Thanksgiving Table Settings Ideas + Holiday Entertaining Tips

If you're entertaining this holiday season, check out these Thanksgiving table settings ideas and holiday entertaining tips! We've partnered with Hen House Linens to share some beautiful tablescape ideas.

Whether this is your first time entertaining guests in your newlywed home, or the hundredth time you'll be having company over for the holidays as well-seasoned grandparents, there are still a number of things to think about and arrange if you want everything to be flawless when you're entertaining! You can never be too prepared if an intimate, elegant gathering with food that reflects the flavors of the season is your goal, and we've got some great entertaining tips and ideas for your holidays this year.

Thanksgiving Entertaining Tips

1. Make your Plan

Its never to early to get a game plan! You can spend months beforehand arranging your Pinterest boards and looking for ideas for the menu, the table settings, and the weekend's events, but at some point, you need to make decisions, narrow it down, and commit to a plan. Make your list of things to buy, things to make, and things to delegate unless you want this to be a one-man show!

2. Find the holes

Once you have your final headcount, are there things that are missing? Are you going to need 3 more place settings? Get as much shopping done out of the way early as possible, especially if something like matching dishes need to be ordered.  Is there an open evening that needs to be planned? Act now to make reservations or buy tickets if events beyond dinner are on the itinerary for your holiday plans.

3. Prep Work

Do absolutely as much as possible beforehand. Go about it as if you'll be occupied the day of the party or gathering because something might very well come up that could soak up your final hours of crunch time. We all know that grocery stores can be madhouses during the days leading up to the holidays, so pick up all your ingredients a few days ahead of time, and any boxed or canned items a couple weeks in advance. There's no sense in using your precious time the day before Thanksgiving hunting down the last few cans of pumpkin in town.

3. Make it Personal

Place cards make everyone feel important and they help organize the table so you can see where you will need to put boosters or high chairs if children will be at the meal. I like to make place cards that guests can take home afterward as favors. You can go as simple as writing names out in cursive on nice cards or taking ball ornaments and writing guests name with gold paint pens. Another idea I love is making homemade cookies wrapped in cellophane bags with names written in frosting! This year, I spray painted mini pumpkins white, then hand-painted on names with basic acrylic paint and finished them up with a ribbon bow.

Thanksgiving table settings ideas

4. Trim the Table

The linens can take your table up several notches on the impressive scale when they are coordinating, pressed, and deliberately set. Cloth is 10x nicer (and eco-friendly!) than the highest quality of paper products, in my opinion, so this year, I picked out some coordinating linens from Hen House Linens (at no cost to facilitate this review) for our Thanksgiving table setting ideas. I think it turned out beautifully!!

Start in the center of your table by choosing a tablecloth or table runner and move outward to the placemats and cloth napkins. I like the idea of using table runners instead of tablecloths when you have a nice solid wood table underneath, and especially when there are children who could potentially pull the cloth and topple what you've arranged! This is the Ochre Yellow Solid Ruffle Cloth Table Runner and the Greek Key Licorice Black Printed Cloth Table Runner, and layered together, they offer a beautiful contrast. At 92" long, the ochre runner drapes perfectly over the edge of my table on both ends.

These Fandango Camel Yellow Printed Cloth Placemats (on Amazon.com) are the perfect kind of print for both casual and elegant settings. As with all of the linens from Hen House Linens, they're meant to look great after washing and only soften with age.

My favorite linens on the table are these Ochre Yellow Solid Ruffle Cloth Dinner Napkins! I LOVE this mustard color and how it can go with rustic and muted color schemes or bold and brassy ones. Yellow is one of those colors that isn't traditionally "Christmas", so you can use these for other holidays year-round, and the color-fast dyes that Hen House Linens uses will hold up with machine-washing and drying; they'll only soften with age.

5.  Assemble a Centerpiece

Don't stress over making or arranging a centerpiece that is huge or expensive. Start by pulling in holiday decorations from around your home or porch. You can go as simple as placing large candles (preferably unscented) down the center of the table or clustering greens like pine branches or seasonal wildflowers. This year, I collected an armful of gourds and acorn squash and spray-painted them black, white, and gold.

I used my cake stand and egg cups to make some levels, and then spray painted letters to spell "THANKFUL" that I'd found for around $1.50/letter. The best part about this display is that it can be holiday decor well into December, and the letters are reusable for next year!

6. Look the Part

If you're going to be the chef and the host, consider doing your hair up and chic at the start of the day. You'll want it out of your face (and out of the food while you're cooking). Set your nice shoes aside until just before company arrives, and definitely wear a cute apron! I picked out a casually sophisticated cook's apron from Hen House Linens and it is so classy in the kitchen! With hours of food prep ahead of me and babies to feed and tend at the same time, I may just wear this the entire Thanksgiving weekend. My favorite features are the rings at the neck strap that make it adjustable for a customized fit, the long length that will catch all sorts of spills, and the extra long ties that allow you to tie a bow in the front or the back.

8. Leave the Dishes

They can wait! Enjoy your company and your delicious meal that you worked so hard on. No one will judge you for crumbs on the table or dishes in the sink when they helped contribute to the pile. Take part in the conversations, the ambiance, and the festive togetherness that only comes once a year!

Hen House Linens is passionate about getting people back to the table. While gathering for special occasions is important and momentous, connecting with each other on a regular basis is a powerful way to strengthen our relationships and create bonds that will help us all feel connected and loved. One way to make every meal an anticipated occasion is by making your family and guests feel appreciated at the table, and aren't these table linens a wonderful way to do just that?! Hen House Linens would love to help you on your way to creating your own breathtaking table setting for the holidays this year, and every ordinary day after that!

Disclosure: I (Camille) received the table linens at no cost to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.