How to Set up a Table for Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is one of the most celebrated holidays in the United States, as well in other parts of the world. It is a time when we give thanks for the blessings we have received, as well as a time to give to others. So much thought is put into the preparation of a Thanksgiving dinner, including purchasing and cooking the meal and setting the table. Setting up the dining table is one of the traditions that we enjoy on Thanksgiving Day, whereby heirloom pieces that have been kept in storage are taken out to be used during this special occasion. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Determine how many people will be coming to your Thanksgiving dinner.

2

Prepare your table for the sit-down dinner. Take into consideration the number of people attending in relation to your table space to determine if it is practical for you to have everyone seated at one table or if you need to set up multiple tables in order to accommodate everyone.

3

Place a tablecloth or a table runner on the table--use a tablecloth and runner that have fall colors or patterns including reds, golds, dark greens and oranges. Then place your placemats and chargers for each place setting.

4

Place the dinner plates on top of the chargers, then place the soup bowls on top of the dinner plates.

5

Prepare your place settings based on the number of guests attending. It is always a good idea to place more settings than needed in case there extra guests attend, or in the case of broken plate-ware.

6

Set the silverware at each place setting. At the left of each plate, place a dessert fork, dinner fork, salad fork and a napkin. On the right side of the plate, place a knife (with sharp edge facing the plate), a teaspoon and a soup spoon. Always remember that the silverware farthest from the plate are the ones to be used first. On the table to the upper right side of the plate, place the drinking glasses. If space does not permit for multiple glasses, you can play it safe by placing just one drinking glass. Drinking glasses to place include wine glasses, water goblets and champagne glasses.

7

Place the butter knifes on top of the butter plates with the sharp edges of the knives facing toward the plates and the handle to the right. Place these to the upper right of each setting.

8

Place the food on top of the table, preferably spread across the center for people to share. If you have a long rectangular dining table (12 to 16 chairs), prepare similar food every group of four people so that passing dishes will not be too daunting. For multiple smaller tables you can place one group of dishes at each for everyone to pass around.

9

Put the turkey in the middle for a small to medium table, or place several turkeys on longer dinner tables. Serve food traditionally eaten during Thanksgiving, such as potato soup, clam chowder, salads, mashed potatoes with gravy, roast beef or ham, bread, corn on the cob, pumpkin pie and cranberry pie.

10

You can also place all the food, including soups and desserts on a buffet or serving table. This allows people to serve their own food which they will then bring back to the table.

11

Place the drinks such as bottles of soda, water, champagne or wine on a beverage cart. You can also place these choices on the dining table if space permits.

12

Add a centerpiece with a fall theme in the middle of the dining table. Ensure that the centerpiece is below eye level, or lower than 12 inches, so as not to people from seeing each other's faces. If the dining table is long, place a series of similar arrangements in between groups of four to six people. Use mums, carnations, red roses, red and orange tulips for your flower arrangements.

13

Place candles to add to the mood. You can place candelabras, provided they are not too bulky or too high so that they do not prevent people from seeing one another while sitting at the table. A couple of candlesticks with long tapered candles would do, or a series of low-votive candles that span across the center of a long table. Use candles that have fall colors such as amber, chocolate brown or dark red.

14

Dim your overhead light or chandelier so that it is not too glaring to the eyes. However, avoid dimming too low that people will not see what they are eating.

15

Add low-volume music for ambiance.