40+ Elegant Thanksgiving Centerpiece Ideas For a Memorable Feast

Last Updated on November 15, 2024 by Kimberly Crawford

While much of the attention on Thanksgiving Day is focused around a browned juicy turkey, a beautiful centerpiece is a reminder of the specialness of the day.

The Thanksgiving table takes center stage as the holiday is celebrated with family and friends. While the turkey and all the trimmings are important, consider these ideas for decorating the center of the table.

Use Flowers For Thanksgiving Table Centerpieces

Many fall flowers offer beauty during the Thanksgiving season. Choose mums with rich fall colors of red, yellow and orange. Autumn colored roses come in yellow, burgundy, and orange.

Calla lilies and hydrangeas offer a wide range of colors and textures during the fall. These flowers can also be tinted with a floral spray to achieve the perfect hue.

The type of container used for the floral centerpieces may be the true hit of the display. Try these unique vases:

Hollow out a large pumpkin and fill it with fresh flowers. Line the bottom of the pumpkin with a plastic tray or plastic wrap before adding flowers. A small mum or other colorful plant can also be planted directly into the pumpkin.
Use an ice bucket or a large soup tureen for a unique display.
A punchbowl or pitcher offer double duty as containers for a floral arrangement.
Use an apple corer to make holes into vegetables such as gourds, cabbage, and artichokes. Fill the hole with fresh flowers.

Use Fall Fruits to Create Beautiful Centerpieces

Footed glass bowls make a stunning transparent container to grace the holiday table. Gather one large container, or group several together, and then fill with colorful fall fruits.

Dates, figs, pomegranates, persimmons, pears, and clementines all provide color and texture- perfect for a beautiful centerpiece.

Apples are the fall season’s famous fruit. With over 7,500 different varieties to choose from, vary colors and textures for a dramatic look. Piled in a transparent bowl or basket, apples give instant charm to a table.
Fill a glass bowl or vase with cranberries and insert a pillar candle or branches of colorful leaves into the cranberries.
Orange kumquats or clementines make a visual statement when mounded in a glass bowl or affixed to floral foam. Create a tall structure using cone-shaped floral foam. Insert a toothpick into the fruit and put the other end into the foam. Cover the floral foam with the fruit.
White pumpkins on a dark cake plate or other footed plate make a stunning display.

Make Your Own Simple Centerpieces

Materials from around the house can be brought together to make simple, elegant decorations for the table. Cut a few tree branches covered with autumn leaves.

Insert the base of the branch in floral foam and cover the foam with a cloth napkin or with a drawstring bag. Or pot some ivy in a large container, kitchen pot or soup tureen. Allow the ivy leaves to trail over the container and along the table.

Try these other easy to make ideas:

Bring out candles of varying sizes and arrange them down the length of the table. Garnish the base of the candles with colorful fall leaves, pine cones and acorns.
Use a small tray to hold several votive candles, some leaves and a few pine cones.
Clip a few pine tree branches and bring them indoors to decorate under and around centerpieces.
Collect mini-pumpkins and gourds to arrange down the length of the table.
Use a cake plate to hold one large pumpkin or several small pumpkins. Arrange fall leaves around the base of the pumpkin
Create a table runner with a wide double-sided ribbon weaving in and out of gourds and pumpkins of varying sizes and colors.
Insert a pillar candle into a pumpkin. Use a glue gun to attach berries, moss and pinecones around the hole to form a decorative ring.
Fill a wicker basket with one item, like mini white pumpkins. Tie a bow to the handle
Place a decorative napkin in a wire basket. Fill with a variety of fall harvest bounty such as- indian corn, gourds, pumpkins, nuts (make sure none of your guests has a nut allergy), and berries.

The holiday table is often the first area your guests will see. Take the time to create a memorable centerpiece for the table that will showcase the season.