It can be a daunting prospect: family and friends gathering around your table for the biggest feast of the year. And then you have all that entertaining to do a month later at Christmas.
This year, make it easy on yourself. With just a few tweaks and minimal cost, you can create two very different table settings.
The key, say the experts we spoke to, is to be clever. Shop your home and yard first, using what's already there - sometimes in unusual ways. And if you do buy in a store, head for the bargains and for items that can be customized.
We asked Tucson interior designer Bill Parker to come up with two holiday table settings that wouldn't break the bank.
And while they look elaborate, assembly is simple. Here's how he did it:
• White dinner plates accessorized with seasonal ones: patterned plates from Marshall's ($2.99 to $3.99 each) for Thanksgiving; holly patterned ones for Christmas.
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• French-style paper cheese leaves ($14.99 ) for 20 at www.lnt.com, Linens 'N Things' online store) were spread out on the plates to give a fall feel. You can re-use them throughout the holidays when serving cheese.
• Silverware, clear water glasses and green wine glasses work for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• Woven placemats are switched out for large round gold chargers for Christmas - set under the white dinner plates.
• Parker combined fabric napkins, two to a setting. He kept the green napkin and combined it with a patterned one with fall colors for Thanksgiving, and solid red for Christmas. These were folded together and held by a silver napkin ring. Green and red napkins were $1 each from a dollar store.
• Plastic squashes (all from craft store Michaels) were arranged around a white swan terrine, accessorized with a festive wired ribbon around its neck. For Christmas, the ribbon was replaced with a red and gold plaid one, and the terrine surrounded by Christmas tree decorations of strings of plastic pearls and gold beads.
• Sprigs from Parker's pittosporum shrub accessorized the Thanksgiving setting and dressed up the terrine in the Christmas one.
• Long dark green candles were switched out for holly patterned ones for Christmas. Parker always uses the same slim sterling silver candle-holders - four to the table - for a look that's elegant but unobtrusive.
Five more clever tips for the table:
1. Try this for a tablecloth
HGTV presenter Genevieve Gorder suggests you start with cotton tarps from the home-improvement store. "They make the most fabulous and utilitarian base for any tablecloth - natural in color with a slight texture, so that whatever you set atop it glows." She layers hers with a runner, Turkish towels or inexpensive cheesecloth.
Alternatively, go without. Parker prefers to show off his lacquered wood table. "The texture of that against the china is so nice," he says.
2. Not your usual china
Parker suggests using white dinner plates and accessorizing with seasonal appetizer plates. But if you don't have enough crockery, don't worry. Says Gorder: "Get over the need to match and you'll do yourself an enormous favor. Play. Pick fine pieces of china that were maybe handed down and mix with a thrift store find."
Tip: If you're going for a mix of china, thread them together with linen napkins and a simple ring. "The napkins sitting atop a randomly matched collection suddenly make it a set."
3. Food as decor
Don't get hung up on a focal point at your Thanksgiving table. "There's no need because you're sitting at it. Half the work is done for you with the food alone," says Gorder, who advises not trying to compete with your turkey centerpiece.
Try using food as sculptures throughout the holidays, says Gorder. "Piles of acorns, cranberry topiaries, bouquets of rosemary, sage and thyme - displaying a deconstructed, more contemporary version of the harvest is very chic and totally appropriate."
Design consultant Megan Mohaupt of wholesale floral supply company Askren & Sons, suggests using sprigs of kumquats as garnish on your food platters, and adding a single kumquat with the stem and a few leaves tied to each napkin. This can work through the whole Holiday season. Or, tie long sprigs of rosemary around rolled napkins for a festive touch and a lovely aroma at your dining table.
4. Smart purchases
Be a clever shopper and purchase items you can re-use in different ways. Mohaupt suggests this:
• Buy clear glass cylinders ranging in size (8 to 16 inches high by at least 6 inches in diameter), available from craft stores like Michaels and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, or discount stores like HomeGoods or T.J. Maxx. Use them as candle holders, vases or as an interesting base for platters on a food buffet.
• For Thanksgiving, take two of the cylinders - one that fits inside the other but leaving a 1/4-inch gap of space between the two. Slice a variety of citrus into 1/4-inch-thick discs and sandwich the slices in the gap. You can use this as a votive or simply a vase.
• At Christmas, fill several of the cylinders with ball ornaments, arranging them by color. Silver, for example, will work for Christmas and take you through to New Years' Eve celebrations.
5. New use for a mirror
Take a mirror off your wall and place flat on the table as your centerpiece base, says Mohaupt. Add low clear votives on top and embellish with some festive greenery around the frame. The reflection will add depth to your tablescape.
Resources
• Bill Parker, Deutsch Parker Design Ltd, 323-8100 or www.dpddesign.com
• HGTV's Genevieve Gorder can be seen on Genevieve's Holiday Home, premiering Nov. 27.
• Megan Mohaupt, design consultant, 245-3681