A Focal point Craft For That Thanksgiving Table

Friday, March 21, 2014

A Focal point Craft For That Thanksgiving Table

Craft edible centerpieces from fresh fruits and seasonal vegetables.

Make a centerpiece for decoration or to give as a gift to Thanksgiving dinner hosts. Edible centerpieces that double as appetizers or dessert, recycled and repurposed centerpieces using household materials, and cheerful arrangements for children's tables can be created with inexpensive supplies from a grocery or craft store. Basic centerpieces with interchangeable ribbons or panels adapt to decor year after year, while bases for edible centerpieces can be as simple as painted flowerpots or platters.

Edible Centerpiece Crafts

Candy bouquets, cookie arrangements, carved fruits and vegetables, and assorted seasonal berries make festive decorative crafts for kids and adults. Have kids create edible centerpieces for their own tables, along with edible place-card cookies decorated with orange and yellow frosting. Edible place cards at adult tables can coordinate with centerpieces, or can complement their color scheme and flavor palette.

Recycled Centerpiece Crafts

Recycled elements make a socially conscious and interesting centerpiece while breathing new life into used materials like fabric remnants, beads, feathers or other sewing notions. Broken pottery can be repurposed in a decorative mosaic plate or trivet that serves as a base for a flower arrangement. Kids can design artificial flowers out of tissue or crepe paper and craft sticks, or make turkeys from recycled paper and craft sticks.

Gift Centerpiece Crafts

Create a giftable centerpiece from live or artificial flowers and nonfloral elements like feathers, sprays of berries, cinnamon sticks and gourds. Make a centerpiece that can also hold a bottle of wine or apple cider to add functionality to centerpieces for crowded tables. Give ready-to-assemble edible centerpieces such as boxes of cookies with the mounting elements and hardware required, so the recipient can fit the arrangement to her space.

Kid's Centerpiece Crafts

Give kids supplies to make their own centerpiece before dinner as a way to keep them occupied and entertained. For "gratitude wreaths" of construction paper leaves on which they write what they are thankful for, or hand-print turkeys and rolled-paper cornucopias, offer crayons, markers, school glue and safety scissors in a quiet corner of the kitchen or dining area to keep kids safely busy while dinner cooks.

Century bird cages

Friday, March 21, 2014