19 Thanksgiving Table Decorations That Are Simple and Cheap

A single row of mini pumpkins and small gourds in orange, cream and pale green is the easiest Thanksgiving centerpiece there is. It stays low, it's narrow, and nothing can spill.

Grocery stores and farm stands sell them for about $1 to $3 each in fall. Six to eight cover a 36-inch table. Uncut pumpkins usually last for weeks indoors, so you can set them out in early November.

A $10 to $15 grocery bouquet of mums and eucalyptus looks small in one vase. Cut the stems short and split it across five jars or drinking glasses, and it fills the table.

Rust, cream and burgundy blooms feel like fall without a single pumpkin. Short jars also mean no one has to peer around a tall arrangement.

Fold a cloth napkin into a rectangle, tie it with kitchen twine and slide in a sprig of sage or rosemary. It smells like the meal, looks finished and costs a couple of dollars for the whole table.

If you're already buying herbs for the stuffing, grab an extra package. Rust, cream or olive napkins all suit a Thanksgiving palette.

A roll of brown kraft paper runs about $8 to $20 and covers many dinners. Roll it down the center of the table and write each guest's name at their seat.

Set out a jar of pencils or markers so people can write what they're thankful for between courses. It doubles as an activity for kids and quiet guests, and spills just get torn off and tossed.

Real leaves from a walk are free. Press them flat for a few days between heavy books, lined with paper towels, then scatter a handful between the plates and along the runner.

Pressed leaves lie flat and don't curl up the way fresh ones do on a warm table. Maple and oak in mixed colors look best.

Save three small glass jars, wrap the middle of each in jute twine with a dab of glue, and drop in a tea light. A roll of jute twine costs about $4 to $8.

The glow is warm and low, and the jars go back in the recycling bin afterward if you don't want to store them. If you use real flames, the NFPA advises keeping candles at least 12 inches from anything that can burn and never leaving them unattended.

Write each guest's name on a small white pumpkin with a gold or black paint pen and set it on their plate. It's a place card and a take-home favor in one.

A paint pen costs about $4 to $8. White pumpkins show the writing best, but orange ones work with a black pen.

A small bunch of dried wheat or bunny tail grass in an old glass bottle adds height without blocking anyone's view, since the stems are thin and see-through.

Craft stores sell dried wheat bunches for about $5 to $12, and they keep for years. Put one bottle at each end of the table rather than one in the middle.

Thrift stores almost always have brass candlesticks, often for a few dollars each. Mismatched heights look collected, not cheap, when they're grouped in the center.

Add cream tapers and a few small gourds at the bases. These are the pieces that carry straight into your Christmas table next month.

A painter's canvas drop cloth from the hardware store makes a soft, rustic tablecloth for about $15 to $25. It looks like heavy linen once it's washed.

Wash and dry it twice before using it, since new drop cloths can feel stiff and smell like the store. Cut it to size, or just fold the extra under at each end.

If kids are coming, give them the table decor job. Paper leaf place cards, painted mini pumpkins and napkin rings from toilet paper tubes keep small hands busy while the turkey rests.

Our sister site Puddles & Play has a whole section of Thanksgiving crafts for kids that decorate the table, sorted by age with supplies and mess levels.

On a small table, all the decor should live in one strip down the middle, about 8 inches wide. Everything else is plates, glasses and serving room.

A common guideline is about 24 inches of table edge per person, so a 36-inch round seats four with little to spare. That's why the centerpiece has to be the part that shrinks.

Turkey, stuffing, three sides and gravy won't all fit on a small table with decor. Line them up on the kitchen counter instead, plates at one end and cutlery and napkins at the other.

Guests fill their plates and sit down to a table that still looks pretty. One small pumpkin and a sprig of greenery make the counter look intentional.

Arrange the centerpiece on a long wooden serving or cheese board. When it's time to bring out pie or play cards, the whole thing lifts off in one move.

A hurricane glass around a pillar candle, three mini pumpkins and a bit of dried wheat is plenty. If you don't own a board, a baking sheet lined with a linen napkin works too.

Mismatched plates are fine, and so are basic white ones. What pulls a small table together is one napkin color repeated at every seat, like rust, olive or mustard.

Cotton napkins run about $12 to $25 for a set of four. Cloth looks warmer than paper and saves buying paper ones every holiday.

Flameless pillar or taper candles with a built-in timer turn on in the late afternoon and give the table a glow before anyone thinks to light a match. A set costs about $15 to $30.

They're the safer choice around kraft paper, dried leaves and kids reaching for the rolls.

If you only buy two things this year, make them a natural linen runner and a set of candlesticks. Both work for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and every ordinary Sunday dinner after.

Save the pumpkin-printed napkins for next year's sales. Neutral bones plus free or edible seasonal touches is the cheapest way to decorate a table all season.

Napkins, twine, the paint pen, place cards and candle holders fit in one shoebox-size bin. Label it and slide it on a closet shelf.

Next year you open one box instead of hunting through three, and the table is set in 15 minutes.