interwebs for inspiration.
So here’s my list of last minute Thanksgiving Decor Ideas for all you out there running short on time or bandwidth:
- Gift treat bags at each place setting (see my Etsy shop for a printables)
- Placemats (Carve potato stamps on craft paper, accent with leaves, acorns, pine sprigs or cones from outdoors
- Center piece – use plaid scarves to craft a center piece with pumpkins (real or fake) or a small birch stick bundle neatly wrapped with leather or rustic twine
- Mini cranberry bogs – simple glass vases with rocks at the bottom and fresh cranberries floating inside
Halloween is the quintessential time of year to break out those DIY skills and get creative. As a child, my mom always helped us create our costumes from scratch. It was partially due to the fact that we had no money and lived an hour away from a shopping center that sold costumes, but also partly because it brought her great joy. I remember her and our neighbor, with their big 80’s perms, smoking cigarettes and drinking diet coke in our kitchen, while they strategized costumes for us kids. Needless to say, those where the glory days of Halloween in our household – both my brother and I, and the neighbor kids won “best costume” awards year after year.
