If you need help with your Thanksgiving tablescape, you are totes in luck because our Harvest Party decor will serve as the perfect inspiration for the upcoming holiday!
My sister-in-law Drew, our friend Kristen (of the fabulous Kristen LeQuire Photography) and I teamed up to host a Harvest Party over the weekend. You might say it was a cornucopia of fall party goodness. At the very least it was a great way to get together 50 (yes, 50!) of our closest friends before the holiday rush gets started.
Let's take a look at our little soiree, and note that all beautiful/professional photos are from Kristen LeQuire Photography and all average ones with not great lighting (because I don't really know how to use my camera) are from me. Ha!
We went with a rustic theme with burlap, candles, pumpkins and hay. That's right, haaaaaay. I tried to teach my niece Brookie that horsies say "Haaaaaaay" but she said horses say "Neighhhhh."
She's smarter than me.
We played with height and tiers by putting pumpkins on mini hay bales and having a few tall candlesticks. I loved it!
My favorite part of the main tablescape was the "EAT" runner, which I purchased from the Etsy shop CushPillowDesign. Oh Etsy you're such a wealth of handmade amazingness.
Our menu was full of hearty and creative appetizers and some old standby favorites. We had different stations everywhere which is always fun - everywhere you went there was a new delicacy to be had!
The main table (the "EAT" table!) had the big spread. It included cheese, meats, a fall salad, meatballs, etc. There were lots of yummy goodies to choose from!
We also had a Crostini Bar, which was an idea I saw on the always inspiring
Celebrations at Home Blog! I set up the crostini bar on brown Kraft paper and wrote the different toppings directly on the paper. It made for easy clean-up and a neat set-up!
We also created a Popcorn and Nut Bar which was a hit. People love to snack at parties, duh. We put different varieties of popcorn and nuts (bought at Trader Joes and World Market) in glass containers with either chalkboard labels or burlap.
While the party was BYOB, we did provide a Spiked Cider. I personally love trying a signature drink or cocktail at a party, but people usually like to stick to their regular drink or cocktail and sometimes the signature drink gets ignored. I was SO pleased when our Spiked Cider was a hit! I used 2 gallons of the Spiked Cider from Trader Joes (like $2.99 each!) and a good amount of Bacardi Rum. I poured the cider in the crockpot first and let it warm up for a few hours, then right before guests arrived I poured in the rum. You don't want the alcohol burning off and ruining the party, do you? We served the cider in mason jars with striped straws.
We served a few mini desserts because we all felt (and were correct) that people don't really eat a lot of dessert at a cocktail party. So we served little pumpkin pie tarts and mini carrot cake cupcakes.
And these appropriately timed Maple Leaf cookies from Trader Joe's.
We also didn't super stress about desserts because we were having an outdoor Smores station! Using sternos and wooden boxes made by Drew's hubby, we made a Smores station that was enjoyed by all. Everyone loves Smores, no matter how old you are :)
While we were setting up we discovered that everyone looks great lighting candles so we took a few "posed" shots lighting candles. Women are ridiculous...
Here's me:
And Drew:
And then Kristen did the greatest thing ever by comparing me to my other favorite Jackie, Jackie O.
(Jackie Fo ... Jackie O...get it?)
I hope you got some inspiration for your Thanksgiving table from our Harvest Party!
