Setting a festive table can be the most, or least, enjoyable part of hosting the Thanksgiving gathering.
Some hostesses see the dining table as a blank canvas awaiting heirlooms of Damask, polished silver, sparkling crystal and china, while an expanse of naked tabletop puts others into a tailspin of anxiety.
For the nervous or uninspired, there are magazines galore with step-by-step how to’s, covering every nuance from the under cloth to floral height and placecard placement.
Rarely, however, do these picture-perfect tablescapes include decorations made by children, an overlooked, creative force right under our feet or noses, as the age may be.
Kid-made table accents can infuse a stuffy, too-serious setting with character and charm.
A Handmade Turkey submitted by (Miss) Phebe Goode, Richmond, VA
Woman’s Day Nov. 1949
“I made a new table decoration for our Thanksgiving dinner table last year. It was a turkey made with a big red apple, toothpicks, dark raisins, cloves and a stuffed olive. The apple was the body, the tail was fan-shaped, made of toothpicks covered with small dark raisins pushed down over them. The head was a large stuffed olive with a little of the red stuffing hanging out. Cloves were used for eyes. I made a raisin-covered toothpick neck and three colored toothpick legs so he could stand up. My mother liked it and I hope you do too.”
Little Phebe’s concise instructions and clear illustration of the finished project mark this a child-friendly craft.
Envisioning Phebe’s decorations as homey placecard holders for my own table, but lacking a youngster to enlist in the making, I made Phebe’s turkeys myself.
Despite my upscale addition of golden raisins and a pear substitute, these turkeys are real turkeys.
What’s missing is the additive of fun that children bring to a holiday table.
Please continue to spread the word – National Tie One On Day is such a win-win! And register to win one of six sponsor-filled goodie bags.
xxea
Tie One On…an apron, of course