How to Decorate a Thanksgiving Buffet Table

Thanksgiving dinner often is a sit-down affair, but you also can choose to serve your holiday feast buffet-style. Whether you set it up in your dining room, kitchen or even outside in the garden, a Thanksgiving buffet is a good way to accommodate a large group and is more casual than a sit-down dinner. But don't neglect to decorate the table. You can draw on the theme of the season's bounty to make your buffet both beautiful and inviting. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Give your buffet table a country look. Spread a quilt remnant over the top. Scatter fall leaves over the table. Lay a grapevine wreath or flat basket in the center, and arrange a grouping of pumpkins, gourds, pine cones, dried herbs, rose hips and other natural elements in it as a centerpiece. Or opt for a more primitive look with a linen or muslin runner. Fill pottery vases or Mason jars with fresh herbs, and line them up along the table's length. This also adds a fresh scent to the room.

2

Mix and match your dishes, glasses and silverware. Bring a shabby chic flair to your buffet table by mixing two or more china, glassware and silverware patterns. Stack dishes according to pattern, or mix them up. Buy odds and ends of tableware at donation centers, flea markets and garage sales. Fashion napkins cut from fabric remnants.

3

Cover the buffet table with a linen or lace tablecloth for a traditional look. Center it with an arrangement of mums, roses and gerbera daisies in fall colors or a crystal vase holding a dozen yellow roses surrounded by burnished orange tapers in vintage silver candle holders. Give the bouquet an unexpected touch by adding a few pheasant feathers. Or use hurricane lamps holding pillar candles embellished with leaves and grapevines.

4

Choose napkins with an autumn motif such as leaves, turkeys or pilgrims. Pull them through napkin holders fashioned from grapevines. Or opt for traditional fabrics like linen and damask in sterling silver holders. You also can stack the napkins or arrange them in a fan shape at the beginning of your buffet line.

5

Set a contemporary buffet table with a cloth featuring a geometric black, white and gray design. Add color with dishware in red, orange and green. Center the table with a minimalist bouquet fashioned from straight twigs in an unadorned rectangular glass vase.