Leslie's Top Five Tips for an Impactful Thanksgiving Table

Meet our featured guest blogger Leslie Saeta:

Leslie is the author of the book, A Home to Share, and the popular blog and Instagram, My 100 Year Old Home where she shares her passion for entertaining, décor, cooking, and crafts. Twenty-four years ago, Leslie and her husband Dave purchased their dream home, which Leslie refers to as their My 100 Year Old Home. The home, built in 1915, had been in her husband’s family since 1969

Setting a Thanksgiving table can be fun, especially when you add a little bit of yourself to the setting. I have lots of ways you can make your guests feel welcome and your table inviting this Thanksgiving.

Tip #1 Add a few DIYs to your table

I love creating DIYs for my tables and I have two fun IOD projects that I featured in my book, A Home to Share.

Using IOD Moulds, I made candlesticks and chargers and used them on my table. I love the antique-white look and both of these DIYs do not take long to make. I made them in one afternoon and dried them all overnight. I painted and sealed them the next day just in time to create the table for the photo shoot for my book.

All of the DIY instructions for these projects are found in A Home to Share.

I also made a table runner for my table using the fruitful Harvest IOD stamps. You can find the complete table runner DIY tutorial on my blog. This table runner adds so much color to my table and I love it!

Tip #2 Mix and match your tableware

We all want our Thanksgiving dining table to be welcome and not intimidating. To make your table feel more fun and comfortable, try mixing and matching your china, glassware, and silverware. If you are entertaining a large group, don’t ever think everything needs to match. Instead, mix your tableware! Try to mix by color but don’t be intimidated. A colorful table is great and If I am setting a table for twelve, I usually use three different salad and dinner plates (or a total of four of each pattern). Alternate drinkware and just mix all of your flatware and lay it out at each place setting without trying to organize it!

Tip #3 Create your own centerpieces and use non-traditional vases

I always use grocery store flowers for my centerpieces and I rarely use a traditional vase. Instead, I use crocks, jars, baskets (with a vase or jar inside), bowls, and anything else that is unexpected but works as a vase. Bowls make perfect vases because you can make a large centerpiece that isn’t too tall for guests to see over!

Tip #4 Have fun with your place cards

I love to make my own place cards to make each of my guests feel special. I love using vintage scrabble tiles for place cards. One year I printed out six quotes and put one at each place setting. Each one described each of my family members perfectly and it didn’t take them long to figure out where to sit, but it sure was fun while we all figured them out!

Tip #5 Have fun

Finally, just remember to have fun. Enlist some help with the menu and ask guests to bring their favorite Thanksgiving dinner item and use our favorite tradition … after dinner, the kids all head into the kitchen and clean up the entire kitchen. Of course, now that they are in their late 20s, a few wine bottles seem to disappear with the dishes!

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About Leslie’s book A Home to Share:

A Home to Share is all about the spirit of welcome: it is a guide that gives readers the tools and confidence they need to refresh their space, entertain, and design a home that feels just right. Using examples from her California farmhouse, Leslie shows readers how to blend furnishings and accessories to get the look they love, while offering room-by-room advice for redesigning and reimagining underused spaces like the dining room and overlooked corners, hallways, and nooks. She also weaves in plenty of signature entertaining ideas and craft projects for hosting relaxed gatherings large and small. A Home to Share is approachable and inviting, and every single photo and project is EXCLUSIVE to the book (no recycled content from my blog or Instagram)!

Snag your copy now! (what a perfect Christmas present, right!?)

Full disclosure: We are using our affiliate link for this promo ❤️ we rarely do, but this is a special occasion that we are very proud of and can recommend with all our guts! 🥰🤪