Are you looking for something different for your Thanksgiving table décor? Here’s an idea that could make your Thanksgiving table look very special and appropriate for the occasion. This table décor idea had been in the back of my mind for quite some time, and I finally took the time to work it out. The Pilgrims whose Mayflower ship landed on American shores in 1620 are a great example of thankfulness. Although they had suffered severe hardships and many deaths after landing, they didn’t hesitate to be thankful when God helped them have a good harvest later.
If you have extra guests besides your immediate family at your Thanksgiving celebration, the Pilgrim Hat Place Card Holders could be very beneficial for your gathering. If it’s just your immediate family, you could still have fun decorating your table with the Pilgrim Hat Centerpiece.
There are several advantages to using place cards when having additional guests besides your own immediate family members. Not only does it avoid your guests having to wander around the table and try to figure out who should sit where, but guests unfamiliar with each other’s names can be made more at ease. So much better than “Hey, you with the red hair, could you pass the gravy?” You can place people who have things in common together, separate the guests who may not get along so well, and place young children where an adult can help them. Don’t forget to make your seating chart ahead of time.
My Search for the Right Materials
The little bathroom cups needed to form the hats for the place cards seemed to be quite standard to fit the patterns to cover them, but the tops needed to be painted. They all seemed to have a thin plastic coating, which would repel paint. I found that rubbing alcohol would take care of it. One problem down.
Then I needed something for the Pilgrim hat containing flowers. I found individual, inexpensive paper paint buckets online, but only from an unfamiliar vendor. To buy a popcorn bucket or a chicken bucket, you might have to buy a hundred or two from a restaurant supply. The containers needed to be a standard size and readily available. Then it hit me. Most people would have access to a standard 42-oz. round oatmeal container. If it were not empty, they could dump the oatmeal into a zip-lock bag and mark the “best by” date on it. The container could be cut to the desired height.
In considering the hatband, I noted that a lighter brown would create more contrast to the black. A brown grocery bag would work. Good thing! I couldn’t find a single sheet of brown in my stash of construction paper.
I wanted more of a gold color instead of yellow for the hat’s buckle, although yellow would certainly work. I decided metallic gold would be a nice optional touch. I suddenly thought of the gold metallic gift bags sold at the dollar store. The one I found would work well. It was fairly thick, and the white paper backing would be easy to trace patterns on.
I thought that craft foam would be perfect for the hat brim. Spills wouldn’t soak in, so the decoration would be more likely to survive little spills on the table. Then a possible problem popped into my head, regarding the brim of the big hat for the centerpiece. If cousin Sally temporarily places the hot casserole dish of sweet potatoes on the foam hat brim while she dishes up some gravy for her mashed potatoes, the foam brim might melt.
Hmm. Maybe tagboard would be better option for the brim, in some cases. If serving buffet style and then sitting down to the table, the foam would be a great option. But if there are hot serving dishes on the table, tagboard might be a better choice. You could always cut an extra tagboard hat brim, if you have extra tagboard. Then if a spill happened you could clean up the spill and replace the brim. You and the guest who spilled wouldn’t have to grieve over the fact that your pretty centerpiece wasn’t as pretty as it was before.
If you adore fresh flowers and neither you nor any of your guests have bothersome floral allergies, go for it. Since I myself have allergies, I am naturally drawn to artificial flowers. Many look so real that you have to touch them to know for sure. Other reasons to choose artificial flowers are being able to take care of the flowers in advance, no danger of spilling water needed for fresh flowers, and being able to use the flowers again in future years. I found a basic cluster of flowers I liked at Hobby Lobby. Then I found a couple of small, contrasting fillers at a dollar store. If your table is quite long and you will have some extra space on the table, you may want to place a candle a little ways away from each side of the hat bouquet.
Enjoying the Project
Admittedly, this project takes a little effort, if you are making the place card holders as well as the hat bouquet. But if you do it ahead of time, you can enjoy the process. You can look forward to the time when you surprise your guests with these special table decorations. Hopefully, the way you assemble them will be fairly intuitive after seeing the photos, but I’m providing detailed instructions to give guidance. There are several patterns for the place card holders, but only a buckle pattern and a brim pattern for the hat for the bouquet. You won’t even need the brim pattern if you happen to have a lid that is about 11” in diameter. You could also make the big buckle for the hat for the bouquet without the pattern, if need be. It’s 3 inches square on the outside, and 3/4 of an inch thick. (If you don’t have a printer, maybe an office supply or library will have the technology to help.)
One of the biggest parts of making the place card holders is tracing and cutting out the pieces before you put them together. I like to suggest that, when you do a project like this, you can put on a favorite, familiar movie and enjoy it while tracing and cutting. If the movie is familiar, you don’t need to have your eyes on the screen at all times.
To see printable instructions for creating this table décor, CLICK HERE.
To see printable patterns, CLICK HERE.
To see a sheet to print on cardstock with 12 place cards per sheet, CLICK HERE.
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