If you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year there’s likely to be a table involved! In fact, there may be more than one. There’s something so “Norman Rockwell” about the whole family around the dining room table for Thanksgiving dinner, but sometimes it takes more than one table to seat everyone, or the dinner is served buffet.

Here’s a big tip when it comes to tablescaping for the holidays. Shop the dollar store. Really. Here are some items I picked up recently. For a total of 10 dollars I got “linen” napkins and napkin holders for 16. Well, the “linen” is actually polyester jacquard, but it looks pretty and doesn’t feel too bad. The colors were lovely! The fall print tea towels at a dollar apiece will be beautiful to line breadbaskets, use as a mat in the middle of a table, or, if all else fails, dry dishes!

I couldn’t pass up the tin bird signs and little bird votive holders at $1 each. I know I’ll use them over and over, and the melamine fall print tray, and dip holder will be used for sure throughout the season. I’m thinking I might use the fake grapes somehow on the napkin rings….my point is, you can find really nice pieces for not a lot of money.

Take a cue from the restaurants that hand out crayons and coloring-page kids’ menus. A 30″ x 15′ roll of brown paper is $1.00 at the dollar store. You can easily cover a table (or two) with that. For young kids, put out jars of crayons, cookie cutters they can trace around, stickers, etc. and let them decorate their own table cover.

For teenagers, try a “coffee” theme, with votive candles (8 for $1.00) set in coffee beans (these are YEARS old–I only use them for decor) in tiny glass prep bowls (4 for $1.00). Add a tin or two of rolled Pirouline wafers ($1.00) if you wish. I just drew the coffee cup freehand with marker. Put out a mug of markers for them to color the coffee cup pictures, draw their own designs, or add their own sentiments. You can write Thanksgiving quotes, trivia, or jokes on the paper as well. (Just do an internet search and you’ll find a bunch!) It’s kind of fun to write them in long, swirling lines to make it a bit of adventure to read them. This is a good “ice breaker” especially if the guests don’t know each other well.

We’ll be doing more tablescape/tablesetting posts over the next few weeks, just sharing some ideas that work for our families!