I wanted to share with you a few of my budget friendly, kid friendly, stress free, fun holiday decorating tips. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house with 9 and 1/2 people. We had fun!! I got to enjoy my family without stressing about all the dishes that need to be done, or even worry about what I would have to do the next day and even though Thanksgiving is over you can use these tips for Christmas, or event the next dinner party you have. Here's how I did it.
To Start off here's how I have my dining room:
I pushed our regular table into the corner to store more food, and brought out all things I need. Decorations, plates, cups, silverware etc. These saves time, I can just grab and place.
We use a not so typical table, but I love it! It may not be pretty but it fits lots of people and lots of food!
It is a standard piece of plywood, 4' x 8', yes it has warped a little over time, but still gets the job done. The shelf on the left side of the fireplace held appetizers and later desserts. Also I added paper lanterns from hobby lobby (3pk for $5) to try and camouflage the light bulbs.
These are the table legs. I'm not sure what the parts are called but you can take the pic to your hardware store and ask them. The pipe is cut higher than a standard table also there are the plastic table leg covers at the bottom too.
It may not be a super pretty table, but it will be once I am done! Also it really helps if you have a lot of people coming over. If your table won't hold the amount of people you want to invite, and you don't want to buy a new table, seriously consider using this method. It works great!! It is also wide enough to host two people at the heads.
Onto decorating....
This being a non standard table it is impossible to find a table cloth for. There are a few suggestions one stack coordinating table clothes for a fun look!! Two buy upholstery cloth (kinda expensive, found on rolls at fabric stores). Three buy fabric, sew together (fabric doesn't come in 4' wide) and have a seam in the middle. Or four use a sheet. Which did I do?
Yup, you guessed I used a sheet. We don't use non fitted sheets on our bed, we also have a king size bed. So this is a king size sheet.
I can see and I am sure you can too that it is not on there evenly, I am going to fix that.
Using Safety pins, I don't like the length on the sides so I wanted to shorten them anyways.
See all fixed!
Now this next step is thinking ahead. After dinner we usually have to wipe down the table to serve dessert and play games, I do not like using up this precious time so I have came up with a plan. Also, it's no fun eating around leftover dinner crumbs. What I have done times past is have a backup table cloth, but then you have more laundry and you have to completely clear off the table put it on and put everything back on the table. I also have had back up butcher paper, which has worked just as well, but you have the same problem with clearing off. One year, I had 2 layers of butcher paper, after dinner I pulled off the top one. That worked great, unless there was spills, but still really good!
This year I had the dessert/ game table set up and decorated under the dinner table so that when it was time we could just take off the top layer add a couple of decorations and game time could commence.
To start off with the dessert table I made a paper runner. Again this is cheap, nice looking, and can be thrown away at the end of the festivities.
It's super simple to make take the pages you are using ( keep reading to find out my trick) and glue them together. I did all of one end, then the other so that in the middle I could stack them and the middle page would be on top.
Here's my trick to make this page runner on the cheap!
That's right, phone book pages!! They are free and guilt free if it gets ruined and you need to through it away!
This project only took 5 minutes to do, adding to the stress free element of decorating.
Here is the link where I got my inspiration.
I added a couple of candlesticks and a beautiful, stress free, cleared off table for playing games!
Onto the dinner table!
To start off I like to use butcher paper as my table cloth! Inexpensive, okay maybe not always at first but it has so many uses and lasts so long it becomes inexpensive!
I cut 3 strips 10 feet long. I wanted the brown to show on the sides, I also cut it longer so it would hang over. In years past I have cut 4 strips 6 feet in length to run horizontal, then 2 10 feet to run vertical.
Tip: cut these the day before, weigh down the edges with books to keep the edges from curling, also cutting this the day before saves time day of!
See the reason for my above tip!
To make the boring butcher paper more exciting, trace a bowl around the edges and cut to make a scallop edge.
How fun!!
About this time in my day I look over to check on Mackenzie, because I realized she was no longer making noises. This is what I found!
That's right, passed out baby! Too cute!!
Okay back to decorating (yes, I put her in her crib, I did not leave her there!), so onward we go.
Next step decorate the butcher paper!
This is how I chose to decorate mine this year, drawn place settings.
In years past I have written scriptures around the plates, gave everyone crayons and let them decorate, trace on leaves, there are so many great ideas!!
Next add dishes and silverware.
Here's the individual place settings
You ready for another secret? All of this is plastic!! To add to the stress free element, just throw away!
Yes, even the silverware is plastic! The champagne glasses are from the dollar store!!
Now all that's left is to add decorations!
I added cute little turkeys I made that week, and hand made leaves I had made in years past.
I can't find the link for the leaves I made, sorry.
Here is the link for the turkeys, again I used phone book paper.
I also added a turkey votive holder that was given to me years ago, and here you go dinner table ready!
Another tip, keep decorations simple, to keep down on clean up time, and save room for the food.
I wanted to take pictures of us enjoying the tables, but I was to busy having fun with family and friends. So those are my tips for a stress free, budget friendly, fun, festive, decorated holiday!
And to add some cuteness to the blog, here is Mackenzie's first Thanksgiving.
I hope these tips help you for the next holiday, party, or whatever!!
What are some of your tips for holiday fun? I want to hear from you!!
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