How to Decorate Your Thanksgiving Table on a Budget

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, the epic scramble to finish buying groceries, hanging decorations, and getting the house ready for guests has begun! But one of the most important (and often overlooked) items is the table! Don’t forget to decorate your Thanksgiving table!

There are so many amazing Thanksgiving tablescapes around the blogosphere lately. And while they all look fantastic, sometimes they can be intimidating if you don’t have a lot of time or money. Well, I can tell you that it’s really not necessary to go all out for your Thanksgiving table. Just a few accessories here and there can make your table look festive and gorgeous. And let’s face it, the most important part of the table is the food anyways, right?

The following tips will show you how to create your own beautiful Thanksgiving table on a budget. You’ll find pictures of my Thanksgiving table at the bottom of the post. Check them out to see how I made my own Thanksgiving table look fantastic without spending a ton of money!

How to Decorate Your Thanksgiving Table on a Budget

• Find and use items you already have around the house. Your own house is probably a treasure trove of Thanksgiving table decorations, and you don’t even know it! Dust off those old candle holders and vases, as they’re perfect for decorating your table! What about that beautiful table cloth you keep tucked away for special occasions? These are all things you can easily incorporate into a beautiful Thanksgiving tablescape. And who doesn’t have a ton of extra candles lying around? Get them out too, because candles create a warm and inviting atmosphere for your guests!

• Look outside. There are so many pretty decorations you can find in your own yard or a nearby park. This time of year, the ground is covered in twigs, leaves, pine cones, and acorns, and they’re free for the taking! Just make sure to check them for hitchhikers before bringing them inside. Check out this tutorial for instructions on how to dry and preserve your acorns.
  

• Borrow decor from your friends and neighbors. Ask them if they have any holiday decor they’re not using, because chances are they do and would love for it to be put to use instead of collecting dust in a basement. You might also consider swapping decor with a friend who has similar taste. Swapping decor is a great way to get a fresh look for the holidays without spending any money. If you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner and guests offer to bring something, instead of food ask for a decoration such as fresh flowers or a few pumpkins. These things can be easier to transport than a hot food dish and will really liven up your Thanksgiving table.

• Look for fall clearance. This time of year, most stores have already put their fall decor on sale to make room for Christmas decor. Take advantage of these sales to stock up on some beautiful decorations for your Thanksgiving decor at a fraction of the retail price!

• Stop at your local thrift store. While we’re on the subject of cheap finds, your local thrift store is a fabulous place to find unique decor at a great price. Ours always seems to be loaded with candle holders, vases, and other dishes and glassware that make fabulous additions to the Thanksgiving table. These finds can easily be refurbished with a little bit of elbow grease or some paint, like this.

• Check out the dollar store. The dollar store has some great finds that can easily be spruced up. Often you only need a little paint to make your dollar store purchase look fabulous. If you need some inspiration, check out this collection of 25 ways to make dollar store pumpkins look amazing.

• Use free online printables. There are literally thousands of Thanksgiving printables online and free for the taking. You can find anything from frameable prints to banners, menus, invitations, and place cards, though my personal favorites happen to be right here, of course. Free printables really make it too easy to decorate on a budget!

• When in doubt, DIY! You know those high end pictures you see in catalogs where they think for some ridiculous reason you’ll pay hundreds of dollars to get the same look, too? Not today, not you, because you are far too thrifty and savvy for that! You know that you can get the same look for so much less if you DIY! The internet is overflowing with ideas and tutorials about how to create your own Thanksgiving decor at a fraction of what those overpriced stores are charging! For example, my DIY burlap table runner is a beautiful piece that complements every accessory and is perfect for any holiday. Do you have any idea how much that would cost if they were selling it at a high end store? Too much! For more DIY Thanksgiving ideas, check out my Thanksgiving board on Pinterest.

• Repurpose other holiday decor. Sometimes we have a habit of categorizing our holiday decor, which means we only use the Christmas decor at Christmas time and the Halloween decor at Halloween time, and the rest of the year it stays packed away in a box marked for that specific holiday. In reality, there are many pieces that can be used for multiple seasons and holidays! So why not save some money and use the white decor from the Christmas box and the orange decor from the Halloween box to create a beautiful Thanksgiving table? Think outside the box (literally), and put some of that decor to use so it’s not wasting space in a garage for the rest of the year!

Now I’m going to give you a little peek into my own dining room to give you some inspiration! I didn’t really go overboard with my table decorations, as we need room for the most important part… the food! All the table decor in the world doesn’t matter if there’s not room for the food!

For my table, I bought pumpkins from a local pumpkin patch. I already had the candles and candle holders. The pine cones and acorns were courtesy of Mother Nature. I made the burlap table runner, and the leaves were a free printable, as were the place cards.

We also have a large window sill right behind the table that I couldn’t resist decorating. The pumpkins on the window sill are fake and came from my holiday collection. I also added a few I found on fall clearance this year. The apothecary jars were another DIY project, and I change out the filler every season. Right now it’s acorns and pine cones, of course. The banner was a free printable, and I added some leaves I got on clearance and painted gold.

So as you can see, it is possible to spend very little money and end up with a beautiful Thanksgiving spread. (And really, you probably don’t have a windowsill that is irresistibly large and begging to be decorated to worry about, either. It’s one of the “perks” of owning an older home… it certainly has character!)

So what do you think? I hope you found these tips helpful and gathered some inspiration for your own Thanksgiving table. Do you have any more thrifty Thanksgiving table ideas to add to the list? Let me know in the comments! If you enjoyed this post, you’ll love my newsletter. Sign up below for weekly craft, DIY, and home projects and tips!